Motorola i85 JAVA Phone

Nextel's new Motorola i85 is among the first Java-enabled "smart" phones to debut in America. Designed for professional use, the i85 not only can be used as a 2-way radio, phone and pager, but also includes voice-activated dialing, text messaging features, and a fully upgradeable OS with the ability to download additional applications from the Internet. The i85 is also the first phone I've seen that offers a  portable keyboard.

Design
The i85 features a durable yet stylish design, roughly comparable in size to the Nokia 6000 series. The buttons are adequately sized and well placed for easy navigation. The screen is common in size to most Web phones, but displays up to 6 lines of text (depending on the size of the fonts) and a somewhat crisper display than most cell phones currently on the market.

Java Support
The main feature of the Motorola i85 is the built-in Java support for J2ME applications. Some Java applications that came with the i85 include several calculators, an expense pad and a non-impressive Borkov video game by Sega. Currently, there aren't very many Java applications available to download for the i85, but there should be more later this year. Additional applications can be downloaded from Nextel's iDEN update page. If you are interested in developing custom i85 Java applications, visit the Nextel Developer site to learn more.

Online Contact and Calendar Account Access
Nextel now offers a free online account that you can use to store calendar and contact information. Using the online account, you can also import your Outlook contact data directly into the phone without using a sync cable. It's a nice feature, but it currently doesn't support automatic synchronization. For now, you must manually export your contacts from Microsoft Outlook and import them into the online account using a Web browser, which then synchronizes with the i85 (it's not as difficult as it sounds). Later this year though, Motorola will release software that will allow you to do this easily.

Notable Features
One of the features that really impressed me was the ability to record an appointment in the date book, then set an option that will automatically turn the phone off or switch it into silent mode when the appointment starts. This would be a great feature for those who those who often forget to turn their phones off during a meeting (or a movie at that matter).

Another feature that impressed me was the optional keyboard. Now it's a lot easier to compose e-mail messages, instead of hunting down letters on the phones keypad. Setup is easy; just slide the phone into the top of the keyboard and type away.

Call Quality
Call quality on the i85 is good, but since it only works on Nextel's all digital but non-roaming iDEN network, coverage was spotty (take Colorado for example). I often found my i85 failing in areas most other cell phone services work in. But don't mistake me, I'm not talking about the phone itself. Nextel just needs to improve on its coverage areas, and then I'll be a little more satisfied. But the call quality overall is very clear.

Summary
The Nextel i85 is a great phone offering many capabilities but still has a little ways to go. Nextel also needs to improve the coverage area in Colorado. I would highly recommend the i85, especially to organizations that can benefit from custom Java applications and the 2-way radio features. Finding a Java application developer for the i85 is as easy as going to Nextel's Developer site. I will be curious as to what kind of applications are developed for Java phones including the i85, so if you know of any, let me know.

Product:		Motorola i85 Java Phone
Rating:
Price:		$199
Size (H X D X W):		5.3" x 2.3" x 1.3"
Weight:		4.8 ounces
Company:		Nextel Communications
Source:		MobileBiz Solutions
Reviewer:		Eriq E. Cook
Date of Review:		June 21, 2001