For those of us who want to fire off text messages quickly, AT&T’s full-keyboard Quickfire with a touch screen is ideal for fast text, picture, video and instant messaging.
Texters using traditional cell phones designed primarily for talking know too well the angst of having to tap the “7” key four times just to text the letter “S”.
Even with predictive T9 typing, which sometimes correctly guesstimates the rest of a word for you, many heavy texters really feel they’re born for a full QWERTY keyboard.
Developed by Personal Communications Devices (PCD) for AT&T under the name GTX75, the release of the Quickfire in time for the 2008 holidays rounds out a foursome of newly released quick-messaging cell phones for AT&T.
But the Quickfire isn’t for everyone.
Its touch screen isn’t as responsive or accurate as the touch screens on the iPhone and Instinct nor are the Quickfire’s software applications nearly as robust.
While the fact that this non-smartphone cell phone has a touch screen at all merely serves as a differentiator, the Quickfire’s true selling point is that it’s a device for textaholics.
The slider competes in the same vein as the highly popular Sidekick handsets with the full keyboard standing out as the most important perk in its feature arsenal.
While the Quickfire could be for new and experienced texters alike, it should not be confused in the same vein as a BlackBerry when it comes to email. The Quickfire clearly knows what it is and what it isn’t.
Though the Quickfire affords consumers access to personal email such as with Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail, an important distinction is that it’s not a business phone and it doesn’t support corporate email.
“The Quickfire is perfect for texting fans who let their thumbs do the talking and want the benefit of a full keypad but don’t need corporate email access or other business features,” said AT&T vice president Mark Collins in a statement.
While the Quickfire’s most prominent features are its full keypad and touch screen, it doesn’t fall short with other necessary features.
The handset is viewable in portrait and landscape mode and automatically shifts to the correct one for you based on your function. If you slide out the keyboard, for example, the Quickfire automatically swaps to horizontal viewing.
It’s also a 3G world phone, which means high-speed Internet access can be yours.
In addition, the Quickfire has a 1.3-megapixel camera with digital zoom and an integrated camcorder. The camera, though, should only be thought of as a feature that “gets the job done”. It certainly isn’t one that’d make a professional photographer happy.
The Quickfire also has Bluetooth for short-range wireless communications (i.e. for a wireless headset), GPS for turn-by-turn directions and maps, Web access, ringtones, fireware updates over the air, flight mode, games, graphics, mobile music capabilities and cellular video for streamed news, sports and TV shows.
Consumers should heed an important warning about the way AT&T has bundled GPS on the Quickfire. The service, which is branded as AT&T Navigator, comes standard on the Quickfire and is free only for the first 30 days. You’ll then be charged $9.99 per month for the service thereafter if you don’t proactively cancel it.
Its tool set should be considered quite standard and not nearly as expansive as the wide-ranging applications coming out every day for the iPhone. The Quickfire features an alarm clock, calendar, calculator, to-do list, notepad, stopwatch and currency converter.
The Quickfire also features speech recognition, a speakerphone, voice memos up to 4 minutes long and international dialing. Napster Music and eMusic Mobile are available on the Quickfire and do cost extra. The Quickfire comes in orange, lime and silver.
