Ed Zabrek's Technology Report: THE Q-Phone has ARRIVED!!

As I wrote previously, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Q-Phone from Qualcomm. This has been no easy task for anyone and I owe a great deal of thanks to both Qualcomm (in particular Diana Baldwin) and PrimeCo (superior accolades to Maria Vajgrt); without their persistence, a review would not have been possible for some time.

This is only my first half day of using this miraculous LITTLE device, and so far, it has not been disappointing. If the phone is available in your area, I highly recommend you check it out and BUY IT!

The phone is similar in size and design to the Motorola StarTac series. I have owned a StarTac and prefer the Q-Phone for many reasons. 1st and most obviously, it has a 5-line LCD screen which is well back lit, as compared to the Motorola LED screen which I found difficult to see outside on sunny days. Second, and I feel the most important distinction, is that this phone is truly digital (the Motorola is pure analog) and the sound quality rivals that of a corded land line phone!

At my last writing, I mentioned that I was reviewing the Motorola PageWriter 2000. Now that I have both units, I can compare them side by side. Is it fair to either unit to compare a 2-way pager with a full digital phone? After reading this, you decide.

First lets look at the similarities:

1. Both are about the same size and weight and are worn in a belt holster
2. Both provide 2 way communications
3. Both cost about the same to purchase, and for the monthly service (depending on optional features)
4. Both can deliver Alpha and numeric messages, along with news and stock quotes
5. Battery life is fair on both units, so I recommend that extra batteries and chargers be placed in both home and office (the Q-phone has the distinct advantage of being able to be charged in the car with the optional car battery eliminator/charger.)
6. Both have voice mail
7. Both can link to the PC
8. Both will wake you up out of a sound sleep

The PageWriter 2000 has an advantage that it can be read directly from the belt, without removing the unit. It has 10 lines of text as opposed to the Q-Phone's 4 lines. The 2000 can also act as a very limited PIM with its QWERTY keyboard for input. (Again, with such limited memory, I do not feel that this is a truly usable feature.) A nice feature of the 2000 is that it can be programmed with distinctive alerts for as many situations as you desire. It was nice, while in surgery, my 2000 went off with programmed alert from my home phone, so I knew that I did not have to respond immediately. One other major advantage is that 2000 is a nationwide pager with an 800#. 2000 also can take a chain or bungee cord which helps to keep it from crashing to the floor. I wish Q-Phone would add a little eyelet on the phone so that it could be better protected. (Maybe in case design.)

The disadvantages I see in the 2000 are:

1. It is an extremely complicated unit to use. The manual is 72 pages! I do not find this in and of itself a problem; however, one would think it was translated from Japanese. When I first received the unit, I wanted to program my alerts as I described above. The manual was extremely misleading, so I called SkyTel Tech support. They have been trained on the unit, but all that they could do was read the manual and get as confused as I was. I told them that I would just call Motorola Tech support for an answer. When I called Motorola, I was on hold for 20 minutes, then told I would be transferred to someone who could help me. They would not give a direct number to that area of tech support, and wouldn't you know it, they cut me off in the transfer process. I did not have any desire to call back. After several hours of fooling around with the unit, I finally figured it out.
2. Tech support is beyond bad (see #1).
3. Battery life, while not awful, is not wonderful. You only get 1 charger, and 1 battery. (I am certain that this will change in the future.)
4. The fact that the batteries are not standard AA or AAA. So if you run low or out, you are out of luck. Q-Phone, while having a shorter battery life overall, solves this with #5 above.

Now for the Q-Phone. As a mobile phone unit, I have never seen a better, more complete, easier to use unit. The manual is well written and easy to understand. (Though I found myself just using the phone's self guiding menus to answer most of my questions.) PrimeCo is an extremely proud and professional company with excellent, friendly, knowledgeable and easily accessible tech support staff. This unit has all of the advantages of a phone, with many other features (including pager-like size)! In the near future, you will be able to link your laptop via a connecting cable to Q-phone and access the Internet on your PC! If you had enough battery life in your PC and your phone, this could be done at the beach (watch out for sand) or while camping (watch out for bears). There is a unit made by Panasonic that sells for about $500.00 that allows you a wireless Internet connection to a laptop so long as you are not farther than 50-100 feet, unobstructed from the transmission terminal attached to a land line. This is great if you have a house on the beach, but who wants to sweat on the computer when you can just go back and forth to your beach house? I sure don't.

Seriously, Q-Phone is a genuine "future technology" product that will serve physicians well and probably serve them well into the next millennium. I will be receiving and reviewing accessories for the Q-Phone in the next few days. I am also hoping to get software to try out the text messaging feature. As I get these, I will let you know how they work.

There are many plans in development that I will go into in later writings. In the meantime, as new and exiting uses or experiences occur with this mini-marvel, I will keep you posted. My main excitement today, aside from getting the phone, is that I called UPS to come pick up my PageWriter 2000. I won't be sorry to see that guy go back to Motorola.

If any of you have experiences you would like to share, please e-mail. When I write the final review, I will be submitting it to Mobile Computing Magazine in a physician's column. Any additional feedback and testimonials
(good or bad) will be welcomed!

Keep on Teching
Edward M. Zabrek, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.
Obgyn.net TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT