Published December 2001

Get your Java fix
with Nextel phones

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

The newest cell phones from Nextel, the only wireless carrier to have Java-enabled phones available in the U.S. market, show why it has been a longtime leader in cellular telecommunications technology.

Both the i85s and i50sx are Internet-ready phones with an embedded Java-powered environment that allows subscribers to run applications and update data, even while disconnected from the network. Nextel expects to sell more than a million i85s phones over the coming year.

The phones have four-in-one wireless services that include Nextel Direct Connect, a digital two-way radio features for communicating among users in a common group, plus digital cellular, text and number messaging, two-way messaging and wireless Internet access.

Having Java-enabled phones is a big feature for Nextel, offering a service that provides users the ability to download their favorite Java programs wirelessly from Nextel's Web site to their cell phones.

Nextel said its latest technology is a "first step" to a customizable wireless phone that allows the use of programs previously available only on a PC. Upgrade to the programs and the phone's network software can be downloaded from Nextel's Web site.

There are also wireless data connections that provide always-on access to the Internet and the ability to receive calls while accessing data.

In partnership with Motorola and Think Outside, Nextel is also offering what it terms "the first portable keyboard for mobile phones," for around $100. The foldable Motorola iBoard slides onto the phone to provide a full-size keyboard for composing e-mail messages, logging calendar appointments, managing address books or entering information into an expense report form.

Other cell-phone accessories include speakerphone capabilities for hands-free talking, voice-activated dialing, a voice recorder, one-touch dialing for pre-recorded numbers and new add-ons for users with T-coil hearing aids that conflict with cell-phone frequencies.

Or try the Discreet Hands-Free Kit, which provides a concealed earpiece and microphone and allows hands-free talking with no wires showing.

Nextel also offers a variety of ways to read e-mail, including listening to e-mails and attachments being read over the phone, using etrieve's state-of-the-art text-to-speech technology. Received e-mails can also be routed to a fax machine for printing or read on a cell-phone screen.

Using a cell phone, a user can create an audio file that can be e-mailed.

Nextel phones can also access the most popular e-mail programs, including Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes, and work with e-mail accounts for Yahoo, Mindspring, Earthlink and most ISPs.

For more information, visit Nextel's Web site, www.nextel.com.

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