From...

December 13, 1999
Web posted at: 9:41 a.m. EST (1441 GMT)

by Eileen Smith

(IDG) -- Stuffing the unwieldy power of the World Wide Web into an itty-bitty cellular phone seems like such a good idea to many mobile professionals. Until you try to surf it.

Obviously, a phone such as the Qualcomm thin phone cannot support the Internet in the same way as your desktop PC. The phone's 14.4kbps micro-browser can display only text versions of stripped-down Web sites, like news headlines or stock quotes. In this way, the cellular phone is WAP-enabled but not really Web-enabled.

WAP refers to the Wireless Application Protocol that allows cell phones and other handheld devices to send and receive information over the Internet.

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Smart Cell Phones

The Qualcomm thin phone model QCP-860 is definitely a sleek-looking phone. It's a dual-mode digital/analog cellular unit, meaning it supports communication on either network. It's portable to the extreme, weighing in at around four ounces.

When you're viewing Web-based content over the phone, however, your clunky PC doesn't seem so clunky anymore. Even a 14-inch monitor would seem mammoth in comparison. The PC keyboard can actually accommodate all ten of your fingers. You may not be mobile, but at least your eyesight's intact.

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The incredibly shrinking Internet

When you hop onto the cellular Web, you'll find familiar features such as bookmarks, e-mail, Web sites, contacts, an interactive calendar, and a to-do list.

The site's menu is broken into news and portals. You can glance at daily headlines and choose among a variety of topics, from world news to technology and living. But stories only display a couple words at a time. I had to scroll down nine times just to read the first sentence of a three- or four-sentence news blurb.

"If you're looking for little clips of information, the thin phone will work for that," says Richard Goetter, senior marketing manager for subscriber products at Qualcomm. Goetter agrees that paging through text is relatively cumbersome. "But you can't replicate on any existing phone today the richness you get accessing the Web through your desktop or laptop."

You can, however, use the phone as an enabler as opposed to the primary Web platform.

"For a richer surfing environment, you can use the phone as a modem with a data connectivity kit and connect wirelessly to the Web," Goetter says. "You've got the option, and you're not tied to your terminal."