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VisorPhone
Sunday January 14, 2001 - 5:11 PM EST - By James Hromadka

The Phone Application

Speed dial listingI remember the keynote address where Jeff Hawkins discussed what smart phones needed to have to be usable.  All of those things are in the VisorPhone.  The heart of the VisorPhone is its vaunted Phone application, which is the main application you will use with the VisorPhone.

The VisorPhone comes with a detailed 100-page manual -- you won't need it.  The Phone application is very intuitive.  Quickly press the Phone button on the right side of the VisorPhone to launch the Phone application.  This brings up a speed dial listing (you can also change the default screen).  You can have up to 50 speed dial entries with 10 per screen.

Edit Speed dial entryEdit speed dial buttonsTap on any empty space to create a speed dial entry.  Enter a name and phone number or use Lookup to select a phone number from your AddressBook.  Select Edit | Speed Dial buttons to edit a previously-created entry.  This is also a nice way to see how many speed dial entries you have.

At the bottom left of each section of the Phone application are three buttons to switch among Speed Dial, Manual Dial, and History.  You can also switch among the screens by repeatedly tapping the Phone button the same way you switch views with the DateBook button.  The top of the Phone application screen has the service provider (I used VoiceStream), signal strength, and a battery meter for the VisorPhone.

Dial padThe middle icon is Manual Dial; here there's a standard phone pad that you can use to dial numbers that aren't in the speed dial list or AddressBook.  This is a feature that I rarely used because all of the phone numbers I use are in my AddressBook (well maybe not PizzaHut :-)).

Once again, the large buttons make it easier to dial with your fingernail or with a stylus.

Call History listingThe right icon takes you into the Call History for the VisorPhone.  Here you can get details on your last 1000 phone calls, with information such as name, time of call, and duration of call.

Call DetailsThis is great for people that need to bill every second of their time to someone and can also be used to keep up with how many  free minutes you have left in the month, although there is no way to determine the total number of minutes in your Call History.  You can view either your Incoming calls, Outgoing calls, Missed calls, or all calls.  Icons next to the person's name let you know the type of call.

One glaring omission from the Call History is that it will not track any modem calls you make.  This could be dangerous if you start racking up minutes browsing VisorCentral Mobile or other websites with your Visor.

SMS >>  

Story Sections
VisorPhone
Making a Call
>The Phone Application
SMS
Using the Modem
Usability


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Product Details
Name: VisorPhone
Company: Handspring
Size: 2.4" x 2" x 0.6"
Weight: 2.9 oz.
Memory: 96 K on Visor when inserted
Hard Cover Compatible: No
SAR: 0.48 W/kg (head), 0.22 W/kg (body)
Price: $299.00 (w/ service contract), $499.00 (w/ no contract)





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