Samsung i730

The most powerful thing you can hold in your hand short of a pocket nuke, the Samsung i730 PDA/phone is small, blazingly fast, but guzzles battery power.

It's also the first handheld to support both Verizon's EV-DO network (providing data throughput of over 400 Kbps/sec in 43 cities) and Wi-Fi. It's also the best-looking Pocket PC phone yet. In size (5.2" x 2.8" x 0.6") and weight (6.7 ounces, 7.2 with extended battery), it falls between the palmOne Treo 650 and behemoth Pocket PCs like the Audiovox XV-6600. This product though, is actually slim enough to fit comfortably into a pocket. Side buttons control volume, voice recording and voice dialing; they're easy to press—almost too easy—so it's good that there's also a key lock switch on the side.

Sliding down the bottom half of the device reveals a keyboard that contains long, oval-shaped keys. It's far superior to the membrane keyboards on some other Pocket PCs, and is at least as usable as the Treo's, though the shiny keys can at times make it hard to read the markings on them. The 320 by x240 screen is gorgeous: rich, sharp, and viewable in sunlight.

As a phone, the i730 is just acceptable. The earpiece is loud and clear, but at the other end of the line, the reception was quieter than we'd have liked. The speakerphone is loud, but has sound distortion problems at high volumes. We paired the phone easily with Nokia and Plantronics Bluetooth headsets and even did voice dialing over Bluetooth. We also successfully sent and received files from both Macs and PCs over a Bluetooth connection.

The 520-MHz Intel PXA272 processor, the fastest on any phone, helped the i730 score 22 percent better on SPB Benchmark Pocket PC tests than its nearest competitor, the Audiovox XV-6600. For users, that means top-flight performance even with demanding applications like video playback and remote desktop access.

There's some great software on this gadget. VoiceSignal's no-training voice dialing is the best in the business. The Picsel Viewer lets you read Microsoft Office documents and PDFs with full formatting; it occasionally complained about low memory, but we viewed files of up to about 1.5 MB. A ringtone manager lets you sort, test and pick ringtones (yes, you can use your own MP3s). You can use the device as a TV remote control. And Windows Media Player 10 syncs music, video and TV shows with a PC. The Dave Matthews Band and The Fast and the Furious looked and sounded terrific and looked sharp. You can store media in the 64MB of RAM (57MB available), 86MB of flash ROM, or on an SD card.

Verizon includes Intellisync for push e-mail. It connects to POP3/IMAP accounts directly or to Microsoft and Lotus corporate e-mail through a desktop redirector application.

The speedy EV-DO cellular network is addictive; we got download speeds between 400 and 700Kbps. Outside the 43 EV-DO cities, the device connects to Verizon's 1X network, running at speeds a little faster than dialup.

We like the little Bluetooth/WiFi status line on the main Today screen. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi and the phone networks (voice, CDMA 1X, and EV-DO) can't coexist; you have to turn one off to use the other. So if you're surfing with Wi-Fi, you can't receive phone calls. On the other hand, if you're paying for EV-DO, you'll only really find yourself using Wi-Fi when you have no phone signal anyway, or when you're not in an EV-DO city. (Outside the EV-DO cities, the device drops to Verizon's 1X network, which is a bit faster than dialup; that's when you'll want Wi-Fi.)

You can't use the device as a modem for your PC, either, but that's true with all Verizon EV-DO devices, and unlikely to change any time soon.

The i730's Achilles heel is its battery life; the device comes with two batteries, a slim one and an extended one, and a cradle that charges both at once. We got under 4 hours of talk time and between 3 hours, 41 minutes and 6 hours, 22 minutes of PDA usage time in phone mode, and 2 hours 20 minutes of PDA usage in Wi-Fi mode with the slim battery. That's well short of the Treo. Popping in the bigger battery boosted the battery life at least 50 percent, but made the device bulkier. Realistically, you'll probably have to bring both batteries wherever you go.

All this power carries a hefty price tag as well: between $599.99 and $719.99, $200 more than either the Audiovox or the Treo. Tack on $45/month for EV-DO service and you have a gadget for the geek elite. At that rate, you can probably afford a few more batteries, too.

The Samsung i730 is the most powerful connected handheld device on the market today. Because of the high price and shorter battery life, we can't quite recommend the i730 over the Treo 650 for basic phone, PIM and email use. But if you can afford to charge your handheld at least daily, the i730 gives you a truly broadband device with the power of a mini-laptop.

SPEC DATA :

• Service Provider: Verizon Wireless
• Operating System: Windows Mobile Phone Edition
• Screen Size: 2.8 inches
• Camera: No
• Flash Memory Type: Secure Digital
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Web Browser: Yes
• Network: CDMA
• Bands: 850, 1900
• High-Speed Data: 1xRTT, EVDO