Are you getting the message yet?
Jim Jamieson
Province
What it is: LG Rumour
Price: Starts at $74.95 on select plans on a three-year contract.
Why you need it: Your mobile phone exists more for tapping than talking.
Why you don’t: You’re a traditionalist who likes to do your messaging from a full-sized keyboard.
Our rating:
T alking has become a secondary activity for a growing segment of mobile phone users.
It’s no longer just young people who are using their phones to send texts, e-mail and instant messages and want to stay in touch wherever and whenever through social networking sites such as Facebook.
With this in mind, Bell Mobility just launched the LG Rumour, a mobile phone designed to make this capability as simple as possible for those who enjoy sending messages.
The LG Rumour is a bar phone with a slider keyboard (full QWERTY) — along with a numeric keypad — that includes a media player, 1.3 MP camera/camcorder, speakerphone and access to Windows Live Messenger, Facebook and GPS Nav.
This device is far from the only phone on the market with these kinds of specs, but is a lower-priced alternative to some of the other models.
Bell Mobility also announced the launch of Mobile e-mail, a push e-mail service for smartphones that operate on Microsoft Windows Mobile devices, as well as select Bell Mobility phones. The service also offers full personal information management (PIM) capabilities such as calendar, contacts, tasks and notes.
Bell says Mobile e-mail also features advanced security tools, including the ability to remotely lock the device or wipe all personal information in the event of loss or theft. It also has the capability to restore all personal information, if necessary.
Mobile e-mail is included with any data rate plan for smartphones, which start at $15 per month.
© The Vancouver Province 2008