Monday, January 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

THE ONLINE GUY: Get Web power in your pocket

Connecting to the Web from just about anywhere just got easier. All you need is a mobile phone with Bluetooth wireless functionality and the checkbook-size PocketSurfer Web Viewer (www.pocketsurfer.net).

The PocketSurfer was previewed at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It sells for $199.95. With it, you will need monthly service that ranges from $10 to $15 and a mobile phone. You will use either your mobile phone plan minutes or data transfer services while surfing.

Bluetooth (www.bluetooth.com) is a brand of wireless connectivity that communicates between devices, in this case the phone and the PocketSurfer. Don't fret if your mobile phone doesn't have Bluetooth built in. A small adapter is available for most models for about $30.

If you've surfed the Internet, you'll have little trouble getting used to navigating on the PocketSurfer. The sleek, folding device weighs just 5.9 ounces and has a large thumb keyboard. It displays Web pages in full color on a screen 640 pixels wide by 240 pixels deep. Clicking on links and using vertical and horizontal scrolling to see everything on a page is simple.

Web pages load quickly thanks to proprietary compression technology developed by PocketSurfer creator Datawind (www.datawind.com).

Datawind Chief Executive Officer Suneet Singh Tuli said pages are sent through "acceleration servers" en route to the PocketSurfer, resulting in files that are 10 to 30 times smaller than their original size. That means fast downloads.

For example, the CNN.com home page loads in about 7 seconds on the PocketSurfer, compared with 49 seconds on a Handspring Treo Smartphone and 87 seconds on a Pocket PC device.

"Instead of a walled garden approach where the mobile service says these are the 10 sites you can get to (on a Web-enabled phone), we let the user go where they want to go," Tuli said. "The concept is simple. It's the Web."

PocketSurfer works with all mobile phone networks and supports Java and Flash display, but doesn't yet have sound, so don't plan on tuning in to your favorite Internet radio sites.

The device is being marketed in the United States by CellStar (www.cellstar.com) of Dallas. They work with more than 75 independent regional mobile phone carriers, many of which will carry the PocketSurfer. You can buy the PocketSurfer and monthly service for $11.95 online now at the Fox Communications Group site (www.foxcommunicationsgroup.com). Morris Fox of Las Vegas is an independent distributor and has tested the device for several months.

"It's the Internet anywhere you go," Fox said.

Happy (pocket) surfing.

Share your Internet story with me at: mailto:agibes@reviewjournal.com and be sure to visit The Online Guy Web site at: (www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/onlineguy)