Imagine sitting in a lecture hall, talking with friends over an instant messenger while you appear to be taking notes. Imagine quickly checking your e-mail as you walk home, or wirelessly reading your favorite Web site while you grab lunch at the student center.
Verizon Wireless and Audiovox announced the Thera on March 18, a new combination PDA (personal digital assistant) and cell phone that makes these imaginings a reality, at a price. That price is fairly steep- Thera is available from Verizon's Web site or stores for $799 with a two-year contract.
Still, the functionality is impressive. Thera can access the Internet at approximately the same speed as a dial-up modem using Verizon's new Express Network. This allows users to always have the one key piece of information they need at their fingertips, be it a movie schedule, driving directions, a weather forecast, or a message from a friend.
The color screen is beautiful indoors, and amazingly legible outdoors. As a phone, Thera really shines: every phone number entered in the address book is at your fingertips, and it is much easier to enter information into Thera than a standard cell phone. The speaker and microphone are good enough to allow users to hold the phone away from their face when making calls. The rechargeable battery lasts up to eight hours on standby, or 90 minutes of use.
However, for $799 consumers may expect more than the cheap, plastic phone and remote that come with the unit.
Thera runs Microsoft Windows Pocket PC 2002 and includes Pocket Internet Explorer for Web browsing, Pocket Outlook for e-mail, Microsoft Reader for electronic books, Microsoft Media Player for movies and MP3s and MSN Messenger for instant messaging.
Pocket Word and Pocket Excel allow users to create and modify word processing and spreadsheet documents, and a calendar, notepad and address book help keep life in order. Synchronizing information with Outlook on a Windows desktop computer is relatively painless. And of course, solitaire is included.
As much as the phone gains from its Windows heritage, it also suffers for it. Windows' desktop interface does not scale well to such a small device -- the small buttons are difficult to press accurately, especially with the cheap, included plastic pen. Pushing the wrong button repeatedly quickly becomes annoying.
The included handwriting recognition software, while extremely impressive, seems almost like an afterthought. To make use of it, users must puzzle out the meaning of cryptic icons. And when Thera gets a word wrong, as it does about 10 percent of the time, correcting it is an exercise in frustration.
The user is often reduced to using the on-screen keyboard to enter data. Although the keyboard will "auto-complete" common words as they are began, the rate at which data is entered is slow. Although it is not good for taking notes, it is still faster than entering information in any stand-alone cell phone.
Like other versions of Windows, with their reputation for crashing, Pocket PC 2002 can frustrate users. A minor crash can often require a restart.
The cost combined with several small problems with quality and usability, hurt this otherwise excellent device. Thera is an impressive piece of hardware, and the potential of wireless Internet anywhere is amazing.
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