The new wave of hybrid PDA business phones are here. The gadget gurus from RMIT decide who talks the talk.
They were affectionately known as "bricks" and were appallingly expensive; you had to be a successful business person to afford one. Fast forward to present day -- now if a kid in primary school does not own a mobile they are definitely not cool.
Mobile phones have become a disposable consumer commodity to be tossed out with last year's fashion. They barely last long enough to see you through the contract -- I have personally had three die on me in as many years.
For most of the population, the mobile phone is now seen as fashion statement -- it must look sexy, have a colourful display, polyphonic ring tones -- or better still -- MP3 samples of your favourite songs. Let us not forget the integrated digital camera, ranging from dodgy VGA up to two mega-pixel additions that can record and playback video streams.
They are all-singing all-dancing pocket game machines, and we sometimes lose sight of their true function -- to be a convenient portable phone. For a business person they must also manage appointments, calendar, and contacts.
Although it is not quite available yet, you must also check out the next HP iPAQ 6500 - it is the size of a Blackberry 7230, but so much more capable; quad-band phone with EDGE, 1.3Mpix camera & LED flash, Bluetooth (no WiFi), GPS!!!!, and the usual PPC2003SE stuff (hopefully upgradeable to WindowsMobile5.0 in Oct or so).
http://www.brighthand.com/article/iPAQ_hw6500_Coming_in_September?site=SmartPhone
http://davesipaq.com/news/ipaq_hw6500_comparison.html
And here is a link to some recent forum comment about the size (smaller than a normal iPAQ), battery life (better than a normal iPAQ, not as good as a Blackberry!) and built in keyboard (very similar to Blackberry).
http://davesipaq.com/forum/showthread.php?p=35358#post35358
It is already released in Germany & UK (in theory at least!) and I'm hoping to see it in Australia in Aug or Sept..