There are phones with personal digital assistants. PDAs with phones. Mobiles with MP3 players and FM radios. Business professionals long have asked for an integrated phone and PDAs. Kyocera's Smartphone became available earlier this month from mobile-phone carrier Verizon, formerly GTE in the Bay Area.
Customers can place calls either through the keypad or through the touch screen using a stylus.
Users can dial straight from the address book, eliminating the need to enter the same information into two devices. But some may find pressing the screen against their face when placing a call a bit awkward, not to mention dealing with unsightly cheek-grease stains. By May, Cingular Wireless, formerly Pacific Bell in the Bay Area, plans to offer Handspring's phone-PDA combo. Lifting the screen activates the electronic organizer beneath. However, users must tap out words on an onscreen keyboard with a stylus, a tedious process if you're used to Palm's Graffiti handwriting system.