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Nokia helped launch the smartphone category five years ago with the original Communicator, a handset that looked like a typical (if large) cell phone closed and a mini laptop open. The mobile phone giant introduced the most recent models in this series, the 9300 and 9500, last year.

At CTIA Wireless 2005 in New Orleans this week, we sat down with Nokia Enterprise Solutions group executives Scott Lingren and Michael Cabot to discuss and, more importantly, get our hands on these new devices for the first time.

Size Matters
Although the 9500 (see top image) is the larger of the two new Communicators, with its bigger screen and keyboard, it was the 9300 that drew most of our attention.

Feature-wise, the 9300 is very similar to the other model, except—and this is important—its size, 5.2 x 2.0 x 0.83 inches, and weight, 5.9 ounces, are considerably smaller and lighter than the 9500’s 5.8 x 2.24 x 0.9 inches and 7.83 ounces.

That should make the 9300 more attractive to users in and out of the enterprise. It certainly made it more appealing to us. Unlike the 9500, the 9300 won’t look out of place when closed and next to your ear like a typical mobile phone.

Displays
We liked the new Communicators 620 x 200 pixel internal screens, as they’re physically and resolution-wise large enough to view most Web pages lengthwise without the scrolling and wrapping required by so many other smartphones. You can focus on a particular part of a page with a nifty zoom feature as well.

A smaller display on the outside of the top half of the phones supply typical mobile handset information (e.g. date, time, caller ID, etc.) when the devices are closed.

Navigation
We were skeptical before we checked out these phones because neither, like all Communicators before them, have a touch screen and therefore stylus input. Instead, there are a series of buttons and a mini joystick for navigation.

The joystick almost made us forget the lack of pen input, as it quickly became apparent that these handsets functioned well as mini laptops. Nevertheless, some users may find no touch screen hard to get passed.


9300 Communicator

Wi-Fi
One feature that sets the 9500 apart from its smaller sibling is the addition of Wi-Fi.

With Wi-Fi you can obviously connect to WLANs and hot spots for e-mail and Web access. It also creates a base from which Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone calls and dual-mode or seamless cellular/Wi-Fi switching—two of the hottest topics at CTIA this year—can stand.

Nokia’s Lingren said, however, the 9500 won’t support either of these technologies out of the box. VoIP would arrive first, of course, with dual-mode possibly becoming available somewhat further down the road for this device, if at all.

He told us, however, all future smartphones out of Nokia’s Enterprise Solutions group would be dual-mode enabled.

Although vendors introduced a number of dual-mode solutions and platforms at CTIA, a working implementation (and there are many different ways to enable it) supported by a wireless carrier in the U.S. is still a ways off. The technology’s potential in lowering costs for operators and consumers, improving overall service, and enabling more complex voice and data applications is enormous.

Plug-And-Play
Nokia’s executives informed us of an under publicized new feature to the Communicator series that should ease setup of un-locked—generally off the shelf—and locked—carriers often prevent the use of supported phones on other networks and unsupported phones on their own—versions of the 9300 and 9500.

These smartphones auto sense a mobile operator and automatically sets themselves up as soon as you turn them on; whether you take a SIM (System Identification Module) card out of an old phone and put it in the 9300 or 9500 or use a new one supplied by the carrier.

Mobile operators like this feature because studies show if a customer doesn’t use a data service (e.g. e-mail, Web access, multimedia & game downloads, etc.) within 72 hours, it is likely they never will. With data contributing more to the bottom line and voice services less, that’s an opportunity they are loathe to miss.

Availability
Both Communicators—already available in some European and Asian markets—should hit the U.S. over the next few months, with the 9300 leading the way.

The 9300 has been ready for American consumption for some time now. But since carriers require some level of customization on a new phone before launch and any handset must make its way through an often slow approval process, the new smartphone isn’t here yet. How long customization and, particularly, approval takes depends on the operator.

SmartPhoneToday should receive a 9300 for review in the next couple of weeks.

Additonal 9300 and 9500 details and specifications are available in the articles listed bellow.