Brighthand's First Look at the Garmin and Kyocera Handhelds

Garmin iQue 3600 GPS Handheld

Our on-the-scene Editor-in-Chief, Ed Hardy, reports back from CES that the recently announced Garmin iQue 3600 GPS handheld looks impressive.

"Not only does it offer a built-in GPS receiver, it's the first Palm OS model to offer more than 16 MB of RAM," he said.

However, he does point out that the unit, while attractive, is a bit thick. Its flip-cover attaches at the bottom and can flip all the way to the back, out of the way for everything but opening and closing the GPS antenna.

He did receive a interesting bit of information from one of the Garmin representative at the show. According to the rep, the iQue 3600 sports Palm's Universal Connector, so it should be able to handle the Palm Ultra-thin Keyboard. And we thought the Palm Solutions Group was keeping the Universal Connector all to themselves. In addition, Ed reports that Garmin is working on a model with integrated Bluetooth but is trying to overcome some nagging problems with RF interference between it and the GPS receiver.

Kyocera 7135 CDMA smartphone

The new Kyocera 7135 CDMA smartphone is "a pretty cool little device," according to Ed Hardy. He managed to use it for a while last night and reports that "the screen is pretty good and its MP3 player sounds great."

He also watched a Kyocera rep use the 7135 with a VPN client and SnapperMail to check his work email from the show floor. The whole process took just a few seconds, according to Ed.

"I was wondering if having the Graffiti area separate from the screen would throw me off but it doesn't at all," he reports. "And the SD/MMC card slot is great."

"At this point, the 7135 seems like a good option for those who want a voice-centric smartphone," he adds. "Especially with the MP3 player thrown in."

Related Links:

• Kyocera 7135 Palm OS Smartphone Due Tomorrow