Kyocera's latest smartphone allows you to browse the web and watch movies on a 65,000-colour screen, send e-mails, listen to MP3s and make phone calls. Does this PDA/phone fusion work well? Read about it in our Australian review.

Over the last year, PDA sales have plummeted and the demand for converged devices has risen. Kyocera hopes to capitalise on this growth with the 7135--a hybrid PDA/phone, which has more recently been dubbed as a smartphone. Other devices we've seen in this group include Handspring's Treo (180 and 270), Sony Ericsson's P800 and Qtek's 7070. The success of such phones can vary a great deal, as can their design--some resemble candy-bar style mobiles and some keep the façade of a PDA.

You could consider the 7135 a respectably small-sized PDA, and that makes it a fairly hefty mobile phone. At a beefy 186g and measuring 100.8 x 61.6 x 29.7mm, it creates a noticeable bulge in your pocket. It has a clamshell design and the size of the device is pushed out even more by an external antenna.

Its casing is mainly grey plastic set off tastefully with a brushed metal shield on the front. Flipping it open reveals a 65,000-colour screen on which the brightness and contrast are easily adjusted. However the intensity of the screen dwindles in sunny conditions and becomes much harder to read.

On the PDA front, we were somewhat disappointed to see that the device runs under Palm OS 4.1 and not Palm OS 5, which supports better security, wireless connectivity and faster processors. The OS runs on a 33MHz Dragonball processor with 16MB of RAM powering the applications. More storage is available through an SD/MMC expansion slot on the side, although Kyocera does not provide a flash card in the box.

Instead of a QWERTY keyboard the 7135 houses a standard numerical keypad. Above this are four shortcut buttons, a rocker button and graffiti pad which gives the device a more PDA-like appearance. The obvious difference to a standard graffiti pad is the replacement of the calculator icon with the dialler icon--used to access phone functions. An optional accessory is the smartphone portable keyboard that connects through the data port at the bottom of the handset.

The 160x160 pixel display also acts as a touch screen--most times. It is strange to see when the phone icon is pressed that the touch panel becomes inactive and user must switch to using the rocker button to select menu items. Of course, if you have a number already stored you can press the address book shortcut and select a contact via the touch screen to place a call.

During calls there is a handy little button that activates the speaker and the volume is good enough for you have it on your desk and talk hands-free. Another optional accessory is the stereo headset through which calls can be made and you can listen to MP3s stored on your SD/MMC card.

PIM (personal information management) tools on the 7135 include a calendar and an address book, both of which have corresponding hotkeys. Voice and text memos can be recorded and stored on available memory. You can then beam information such as recorded memos and addresses to other Palm-compatible devices using the infrared port. There is no support for Bluetooth, which is a bit of a surprise considering everything else seems to be included on this converged device.

The message hotkey brings up your inbox where you can browse SMS messages, or compose a new message through graffiti or the keypad. Recipients can be entered from the popup address book with ease; alternatively you can type the number in yourself.

There is an LED display on the top of the phone that is very useful if you hang the phone off the included belt clip. It generally displays signal strength, a battery meter and the time. When an incoming call is received the display acts as a caller id.

Through the phone preferences menu, you can set the 7135 to answer a call simply by opening the flip or by pressing the answer key. A great deal of customisation is provided through this menu including vibration alert and a range of earpiece settings.

It should be noted that in Australia, the Kyocera 7135 is only available on Telstra's CDMA network and it is not compatible with GSM networks. While opinion differs on whether Telstra's CDMA network is 3G or 2.5G, the 7135 makes use of CDMA2000 1X technology which offers data transfer speeds up to 153Kbps.

You can send and receive e-mail on the device using Eudora, which comes pre-installed. Eudora allows you to download and view attachments and synchronise with other e-mail programs. To browse the Web you can either use a HTML-browser, EIS Web, or Eudora Web, a WAP-browser. Other software on the bundled CD includes ringtone editors, multimedia players, and synchronisation software. Hardware and software PDF manuals are also available on the supplied CD.

A cradle is provided and can be used to synchronise the smartphone with your PC through a USB or serial port. The power adapter can be attached to the cradle or straight into the base of the device. Under normal use the 7135 lasted between two and three days. Kyocera's specification is for 160 hours standby time or 3.5 hours talk time.

Most mobile phone users will probably find the bulkiness of the 7135 unbearable and stick to smaller phones with fewer features. Demand for this smartphone will come from on-the-go business users. The advantages of wireless mobility and the personal information management it offers make this smartphone really shine.

Kyocera 7135 Smartphone
Company: Kyocera
Price: AU$1599
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 50 7000

Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive.