Thanks to microbrowsers, e-mail is cool

Regular readers of The Travel Technologist will notice a conspicuous absence of cellular phone topics lately.

That’s because I had to promise my editor I would stop writing about portables for a few weeks while everyone cooled off. A series of controversial columns about driving with the gadgets had overloaded my mail server with flames from indignant business travelers. More than a few of them claimed they could safely steer a vehicle at 80 mph and dial a phone number at the same time.

Now comes yet another reason to play with fire: a package on my doorstep from CoolEmail, a unified messaging service that lets you access Web-enabled wireless phones and personal digital assistants, with a Sprint PCS NP1000 phone and a ready-to-go e-mail account.

OK, maybe just one story.

The idea behind CoolEmail is clever. It’s more or less the same thing you’d get from any of the other unified messaging services on the Web – a topic I’ve already written about extensively in previous installments of this feature – but, with a twist. CoolEmail moves a step closer to that elusive dream of integrating phone, e-mail, fax and paging into a single device with its new “microbrowser” technology.

While all of that may sound far too complex to do you any good, it’s really pretty simple. Practically speaking, it means that you can log on to the Internet through your cell phone and check anything from voice mails to e-mails without having to make an expensive phone call.

One of the things that I like best about CoolEmail is it understands that business travelers don’t want to be bothered with ads. It charges $14.95 for its unified messaging product, a suite of applications that allows you to receive, reply, forward and send new messages by fax, e-mail or voice mail, plus synchronization features and the ability to check multiple accounts.

I had some trouble getting connected to its microbrowser from my cell phone and was disappointed that I couldn’t get the service to answer my office phone number (you have to dial a pre-assigned toll-free number to leave a voice mail). But this unified service stacks up nicely compared with other Web-based rivals I’ve reviewed, including Evoice.com, Onebox.com and Etrieve.com.

But the real star of the show is the phone itself (sadly, each is sold separately). I’m planning a column comparing the GSM-based PCS service with the analog alternatives, as well as some discussion about why we here in the United States can’t seem to get our act together when it comes to cellular standards. In the meantime, there’s the NP1000, better known as the “everything” phone.

This thing really does it all. Syncs with the appointments and contacts on your PC. Stores about 500 addresses and phone numbers. Comes with a big screen and a relatively intuitive interface. Not only that, but it looks cool, with its champagne finish and futuristic buttons. It even accepts voice commands.

Which isn’t to say this phone doesn’t have any limitations. I ran out of space when I tried to download all of my contacts. The NP1000 isn’t a dual-band phone, so I won’t be leaving the country with it, much to the relief of the folks at CoolEmail and Sprint. Price is somewhat of a setback – $299 for the phone, which is in the “more expensive” range of cellular phones.

I did not like all of the typing and backspacing that’s necessary in order to enter text on to this cell phone. For example, it took three minutes to type a single URL. When you enter text into the NP1000, you have to use its numeric keypad, which takes some getting used to. I couldn’t seem to get a feature called the Tegic T9, which automatically matches your keystrokes with words in an internal word database to predict the word you are typing, to work for me.

You know where I’m going on this, don’t you? In and of themselves, neither the Sprint phone nor CoolEmail are dangerous. Put them together and they’re an accident waiting to happen. A traffic accident, to be exact.

Look, I love the concept of a microbrowser on a cell phone, where you can check messages without incurring the high costs of a cellular call. However, I note that the NP1000 comes with an optional portable hands-free car kit. Has anyone bothered to think about what will happens when someone tries to respond to an e-mail using the cellular phone’s clunky input device while they’re driving?

Didn’t think so.

Most business travelers already live dangerously, from the 14-hour days they work to the high-cholesterol diets they endure. What’s more, many of them think the rules don’t apply to them. Want proof? I have several hundred e-mails from road warriors that start, “I think driving and talking on the phone should be illegal … but when I do it, it’s safe.”

I’m pretty sure that microbrowser-based messaging is going to be a hit, but I’m worried that it will be the wrong kind of hit. The challenge, of course, is how to make something like a cell phone/unified messaging system as safe as it is effective. How can we encourage the prudent use of new wireless systems?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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