Graduate to a Smart(er)

Meal card—check. New laptop—check. Class schedule—check. Hangover pills—check.

If you think you’ve made all the necessary upgrades for another year in college, check your pocket, frosh. That high school cell phone just won’t cut it on campus. Keeping schedules, doing last minute Web research, or just keeping up with the Paris Hilton wannabes in the sorority requires a total rethink in your personal wireless strategy. Here, then are some of the latest and greatest models for a wide range of student needs, from fiscally serious to flat out fun. Unless you are a hermit or not really a member of this generation at all, you already know about some of the mainstream sexy models like the ubiquitous RAZR, Chocolate and Blackjack. In this selection we sample from the real braniac models (a.k.a. “smart phones”) with full QWERTY keyboards and larger screens as well as some of the smaller (but still smarter) multimedia wonders.

Motorola Q

Carriers: Verizon

If you need a full QWERTY keyboard and oversized screen, then the “Moto Q” is well worth the added discomfort of pocketing a smart phone. It is about as thin as a RAZR and is as close to a portable PC as you will find. Running under Windows Mobile, it has a familiar Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player built in. The larger 320×240 screen really can handle mobile Web site navigation without cracking your retina. This is a business-like phone aimed at multimedia consumers. It plays back almost all the common and not-so-common video/audio formats, and it even has a micro-SD slot for high-capacity flash memory storage of media. And the on-board 1.3 mega-pixel camera lets you make some media of your own. It even has speech recognition built in for voice control of some applications. For texters-however, you are not apt to get a full keyboard in this slim a package anywhere else. If you email or text a lot, then the Q is worth considering. Hell, if you use your phone for all data-intensive purposes, then consider the Q.



For the Student Most Likely to: Celebrate making partner in the law firm by renting out the local Hard Rock for an all-night bash

Motorizer

Carrier: TBA

You have seen the RAZR and the KRAZR, now it is time to meet the RIZR, Motorola’s cool entry that is aimed at those who prefer sliding to flipping. The brick-like design slips open to give you a long candy bar look and feel in multiple colors. Yes, this is the new fashion phone, and like other deliberately hip entries this one is being distributed to select celebrities in order to dial up that cool vibe. It is the phone to appeal to fashionistas who communicate incessantly. The 2 Megapixel camera snaps hi-res images, and you can use the screen in landscape mode as an oversized viewfinder just like a standalone camera. And of course it is impossible to be a hip phone without audio capabilities. The RIZR supports MP3, AAC and other music formats, which you can sideload into the phone via a USB port and store on removable Micro-SD cards. With up to 2GB of memory available in removable flash, that gives you as much space as an iPod Nano. As they say in Sorority Row – Kewl!



For the Student Most Likely to: Be interviewed on the red carpet

Amp’d Jet

Carrier: Amp’d

The hipper-than-thou wireless service broke through the marketing clutter last year with edgy ads and promises of mobile-only content like the “Li’l Bush” animated political satire series. Amp’d has exclusive mobile development deals with MTV and Jack Black. The service offers varieties of RAZR and other familiar models, but to be distinctive try the hi-gloss licorice brick from Kyocera. The Jet delivers all of Amp’s 3G goodness, from TV streaming to downloadable audio and video. We play 3D games on it, too. The slider form factor opens up to a usable keypad and a 4-way directional pad that is pretty responsive for gaming. Push to talk, a VGA camera, and an SD slot for expandable memory up to 1GB round out an unusually big feature set for a squat little thing that is easy on the pocket.



For Students Who:
Have better things to do than go to class

Palm Treo 700p

Carriers: Sprint; Verizon

The guys who made PDAs and smart phones safe for mere mortals to use, Palm, continues to impress the market with its Treo series. Available in Windows Mobile and Palm operating systems, the Treo 700p is serious hardware for the seriously busy. You can get your Outlook email pushed to the Treo. There is a built-in reader for reviewing Microsoft Office files., including PowerPoint presentations. And because the 700p is a legacy entry from the oldest PDA family, the Palm OS version of the Treo can download and use literally thousands of third party apps designed expressly for the handheld format. There are elaborate contact and scheduling managers for you budding CFOs. Add to that a little fun, full 3G audio and video support, and this classic business phone can go out for a drink and dancing after work too. These Palm guys were being “smart” before anyone thought of joining the word with a phone.



