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Samsung have also announced a new Korean phone, the Samsung SPH-V6800.  According to mobilemag, the SPH-V6800 features a slim 240×320 262K 2.0” TFT LCD QVGA screen, 1.3MP digital camera, MPEG4 video recording, voice-recognition, MP3/AAC audio playback capabilities, video-on-demand, TV-output, EV-DO, plus a built in Wi-Fi wireless 802.11b LAN. Surprisingly, given Samsung’s current love of mobile TV, there’s no DMB feature.

 

The SPH-V6800 is only 120g in weight, and 96.8 x 47 x 24.5mm.

Expect prices to start at about $477 USD, but as I said, it’s only available in Korea at present (form KTF, to be precise).

 

[Source: MobileMag]

 

Samsung has announced an amazing array of new handheld devices for terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) – that’s Mobile TV to you and me.  In South Korea, a free terrestrial DMB service will begin on 1st December (something which the mobile network operators aren’t too happy about, as they can’t charge for the content), and Samsung are keen to capitalize on this new service, with devices ranging from mobile phone handsets to digital cameras all capable of receving DMB mobile TV broadcasts.

The good news for Europeans? DMB has already been adopted in Europe for multimedia delivery, and trials have already begun, or are in preparation, in  France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK.  So expect these devices in Europe throughout 2006 (not sure about the US yet – if anyone has any more news, please feel free to update me).

 

As for the plethora of handsets you see here, I can offer no more than Google’s trusty Korean-English translation service tells me. And that is that Samsung are offering a “ground green onion DMB service” for the hearty price of “20 full large openings”. Er, think I can see why the translation service is still in beta!

 

 

 

As you can see from the pic, this new Nokia phone is one of those strange PDA/smartphone convergence devices – you know, the type where the convergence hasn’t quite happened yet. Too big to be a phone, too oddly-shaped to be a PDA. Nokia have been selling them for years, though, so presumably they manage to find a niche for them somewhere in the business world. I seem to recall Paul Daniels having one (an ageing British magician – think David Copperfield crossed with Wallace (he of Wallace & Grommet’ fame’) – which isn’t, perhaps, the best advert for the device that Nokia marketing execs could hope for!

 

The 9300i does seem to have exceptional communications features though:  E-GPRS (EDGE) and WLAN 802.11g, five party conference calling via an integrated speakerphone and multiple email clients (with attachments), including BlackBerry Connect, Nokia Business Center, IBM WebSphere, Oracle Collaboration Suite, Seven Always-On Mail and Visto Mobile.

 

More details on the Nokia 9300i smartphone after the jump

 

[Source: Nokia]

 

Pantech have also announced the launch of the Pantech IM-8700 F2F (Face 2 Face) mobile phone, which features real time, high quality video communication running at 10 frames per second (fps) imaging speed.  Combined with a sizeable 2.2 inch screen, it gives the user a faster, more interactive communications experience with other callers, without any interruption of the conversation.

 

The IM-8700’s real party piece, though, is the fun, easy to use “Auto Rotary Telephony” function that recognizes the user’s location. When calls are received, the 2 mega-pixel camera or earpiece automatically faces towards the user for convenience. 

 

Hang on…how does it know where your head is?! These Korean mobile phones are starting to freak me out! First there was the KTF-T1000, which could manipulate your mind; now the Pantech IM-8700, which knows where your head is. Is it me, or are Korean phones becoming the new more advanced Robo-Sapien?!

 

More details of the Pantech IM-8700 head-turning mobile phone after the jump.

 

[Source: 3G.co.uk]

 

Pantech have announced the launch the Pantech IM-8600 mobile phone, a new Korean mobile phone with an enormous 5 megapixel camera phone facility. Not quite as good as Samsung’s  SPH-V8200 8 megapixel camera phone, but a technological feast nonetheless, and all in a very tasty looking handset as well.

