On-the-Go E-Mail for Everyday Cell Phones

CELL PHONE SERV CES

FULL-BLOWN E-MAIL management is the raison d'etre for BlackBerry units and Palm Treos. But what if you don't have a high-end cell phone? A pair of free services. Flurry and Telef lip, let you monitor e-mail on a variety of mass-market handsets. Both are useful, but in different ways. For Flurry you need a Javacapable phone that can access the Internet. After signing up, I got a text message with a link; when I clicked it, the service's Java client downloaded and installed in a matter of minutes. After that I launched the application, and it started downloading message headers. All of the e-mail ASK OUR EXPERTS

that it retrieves is processed through Flurry's servers, which compress images and strip down headers to keep your data airtime costs down. You can add multiple e-mail accounts and RSS feeds, as well as import CSV-formatted contact lists, via your account page on Flurry's Web site. You can also set filters so that, for example. Flurry delivers messages only from certain people. Flurry doesn't refresh your inbox until instructed to do so, but you can opt to get text messages alerting you to any new mail, or messages from specific senders. Flurry officials say it supports some 700 phone models worldwide, more phone mod-

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THE FLURRY INBOX shows abridged message headers.

TELEFLIP USES SMS to show e-mail messages on a cell phone.

Smart Parental Controls

I LIKE THE parental controls of Check Point's ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, but not the program as a whole. Can another program block unwanted Web sites just as well? -Zoolou, via the PCWorld.com forums

els than services from Gmail and Yahoo can support. But Flurry doesn't work on networks such as Alltel or Verizon that prohibit third parties from installing software on their devices without carrier support (this failing also holds true, however, for Gmail and other Java-based mobile clients that don't partner with such carriers). EASY ACCESSIBILITY TELEFLIP HAS NO suchproblem because it requires no software download. You just sign up online via your PC and list the addresses of senders whose mail you want delivered to your phone; Teleflip's servers immediately relay their messages as SMS text messages. That makes Teleflip feel like push e-mail, and makes it accessible to virtually every current handset. But Teleflip too has some
Flurry
PCW Rating Fast, free, convenient way to monitor e-mail or RSS feeds on a

Senior Editor Narasu Rebbapragada

responds: The parental controls in most Internet security suites block sites found in a database of known bad sites (commonly called a blacklist). ZoneAlarm supplements its database with real-time analysis for protection against unknown sites. Few other suites use real-time anaiysis in their parentai controls. McAfee internet Security 2OO7's parental controls employ an algorithm to block pornographic images, but in a review we didn't find the technology accurate (see find.pcworid.com/57466); McAfee says that it is upgrading the feature. You might consider a stand-alone parental-control tool such as ContentWatch's ContentProtect (www.contentwatch.com). We have not reviewed this program, but it promises reai-time site analysis. Need information or advice about a buying decision? Drop us a line at askourexperts@pcworld.com.

negatives: The service's whitelist approach, intended to keep your phone spam-free, makes monitoring your inbox difficult, and right now you can't authorize your entire contact list. Also, because SMS messages cannot exceed 160 characters, Telefiip must split longer messages into several smaller ones. (You can stop the messages at any time). Both companies plan to make money with ads located at the bottom of e-mail messages, lliough you don't pay for either service, you may need to pay carrier fees for data or for text messages, depending on your plan. If your carrier and handset support it. Flurry's superior feature set makes it the better choice. Teleflip might be worthwhile if you want to receive mail on your phone from only a few individuals. Yar'dena Arar
Teleflip
PCW Rating | Free delivery of e-mail via SMS messages is best for receipt of important, expected messages. Free flnd.pcworld.com/5742O

conventional Java phone. Free find.pcworld.com/57419

AUGUST 2007

WWW.PCW0RLD.COM

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