As the business world gets more and more hectic, users have the need to take their offices with them. There are times and places, however, that taking a laptop is not feasible. In times like that, something smaller is required. Often, people turn to smartphones, which are devices that combine the usefulness and portability of both cellular phones and PDA-type devices. The Nokia 9500 is such a device.

The 9500 provides fast data connectivity via a wireless LAN. It's possible to work with Microsoft Office documents--not just email attachments, but PowerPoint presentations and Access databases as well. All versions of Microsoft Office through Office 2003 are supported. The phone has two positions: open and closed. Closed, the 9500 looks similar to a traditional Nokia candybar-style phone. However, open it up (it's hinged along the side), to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, with a widescreen, full-color (65k) display.

The Nokia 9500 comes with the Symbian operating system, which has been recognized for being intuitive and easy-to-learn. Connectivity options include the normal MMS, email, and text messaging options. With the 9500, it is also possible to receive faxes straight to your cell phone. Other applications include a calculator, and video and audio players that support playback of RealVideo, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI, MP3, and AAC formats.

The Nokia 9500 comes with an Opera internet browser. This provides support for HTML, XHTML, and JavaScript. Support for the Macromedia Flash plug-in 5.0 and earlier is also provided.