For the last couple of years mobile phone handset makers have been
promising a new generation of telephones that offer video
conferencing, high speed data and a host of other space-age
functions that will supposedly make our lives better. These have
all been nothing but promises - until now.
With the launch of trial services on NTT DoCoMo's third generation
(3G) network on 30 May and the launch late last year of high-speed
data services (so-called 2.5G services) on several South Korean
networks, the first of a new generation of mobile phones are now
finally a reality.
NTT DoCoMo is offering the 4,000 people that will take part in its
four-month service trial a choice of two handsets or a PC Card data
modem.
The more impressive of the two handsets comes from Matsushita
Electric Industrial, better known by its Panasonic brand name. The
P2101V includes a video camera and allows on-the-move video
conferencing. The camera is almost hidden away but can be spotted
in the hinge between the two halves of the clamshell style
telephone handset.
The second of the two DoCoMo handsets is from NEC. The N2001 is
much more like current generation I-mode handsets but also supports
the 384k bit-per-second, high-speed data service when hooked up to
a computer. Like other I-mode handsets, the telephone has a large,
colour LCD (liquid crystal display) and, when accessing I-mode,
will use a 64k-bps data channel - more than six times faster than
the current service.
The PC Card modem P2401 is designed for people who want to send and
receive large amounts of data while on the move or away from the
office and is manufactured by Matsushita. The all-in-one card has
everything needed to access the network and does not have to be
connected to a telephone.
A hint at which type of handset might prove to be more popular in
the future could be seen in the applications from users for places
on the trial service. Limited to just 4,000 people, DoCoMo said it
received 147,000 applications to join the service with 60% of
people asking for Matsushita's video conferencing cell phone. The
NEC model was requested by 30% of people, while 10% of applicants
asked for the PC Card modem.
In South Korea, 2.5G cellular services were launched late last year
although the first generation of handsets were little more than
voice handsets with high speed data support. The CDMA2000 network
was built on top of the second generation code division multiple
access network and offers data transmission and reception at up to
144k bps.
Now, Samsung Electronics has launched the first commercial handset
that takes advantage of these speeds for video transmission. The
telephone has a 2 inch thin film transistor liquid crystal display
screen that can display up to 200,000 colours and can support both
video-on-demand and audio-on-demand.
An MPEG-4 video decoder and stereo music player are built in to
facilitate the latter functions. Samsung imagines network service
providers will soon begin offering databases of video and audio for
users of the telephone.
In text mode, the telephone can display up to 12 lines of text and
a Windows user interface allows users to edit the telephone
directory, which can hold up to 2,400 entries. Through the PC link,
users can also transfer and download icons, images and ring
melodies into the telephone.
Contact
Visit NTT DoCoMo at
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/
Visit Samsung at
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/
.