Final Word from Friday, December 5, 2003
The rage this Christmas, if manufacturers keep their promised delivery schedules, could be smartphones - all-in-one cellphones that make calls, keep your calendar, take and send photos, receive email, and do everything else but take out the trash. Two of the new ones that have gotten the best reviews, the Sony Ericsson P900 and the Handspring Treo 600, are big improvements over their predecessors and should hit the local market just before Christmas. Reviewers have given the four-band Treo 600 slightly better marks, thanks in part to its Palm operating system, but buyers should beware, because Handspring provides poor after-sale service in the CR (it can't fix a broken phone and forces you to replace it). These new gadgets won't come cheap - each will be priced above Kč 20,000 - but once you've tried one, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.