 

The IM-8600 is a rotating clamshell camera phone with revolutionary ‘Meca Shutter’ camera technology from Pantech, which controls the amount of light used during the photographic process, allowing users to get a far sharper, more defined quality of picture.

 

More details on the Pantech IM-8600 camera phone after the jump.

 

[Source: 3g.co.uk]

 

UK fixed-line telecoms company BT has announced that it is taking on the likes of Vodafone and Orange by launching a new service that enables customers to make free mobile phone calls.  The service will only work with WLAN-equipped smartphones, such as the forthcoming new Nokia phone, the N91 (left), which will use BT software that routes calls free of charge through local area wireless connections to the Internet.

 

BT is expected to announce details of the service before Christmas and it will available early next year. The calls will be free, but there will be a flat charge to use the network.

 

More details on BT’s free mobile phone calls service after the jump

 

 

Continuing with yesterday’s post on 3G’s less-than-inspiring adoption rate, I found a report on the ‘Mobile Music’ seminar in October 2005, in which Kim Grams, formerly of US wireless carrier Cingular Wireless, discussed some of the obstacles facing 3G adoption in in the US and Europe:

 

From the post:

 

 

 

But as I said yesterday, for mobile operators to improve 3G adoption rates, they must accept that they are just the pipe. Will they never learn?!

 

[Source: Electric News]

 

What would you buy with a cool million dollars? A mobile phone? No, me either, but Austrian craftsman Peter Aloisson is hoping some people will, as he’s going to be crafting the world’s first million-dollar mobile.

 

 

Of course the mobile phone will feature solid gold parts with 2,590 diamonds, but surely they’re better placed (and, some would argue, ever so slightly less vulgar) on, say, jewellery?! And no doubt, following the trend set by the other high end phones, the features of this one will be pants as well. To those who go and buy one, simply: Why?!

 

 

3G could be due for a long-awaited surge in popularity in 2006, according to a report by the BBC.  Currently, simple voice and SMS texting far outweigh all other services in Europe, with only 1 Euro spent per customer per month on all other services combined.  This is not good news for the network operators who collectively spent some £22 billion on 3G licenses for the UK alone.

 

The BBC’s article, by Stephen Cole, argues that the launch of new higher speed 3G services such as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), coupled with better software and the 2006 World Cup, could all lead to renewed increase in 3G and better service offerings by the network operators and service providers. But I’m not convinced…

 

Read more about my doubts for the 3G industry after the jump.

 

[Source: BBC News]

 

Nokia have announced their N-Gage mobile gaming phone will shortly cease to be.  They’ve decided the N-Gage was not the success they wanted, so have discontinued it, and aim to include the main gaming features of the N-Gage within their series 60 smartphones.

In one respect, this is a shame – the N-Gage was a bold move by Nokia, and showed at least that the company are prepared to gamble.  However, although a mobile gaming device seemed like a good idea (and certainly sales of the Nintendo GameBoy and PSP prove that there is a market for games on the go), the flaws of the N-Gage are only too apparent, and have been endlessly pointed out.  Is it a mobile phone, is it a games machine? If the latter, then why am I putting such a hugfe thing next to my ear and speaking into it?! If the former, why’s it so damn big and clunky? And, in the words of Slashdot commenter Y-Crate:

“ The screen’s aspect ratio was 180 degrees off, the device had to be disassembled to change games, it tried to be the Swiss Army Knife of phones and failed miserably at it…the brutally awful sidetalking “feature” along with the painfully awkward keypad made it something that not even the overpowering hype could render a somewhat decent product in the minds of potential customers.”

The good news, though,  is that Nokia will be focusing on mobile music phones for the rest of 2005; on mobile TV for 2006; and then back to mobile gaming once again in 2007, when “screen sizes and quality will be much more conducive to mobile gaming systems”,  according to Antti Vasara, Nokia’s vice president for corporate strategy.  So don’t give up hope of mobile gaming taking off successfully – just hope Nokia employ some people who known about gaming before they try again!

[Source: Vnunet]