For the Student Most Likely to: Get early acceptance to business school

Sony Ericsson Walkman W810i

Carrier: Cingular

Before there were iPods, there was the Sony Walkman, and many Europeans and now American like this rebirth of the classic brand better than the first attempts to bring iTunes to phones. Sony goes the distance with the W810i, stuffing into the candy bar slider not only an MP3 player but also an FM radio so you can sample new music the old fashioned way. You store music on the generous 20MB of on-board memory or Memory Stick Pro DUO flash cards that are now up to 2GB. Sony has another business, cameras and video, which it also plugs into the mix. The 2 megapixel camera delivers images up to 1600×1200 pixels sharp and with 5x zoom capabilities. Whether it is music, radio, video or image playback and sharing, the W810i is exactly the kind of phone you expect from Sony Ericsson. The Walkman has grown up.



For the Student Most Likely to: Be the first in line to buy the Playstation 4.

T-Mobile Sidekick 3

Carrier: T-Mobile

The phone that Paris Hilton helped make famous gets a third generation face lift. Small enough for a micro-pocketbook on the red carpet, this Sidekick is for relentless communicators. Its wide screen and QWERTY keyboard make e-mailing, texting, and IM-ing a breeze. The wide screen not only handles multimedia and picture taking well, it also shows the full HTML Web browser to full effect. You can surf the full blown Web as it was intended. It goes without saying that a hip accessory for premieres and Eurotrash parties has MP3 support, although the 1.3 Megapixel camera may not capture every thread of your friend’s killer dress. If you are tired of the same old flip phones and soap bar shaped devices, then this sideways communicator is perfect for anyone who just can’t stop talking…or typing.



For the Student Most Likely to: Text you twenty
times before lunch –OHMYGAWD!

Helio Drift

Carrier: Helio

The youth-oriented new service, Helio, tries to blend hip and portable in this slick slider. The oversized 320×280 screen occupies much of the closed face, and it accesses some of Helio’s 3G multimedia services like streaming video, all of which also plays in landscape widescreen mode. You can get over air and sideloaded music, which plays over stereo Bluetooth connections. And of course, there is fast Web access over that larger display. The real value add from Helio is MySpace Mobile, which lets you add pictures, comments, and blog posts to your page from anywhere and without a PC. Helio is all about bleeding edge capabilities, so this Samsung-made unit has a full 2 megapixel camera for pristine mobile shooting, a micro-SD slot. For the media hog, there is MP3/MPEG-4 A/V support and even 3D gaming. And if that is not enough, there is GPS capability built-in for any navigation or social networking apps that may want to use it.



For the Student Most Likely to: Land a massive first album contract for her all-girl garage band when an agent sees its profile page on MySpace

BlackBerry 8703e

Carrier: Sprint

Not all Blackberry’s have to be butt ugly barn doors. While the 8703e is a larger square model with full QWERTY keys, this is the tool serious e-mailers need to stay connected and reply with something more than three words. The 8703e is a step up from the classic model, with lit keypad, full phone functionality, high speed data access and a track wheel for navigating the icon-rich interface and full HTML Web browser. Ramping up the feature set makes e-mail just the centerpiece of a thinner, lighter Blackberry that can read message attachments files in Office formats and sync with your PC calendar and email over a USB cable. This Blackberry even plays polyphonic ring tones, MP3 ringtones and (yes) Java games. Because even “crackberry” addicts need something to do while waiting for others to reply to their last message.



For the Student Most Likely to: Mount a hostile takeover of Yahoo

Nokia E62

Carrier: Cingular

Nokia’s entry into the smart phone category is ambidextrous when it comes to messaging, since it supports both BlackBerry Server and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync email transfers. You can review all your Office files and even PDFs, and your calendar can sync over the air. The built-in HTML Web browser can view normal Web URLs, not just mobile Web pages. Nokia phones are almost always about play as well as work. Expect all the multimedia goodies: an MP3 player, voice-driven menus, ever manner of ringtones and even a voice memo feature.



For the Student Most Likely to: Bring her digital startup IPO before age 30