Condense gadgets into one with ?smart? cellphones

Staff Writer BOULDER — Behold the ubiquitous cellphone. What started out as a luxury item for the rich and busy, is now as common as that dime your mother used to tell you to keep in your wallet ?just in case.?

While in the 1980s the early adopters of the initial batch of cellphones practically needed a forklift to raise the clunky handsets to their ears, today’s models are tiny, light and have many more features than simply allowing you to tell your boss you’re going to be late for that 10 a.m. meeting.

If the TV commercials are to be believed, the latest models, known as ?smart phones,? are capable of everything from managing your contact database and schedule to taking snapshots and wirelessly transmitting them to your friends.

Boulder area early adopters of smart phones are few and far between, but those who have them are zealots for the technology.

John Metzger is a smart-phone apostle. The chief executive of Boulder-based Metzger Associates, Metzger started out on a Sprint model but upgraded to a Treo in mid-2002. A Treo is a combination phone/PDA (personal digital assistant) made by Handspring. The Sprint was cool when it came out, but lacked features the Treo offered, he said.

?The Sprint phone had a touch-screen system, which I didn’t like,? he said. ?It was a new product that had a nice little combination of technologies and represented something new and different yet has a fairly significant ergonomic problem.?

One Treo advantage is its keyboard. Metzger said although it’s tiny, the keyboard is ?thumb friendly? and works much better than the stylus and touch screen of the Sprint phone.

The Treo’s real power is its ability to interface with his contact list, Metzger said. ?If you want to make a phone call and you want to get into the book and dial the number, you can do all that with your thumb,? he said. ?You can go to your contacts, hit with ?metz’ with your thumb and blammo, you’re down to Metzger, and you hit it to dial it.?

Metzger’s contact list on the Treo is the same one he created on his desktop computer using Microsoft’s information management tool, Outlook. Like most handheld devices, the Treo uses the Palm operating system, and synchronizes with a personal computer just like any Palm-powered device.

The Treo’s built-in speakerphone is another great feature, Metzger said. ?If anybody is concerned about microwaves melting your brain, I think it’s a prudent thing to do,? he said.

About the only disadvantage Metzger can think of is he has to carry a wallet again. The Sprint phone had a case that was big enough to accommodate his driver’s license, a few credit cards and some cash. Since the Treo is a flip phone, the case doesn’t work for it. But the Treo easily fits any pocket, Metzger said. ?With my keys, my wallet and my phone I’m pretty set,? he said.

Desiree Renaud swears by her Kyocera smart phone. She switched from her plain vanilla Qualcomm cellphone in March 2002. The founder and chief executive of Boulder-based SiteSensations.com had been researching wireless devices to write some articles and was able to test a prototype that wasn’t released yet. It was love at first sight. As soon as the product hit the shelves she had a QCP 6035.

?The selling point for me was I didn’t want to carry a phone, a Palm and laptop,? Renaud said. The combination device was cheaper than a separate phone and PDA. Another selling point was sheer coolness. ?When I first got the phone everyone who saw it was so jazzed,? she said.

Like Metzger’s Treo, Renaud’s Kyocera uses the Palm operating system so it’s a cinch to synchronize data and appointments with her desktop computer.

Renaud calls her phone ?an office away from my office.? As a Web designer, she’s frequently on the road but likes to stay in contact with clients. ?Clients are very impressed because I can respond very quickly,? she said.

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, Renaud’s year-old phone is already obsolete. Kyocera’s new model, the 7135, has a color screen, more memory and a built-in MP3 player. Renaud isn’t ready to trade up yet, but she can dream.

Like Metzger, Tim Holder is a Treo evangelist. Holder ordered his about a month after they were first available to replace his PDA and cellphone.

As director of technical services for Boulder-based NETdelivery, Holder is always on the go. ?I really like the idea that I only have to carry one device,? he said. ?Before I always had to have my cellphone on my waist and my Visor (PDA) in my pocket and I was always leaving one or the other somewhere. Now I only have to worry about managing one unit.?

A feature Holder especially enjoys is Web surfing on the Treo. Using a browser called Blazer he can check the weather or update his stock quotes. It’s also good for letting his mind wander during boring meetings, he said, and for finding phone numbers.

?(When) I’m in the middle of nowhere I can look up phone numbers and addresses by accessing the Internet,? he said. ?I can cut and paste them into my contact list just like at a desktop.?

Holder also likes to shoot his staff e-mails on the fly. He could use a version of AOL instant messaging, but instead he has boilerplate e-mails with messages like ?running late, be there in 15 minutes? ready to send to a prepared mailing list.

If you’re wondering how much a setup like this will set you back, sit down first. The devices range from about $400 to $800. The service can vary quite a bit, from about $30 to $200 depending on minutes, corporate or family use, and other factors. Data services may or may not cost extra depending on service provider.Contact Caron Schwartz Ellis at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail csellis@bcbr.com.

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