Thursday, May 9, 2002
Audiovox Thera disappoints Walt Mossberg
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 07:51 AM
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20020509.html
Walt Mossberg recently reviewed the Audiovox Thera, a Pocket PC 2002 with CDMA technology built in. It is not a Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition device. Sierra Wireless added the wireless phone features.
As I was listening to the review on the way in this morning on Audible, I thought Mr. Mossberg was being a bit harsh on the device for its phone features. After all, it is a data device first and a phone second. However, the second half of his review focused on the data portion of the device. He praised the core Pocket PC 2002 OS, but was less gentle on the experience, some of which is Verizon's fault with their proprietary implementation of the new CDMA based 1X network they call "Express Network."
In my thought on Microsoft being able to step up and take advantage of the poor offerings currently on the market for integrated devices, I said I was ready for a device right now. Well, I am, but it has to be the right device. Microsoft has put a tremendous effort into the voice/data integration in their Smartphone 2002 and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software. I guess Audiovox didn't want to wait for the PPC2K2PE software to be baked or had other reasons for using their own dialer. Mr. Mossberg's final comments sum up the data integration. "Finally, the built-in phone software, supplied by a company called Sierra Wireless, isn't well integrated with the rest of the device. For instance, there's a separate address book for phone use. If you go to the main Contacts program, you can't dial a number. And, if you try to call up a Web page, the Thera won't automatically connect to the Internet to do so. All in all, I'd advise taking a pass on Verizon's Thera. It's unlikely to satisfy either the voice-oriented or the data-oriented user."
Being first to market has its advantages but does not guarantee success. Thanks to Steve Miller for the link.
Walt Mossberg recently reviewed the Audiovox Thera, a Pocket PC 2002 with CDMA technology built in. It is not a Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition device. Sierra Wireless added the wireless phone features.
As I was listening to the review on the way in this morning on Audible, I thought Mr. Mossberg was being a bit harsh on the device for its phone features. After all, it is a data device first and a phone second. However, the second half of his review focused on the data portion of the device. He praised the core Pocket PC 2002 OS, but was less gentle on the experience, some of which is Verizon's fault with their proprietary implementation of the new CDMA based 1X network they call "Express Network."
In my thought on Microsoft being able to step up and take advantage of the poor offerings currently on the market for integrated devices, I said I was ready for a device right now. Well, I am, but it has to be the right device. Microsoft has put a tremendous effort into the voice/data integration in their Smartphone 2002 and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software. I guess Audiovox didn't want to wait for the PPC2K2PE software to be baked or had other reasons for using their own dialer. Mr. Mossberg's final comments sum up the data integration. "Finally, the built-in phone software, supplied by a company called Sierra Wireless, isn't well integrated with the rest of the device. For instance, there's a separate address book for phone use. If you go to the main Contacts program, you can't dial a number. And, if you try to call up a Web page, the Thera won't automatically connect to the Internet to do so. All in all, I'd advise taking a pass on Verizon's Thera. It's unlikely to satisfy either the voice-oriented or the data-oriented user."
Being first to market has its advantages but does not guarantee success. Thanks to Steve Miller for the link.
