Now You Can Take It with You

Sitting down at a computer is so 2007. New, more powerful mobile devices make it easier to compute on the go.

By Michael Doan, Senior Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

January 18, 2008

"Portability" is a word you'll hear a lot this year. More mobile phones will enable many users to do what they now do on desktop computers: scan the Internet, view TV broadcasts, play two-way video games, access social networking Web sites and more. In fact, it will be hard to find a talk-only cell phone by year end. But even with the added functions, cell phone prices will come down this year.

Web tablets will finally take off, with qwerty keyboards on a touch screen and complete Web surfing features. At 6 inches by 3 inches, these devices are a cross between a laptop computer and a cell phone. Sony's $300 Mylo 2, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show this month, allows users to edit photos, access YouTube and Facebook and listen to music. And the Nokia N810 tablet, introduced in October and priced at $479, has a touch pad screen, a slide-out keyboard and GPS connectivity.

Google will develop a phone with better Web browsing ability. Instead of the small number of Web sites offered by most cell phones now, Google's phone will enable broad Web access. It will speed up searches, and its mapping technology will let users locate nearby restaurants, for example, as well as view menus and read recent reviews.

What's enabling portable devices to offer more Internet functions? It's the willingness of more cell phone companies to let outside companies tailor software to their phones. Unlike desktop computers, mobile phone applications are generally controlled by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and other cell phone carriers. If you want to purchase a product, for example, you need to go to the phone company's Web site rather than visit Amazon.com, eBay and other popular sites. Game players are also limited to the company's games. Now that Google is opening its online network to outsiders, Verizon has promised to follow suit, and others are also likely to do so.

Even more service improvements are on tap for 2009 after the sale of airwaves in the Federal Communications Commission auction on Jan. 24, 2008. Once TV stations free up wireless spectrum when they go all digital, mobile technology will be even more competitive, lowering prices further.

Meanwhile, more laptop users will buy wireless service from cell phone carriers and hook up to Wi-Fi hot spots when they're on the go. And like cell phone prices, laptop costs are also heading south. A number of notebook computers will drop below $500 this year. Newer, costlier laptops are slimmer and lighter. For example, the new MacBook Air, just introduced by Apple, is less than an inch thick.

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