Smartphones Fall Short In Several AreasSmartphones Fall Short In Several Areas

Smartphones need work before they're the remote office in your palm you'd like. Here's some of what they still need:

> Dual-mode technology. This lets users switch between Wi-Fi and cellular networks without dropping a call or an Internet session. More than 300 million dual-mode mobile devices will ship worldwide by 2011, forecasts ABI Research. Some smartphones already ship with dual-mode, but the feature won't be widely used until carriers deploy IP multimedia subsystems, which let mobile devices swiftly pass from one network to another. WiMax also is expected to be part of this picture.

> Mobile browsers that are more like the desktop. There's been progress. Mozilla offers Minimo, a mini Firefox browser for Windows Mobile-based smartphones that gets better with each version. The latest offers tab browsing and spatial navigation. Internet Explorer Mobile now expands to full screen and has a download progress bar. Nokia's new E62 smartphone comes with the S60 browser, based on components of Apple's Safari Web Kit used in its Safari browser.

> More memory. This has been one of the biggest problems for businesses, and there's notable progress. The newest smartphones ship with 64 Mbytes of memory, double their predecessors, and include expandable memory slots.

> Better screens. Palm's Treo devices come with a touch screen and a stylus for easier navigation, and Sprint's PPC-6700 and Cingular's 8100 smartphones come with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which gives the screen almost twice the viewing area of the Treo. Yet these answers to small screens aren't enough, since users still are complaining.

> Battery life. Running applications on smartphones is a major battery drain. RIM says its BlackBerrys were specifically designed for wire- less data transmissions, so it uses the battery less often. But all smartphones need help on battery life. A good goal: letting mobile workers pull a full workday shift without recharging or switching to a different battery.

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