Wireless eMail: Work in Progress

Wireless phone companies are busy rolling out new, faster data networks that
they hope will spur their slumping industry. And hardware makers, who could use
a shot of growth themselves, are pumping out products for these networks that
combine a voice phone, a personal digital assistant, and e-mail into a package
that can easily be slipped into a pocket or purse. Both the devices and the
networks have a ways to go, but the promise is tremendous.

I took a look at three devices–the BlackBerry 5810 from Research in Motion
(RIMM), the Handspring Treo 270, and the Pocket PC Phone Edition from T-Mobile
(DT) (formerly VoiceStream Wireless)–all of which run on GSM networks. This is
the dominant technology in most of the world, and it’s gaining fast in North
America. It offers two flavors of data communications. The newer technology,
called GPRS, promises a top transmission speed of 64 kilobits per second and,
theoretically, an always-on connection to the Internet that eliminates the need
to dial in every time you want to fetch data.

The T-Mobile handheld is, along with the virtually identical XDA sold by
wireless carrier mmO2 in Europe, the first product to use Microsoft’s new
Pocket PC phone software. It does a good job of integrating the phone with the
device’s other functions. Not only can you easily call any number in your
contact list, but you can initiate a call by clicking on a phone number in an
e-mail message.

If you have a GPRS data account, you can use the Pocket PC e-mail program to
connect wirelessly to any standard Internet e-mail account. It can handle
Microsoft Word and other common attachment types. To get my corporate e-mail, I
used Infowave’s Symmetry Pro, which delivers Microsoft Exchange mail from your
desktop.

I found, however, that GPRS fell well short of its promise. The Pocket PC had
to establish a network connection each time it needed to send or receive data, a
process that took about as long as dialing a call and logging in. It’s hard to
measure network speed in e-mail transfers, but it was considerably slower than a
wired dial-up connection. And there were times when the network was simply
unavailable, even in Washington, D.C., where voice service is normally good.

The hardware could also stand some refinement. I now believe that a keyboard,
however small, is a requirement for e-mail. I found that even the choice of a
couple of styles of handwriting input and an on-screen keyboard are no
substitute for real keys. In phone mode, the Pocket PC is not well-designed for
one-handed operation. A scroll-wheel that allows you to move easily through
lists would be a big improvement.

The BlackBerry 5810 looks and functions exactly like the older BlackBerry 957
and 857, which run on paging networks. All GSM devices have voice capability,
but the BlackBerry has a clunky interface and can only be used with a headset,
severely capping its usefulness. (This and a limitation that requires separate
versions for use in North America and the rest of the world will be fixed in a
model due by yearend.) The 5810 has much worse network coverage and much shorter
battery life, and because mail comes in automatically while the BlackBerry is in
your pocket or purse, you never notice the higher data speed. The BlackBerry is
a great way to get corporate e-mail on a wireless device, but I’d stick with
the older versions.

The Treo 270 adds a crisp, color screen and lit keys to the Treo 180.
Although it uses older dial-up wireless data technology, it was more reliable
than GPRS and didn’t seem that much slower. The Treo offers the best melding
of PDA, phone, and mail functions and it boasts the easiest-to-use design.

Right now, all of these devices are better than the networks they run on. But
those nets are getting better, and there are versions in the works for the new
Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS data networks. Within six months or so, wireless
e-mail may really be ready for the business mainstream.

By Stephen H Wildstrom in BusinessWeek. Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc