Entertainment To Go

At restaurants, I don't check my coat: too much to lose. Unlike rational people, I carry a few-too-many toys. Like three cell phones, for instance. Plus a couple of MP3 players (with primary and backup earphones.) A GPS, satellite radio receiver, digital camera and, perhaps, a radiation detector. Just because. Because it's fun and I'm nuts. What makes me nuts is not, in my opinion, lugging 30 pounds of excess techno-gear. That makes perfect sense. The nutty part is carrying three phones when I absolutely HATE making phone calls. But I'm happy to report cell phones have now matured. Why use them for mere phone calls when you can take a complete entertainment center with you?

Below are several entertaining new phones you can use for entertaining yourself or taking work with you. Plus, some astounding new technology that will soon change how cell phones and other portable audio devices sound: virtual 3D surround-sound from Sonaptic.

Verizon's LG VX8000
"Mom, Dad, I'd like to introduce you to my new phone." Verizon is finally entering the 3G phone market with enthusiasm. The new EVDO-network enabled cell phones means Verizon can now offer a host of streaming video and other content. There are caveats: the new faster EVDO networks are only available in about thirty coverage areas now. Fortunately, New York is one of them and that means my new phone is kickin'. With a 1.3 megapixel video camera, I have become snap-happy. Let's email a nice video or picture of myself, to, um, myself. Primary and secondary screens are rich, colorful, and bright. Speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, and all the regular things you're supposed to get with a phone. Now, here's where the fun begins: after you've sent emails; forwarded pictures and videos; it's time to watch videos-on-demand. "Get-it-now" services insure you'll rack up a happy fortune downloading the latest ring tones and games. The killer app is downloading video: watch video news headlines and get the latest sports, weather, and comedy streaming on the phone. I'm scared to find out what it costs, but I've been routinely watching highlights from Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Though I like the phone and love video-on-demand services, the LG VX8000 is not ideal: no Bluetooth (for my headset or computer) and there's no slot for an SD storage card. At least, that gives me something to look forward to. The phone costs about $250 with Verizon's 1-year service plan.

SAMSUNG i700 POCKET PC
If I wanted the SD card, and the reliable Verizon service, I might consider the pricey large-screen Samsung i700 Pocket PC phone. It does not support the faster EVDO network, sadly. But the Samsung i700 does feature a bright TFT screen and all the usual bells and whistles of an excellent Pocket PC device: spreadsheets, word processing, email, etc. The rotating camera is a nice feature for capturing stills but the Samsung isn't useful for sharing video. More than $500 with no integrated QWERTY thumb-keyboard, so I'm going to meekly to a pass here.

BLACKBERRY 7100 T from T-Mobile US
I have been fond of my many BlackBerry devices ever since RIM sneaked across the Canadian border. With great trepidation, it's obvious BlackBerry has forsaken the old familiar toast-like form factor in the new BlackBerry 7100 T. This slender, arty, sporty model is a phone first and an "everything device" second. That turns out to be a good thing. Available exclusively from T-Mobile, the BlackBerry 7100t has a bizarre-shaped keyboard that sticks two letters on each key. Miracle or miracles, it works very well! (Personally, I still prefer typing on my old Blackberry with perky little individual keys, but not by much.) It took just a few minutes to adapt to the intelligent software that finishes your words as you type. So many tech reviewers apparently swiped(!) these units, I did not get much time to play. I apologize for not having had as much keyboard-banging time as I would like. But, I suppose, in a strange way that all the "swipe-age" is telling evidence of how popular this device has become. No camera and no Jon Stewart videos but you will get lots of work emails pushed to you all day and night! $199 after a mail-in rebate and a service plan.

TREO 650
Since I'm talking about phones, I should reiterate that PalmOne has a terrific combo in the Treo 650. The screen is far brighter than the already ample Treo 600, but that's the tip of the iceberg. The onboard non-volatile memory insures you don't lose everything when the battery dies. (The battery also lasts longer as an ironic but splendid consequence.) I first reviewed this when Sprint introduced it several months ago, and now it is finally available from Cingular. All the wonders of the Palm OS, with a decent phone, brilliant screen, and so-so camera. It does have Bluetooth, which is essential for hands-free, cords-free headset use. The Treo 650 is about $449.

SONY ERICSSON P910 A
I'm not sure you can call this a phone. The P910 A is more accurately contemporary art. Ok, it is a GSM phone. And everything else mentioned above, pretty much. QWERTY keyboard on one side then flip the keyboard up on the screen revealing the phone keys. (This keyboard seems to require more nimble fingers than my gaijin hands possess but it is ingenious design, yessiree.) When they keyboard is extended, the full ultra-wide color touch screen is revealed in all its 262K pixel glory. Camera? Sure 'nuff. External memory? With a mini Memory Stick Duo up to a Gig, no problem. This can become your entire Bluetooth-enabled entertainment center, plus full PIM, and phone, email, etc., etc. Load an entire movie on the P910 and enjoy it, with stereo headphones, on a nice long flight. The phone even has a "flight mode" so you can turn off whatever signals annoy the FAA so you can use it safely on aircraft. (Not that I put much faith in the FAA's arbitrary regulations on electronic devices, but that rant is for another day.) The P910 is almost priceless… but not quite: roughly $700 without a plan. The phone will work over a variety of GSM phone service providers (including Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile.)

SONAPTIC
This isn't a phone… this is why, one day, your phone will sound better. Sonaptic is an astonishing company based in the U.K. that has figured out how to transform traditionally lousy cell phone audio into 3D surround-sound. Before they visited yesterday, I thought another half-an-hour would be shot to hell. How can you truly make "surround-sound" with just two speakers or dinky headsets off a PDA? Very ingeniously, it turns out: trick both ears using delays and unique speaker placement. Create algorithms that calculate the strange shape of your ears and that big lunk of a skull that gets in the way of traveling sound. So astonishing is their terrific technology, I barely let them leave. They showed, on a handheld device and Japanese cell phones (from NTT DoCoMo), how they could elegantly direct sound as if in a 5.1 surround-speaker environment. Instead of distortion, audio from these puny devices seemed robust and rich. While it will take a while for much of this technology to show up on a phone (or portable device) near you, rest assured, it will. I have heard the future and it sounds great all around.

By Daniel Dubno