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Top pick: Speed dialing
Our favorite smartphone just got better. Palm's Treo 700p (available now from Sprint and Verizon, and eventually from other carriers) delivers voice calling, e-mail, instant messaging, Internet browsing, calendar, contact information, and literally hundreds of other mobile applications in a streamlined handset that runs Palm's elegant mobile operating system. (Its corporate cousin, the 700w, introduced earlier this year, is based on the clunkier mobile version of Microsoft Windows.)The 700p includes support for EV-DO, the fastest cellular data service for mobile devices in North America. If your graduate doesn't live in an area with EV-DO service, data transfers will occur at slower CDMA 1X speeds. The 700p also offers built-in dial-up networking, which allows the phone to act as a wireless, high-speed laptop modem for, say, checking e-mail while waiting for the plane to take off or filing reports from the park bench. Who needs Wi-Fi? Other happy improvements include a bright display, a voice recorder, a music player, a better digital camera, and more memory. Use the phone's built-in calculator to figure out the price: Sprint and Verizon charge $550 or $400 depending on the length of the service contract, plus monthly voice and data fees. (www.sprint.com, www.verizon.com) Music: • Fishscale Ghostface Killah (Def Jam, $11) • We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Bruce Springsteen (Dualdisc, Sony, $20) • The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 Miles Davis (Sony, $110) |
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