Looks or substance?
For most of us, choosing a cell phone often revolves around better looks, easy usage, the number of features etc. Mobile communication is a critical business tool and choosing the right cell phone should always be a matter of substance over style.
Most of us start with a service provider, then choose from the available phones.

This factor becomes relevant if and when the type of network used by each provider is different from another. For example, GSM and GPRS are two different types of networks and it makes little sense to buy a phone which has far too much beef than the bones could support. But GSM technology has become the minimum standard for mobile communications and the type of network that is available may not be such a critical factor anymore. Since you’re no longer locked in to a particular provider, you can choose the right phone based on design, features, and service. Here are some of the key features to look for if you go for substance over looks.

The basics
Long battery life is essential. Look for phones that use a lithium-ion (li-ion) battery rather than a nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) one. Li-ion batteries weigh less and provide 10 to 20 percent better performance than their NiMH counterparts. You’ll want a phone with a rated talk time of at least three and a half hours, preferably closer to five hours. If your mobile comes with a desktop charger, splurge for the travel charger since it’s significantly smaller and easier to pack when you are on the move. The long battery life would also mean that you don’t have to spend half your vacation charging your phone.
If you travel beyond your home or calling area often, make sure your phone supports analog roaming. Although analog calls are expensive, you’ll be guaranteed coverage even in remote rural areas. If your travels take you overseas, you’ll want a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) phone, which operates on networks (GSM 800/1800/1900) in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

You’ll also want a handset that features a hefty address book of at least 300 names with support for multiple entries per contact. This can make a difference because a phone that makes you enter multiple entries for the same person not only takes up valuable memory space but confuses you. Some phones allow you to include information such as e-mail, Web, and street addresses with your contacts. You can enter the information one key at a time or you can get a phone with the ability to sync with Microsoft Outlook on your PC. Also making inroads in this area is SyncML, an open standard that establishes a common language for synchronizing information between mobile devices and other computing equipment.

More-advanced features
Among other features, check to make sure the phone you want supports conference calling, in case you have to conduct an emergency meeting while you’re on the road. You’ll also be hearing a lot more about two-way, walkie-talkie-style communication in the near future. This technology was pioneered by Nextel. The company’s Group Connect service lets you establish 200 groups with up to 25 members in each group.
Because you never know if you’ll need Internet access in a pinch, it’s a good idea to purchase a phone that can connect to your laptop as a modem. You’ll need to invest in the proper software and cables and make sure that your notebook can support such a connection. Or you can skip the wires altogether and get a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. If your PC or PDA doesn’t feature integrated Bluetooth support, you can purchase an adapter to add this functionality. Then you can browse the Internet using your phone as a wireless modem; you can also use Bluetooth to sync phone numbers and addresses between your phone and other devices.

Even better, skip your notebook altogether. Fast Internet access is rapidly becoming a common feature in cell phones. Most GSM phones support GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks, which offer always-on Internet content and data services, enabling access to Web browsing, e-mail, and multimedia content. For phones that use the CDMA platform, 1xRTT (single-carrier radio transmission technology) typically provides data services twice as fast as those of GPRS. EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) technology, which is designed to provide data transfer over existing GSM networks up to three times faster than GPRS has also arrived in Sri Lanka.

Get smart
If you spend most of your time away from home or office, you may want to consider a smart phone, which combines cell phone and PDA functions in one unit. These phones are larger and much more expensive than standard handsets, but they eliminate the need for two separate devices. Smart phones are available in Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, and BlackBerry platforms.

So if you are planning on getting a new mobile phone for yourself, for a loved one or for your company, make sure you keep these details in mind. I thank each and every one of you who wrote into Techno Page during the past year (the list is quite long and includes Sir Arthur C. Clarke himself!). Keep those emails rolling in. And here’s wishing all our readers a peaceful New Year.

Improve your computer literacy
Skunkworks
Skunkworks is a typically small and loosely structured group of people who research and develop a project for the sake of innovation. The term typically is used in regard to technology projects. A skunkworks often operates independent of a company’s normal research and development operations and therefore often is subject to limitations in resources.

Skunkworks projects often are undertaken in secret with the understanding that if the development is successful then the product will be designed later according to the usual process. A famous example of a skunkworks project is the first Apple Macintosh computer. The term comes from the Skunk Works, the Kickapoo Joy Juice bootleg brewing operation in Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip.

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