07/22/96 JUST OVER THE HORIZON--SPACE-AGE CELLULARS

JUST OVER THE HORIZON--SPACE-AGE CELLULARS

From the beginning, what many of us wanted was a phone we could carry with us. So desperate were we that we gladly welcomed the first cellular mobile phones, even if they seem in hindsight like the large portable radios the Army used during World War II. But over the past few years, mobile phones have gotten smaller and lighter. Now there are models that fit into the palm of your hand. The lightest of this new wave, at 3.1 ounces, is the StarTac from Motorola. Its flip-up design will remind Star Trek aficionados of the communicator used by Captain Kirk.
The StarTac will give you up to 60 minutes of continuous talk time or 12 hours of standby time before it needs recharging. If you need more time to chat, a variety of extra-capacity batteries is available. The largest of these offers 210 minutes of continuous talk time or 41 hours of standby time, boosting the overall weight of the StarTac to 5.9 ounces. But what's cool about this phone is that it's small enough to carry like a pager. Or if you'd prefer, you can even wear it like a necklace: The $1,500 price tag makes it something you'll want people to notice.
DICK TRACY. A lot less expensive at $500 and only slightly heavier is Sony's CM-RX100 mobile phone. This palm-size device that resembles a miniature walkie-talkie feels a little dense because its 6.7 ounces are packed into such a small space. At first glance, you might wonder how to speak into it. Not to worry: A small microphone swings out from the side of the body, so talking into the CM-RX100 is much like using a regular phone. Despite its small size, the CM-RX100 is powerful, offering two hours of continuous talk time and 24 hours in the standby mode.
Small size and light weight are great, of course, but a mobile phone should offer more than just talk. When we think about the ultimate mobile phone, Dick Tracy's wristwatch-like voice-and-video-communication device comes to mind. The wristwatch part is a long way off, but by the end of the year you will be able to get a wireless device that can do almost as much. AT&T Corp.'s new 10-ounce PocketNet Phone, unveiled July 15, is a combination cellular phone and wireless data device that can send and receive both voice and data messages, even access the Internet, all for $500. The phone is slated to be available to corporations by yearend and to consumers in early 1997. PocketNet looks and feels like a cellular phone but has a small liquid-crystal-display screen on the top. You use the phone keypad to punch out messages. Voice calls are sent via standard cellular networks, while E-mail, faxes, and other data are sent over wireless networks enhanced with digital data transmission.
For even more functions, there's the Nokia 9000 Communicator. It's being introduced in Europe, but it should arrive in the U.S. by next year with an estimated price of $2,000. At first blush, the Nokia 9000 looks like a regular mobile phone. But it splits open to reveal a small keyboard and screen, sort of like a handheld computer.
Both the AT&T and Nokia devices allow you to transmit and receive E-mail. Second, you can send and receive short messages, much as an alphanumeric pager does now. You can communicate to a fax machine. And if that isn't enough data, you can also subscribe to services that will provide everything from stock quotes to sports scores. Nokia tosses in an electronic organizer with functions that include a calendar, address book, notepad, and calculator. No more carrying around a laptop computer simply because that's where all your phone numbers are stored.
The really exciting application, though, for both phones, is Internet access. Just imagine being able to dial up the Net from anywhere and being privy to all the data it can provide. True, the Nokia and AT&T screens are monochrome, so you won't get the rich graphics of the World Wide Web. But the way things work in the high-tech world, you can be pretty sure future models will feature a color screen that takes advantage of evolving video and data-compression technologies. What's more, you may eventually be able to listen to the Net as textto-speech software is being developed.
NO HANDS. If all this information seems too much to deal with when you're on the phone, the Nokia 9000 connects to a computer, so you can download critical data. Downloading a file to a PC can be done using a serial cable or an infrared link. Files can also be sent directly to a printer via the infrared link. And while personal mobility is the Nokia 9000's strong suit, an adapter kit for hands-free use in a vehicle is also available.
So why can't most of us get one right now? The Nokia 9000 is designed to work with a digital mobile-phone network and will not operate on the current analog system used by cellular phones. A digital network, called a personal communications service (PCS), is slowly being rolled out in the U.S. But at present, service is available only in Washington, Honolulu, and Salt Lake City.
PCS may be the mobile-phone service of the near future, however. With PCS, you could have what industry insiders call a ``fixed wireless'' telephone. Instead of a wired telephone with one number and a mobile phone with another, you would have a single PCS phone that would work at home or on the road. To make this one-person, one-number notion work, wireless phone calls would have to be priced competitively with wired calls, which isn't that far-fetched. The Scandinavian countries, in fact, are actively pursuing this goal.
The one-person, one-number idea isn't entirely foreign to the U.S., either. Chicago-based United States Cellular is rolling out a new hybrid telephone called the Carry Phone, which is based on a similar premise. Carry Phone works like a cordless phone inside the house--the base station is connected to the wired network--but operates like a cellular phone once you leave. This phone effectively bridges the gap between wired and wireless networks, but it still leaves something to be desired: You must use two phone numbers. Carry Phone, which weighs less than a pound, is available in cities where United States Cellular operates. It leases for $20 per month in addition to calling charges. Wired and wireless phone calls are billed separately so you can see where costs are incurred.
PRIVACY. Nevertheless, Carry Phone and other existing analog wireless systems don't offer the potential benefits of a digital mobile-phone system. PCS should lead to a proliferation of smaller, inexpensive handsets and less expensive service. PCS phones use smart cards containing microchips so subscriber information is not embedded in the phone, thereby reducing fraud and theft--since the phone won't work unless the owner inserts the card. Because of the numerous antennas the system uses, PCS also works within buildings and tunnels. You can even develop private networks that operate only in designated areas. And the antennas providing the link to the network are smaller and less obtrusive--they can even be disguised as trees. But until the PCS rollout is further along, the Nokia 9000 will remain just a dream. The AT&T phone, too, is still a way's off. For now, palm-size talk-only models you can display around your neck or on your belt are the status symbol of mobile phones.
EDITED BY AMY DUNKIN By Frank Vizard