The lowdown on all-in-one phones

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

An all-in-one phone, also called a smart phone, typically combines mobile phone functions with a personal digital assistant and, usually, a camera.

An all-in-one phone, also called a smart phone, typically combines mobile phone functions with a personal digital assistant and, usually, a camera. WiFi and particularly Bluetooth connectivity are increasingly common in all-in-one phones. Despite the occasional prognostications of doomsayers, smart phone sales continue to improve. Palm Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., reports that its Treo smartphone now represents half of its hardware sales. Some phones are offering 80MB or more of storage, with others allowing SD and other small memory cards. Future phones, industry insiders say, could have the 4GB capacity of Palm's LifeDrive PDA, but still in a manageable size. Battery life can be an issue in some cases, but generally, power consumption has been tweaked to provide longer use. Nearly every phone in our roundup offers Bluetooth connectivity, which should make both syncing with a desktop and hands-free use easier. Most of these phones feature a camera that will take decent, if not poster-size-quality, pictures.

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