Introduction, the exposition
As our regular readers possibly know already, we have, as our good custom is, traveled to Barcelona, to the exposition called Mobile World Congress – it changed its name since 2008 – to be able to give an account at first hand about the news, trends, technologies going to be presented there. This resulted in 32 news entries covering the most important events at MWC. Let’s stick a bit to numbers: the event in Spain has attracted this year 55.000 visitors, they had the possibility of visiting more than 1.500 stands at the exposition, that took place at an area with a size more than 30.000 square meters. According to a survey of the organizers, more than 2.700 articles have appeared in the press related to the events there; after some quick calculations it is visible than Mobilearsenal gave more 0.01% of this and that’s something.
I would now disregard of a subjective presentation of our experiences, though I would still give an account of some things before writing about the handsets. This might be particularly interesting for those who have already been at a similar event (CeBIT, CES or maybe Mobilshow). The most interesting and the most joyful thing at the same time was, that number of hostess girls at the stands is something that was very close to zero and we interpreted this as a fact that MWC is not about buggering people, but this is the place where those interested can talk with professionals. There was a surprisingly small number of these professionals present, just like in the case of press representatives, who were also very few in number and such they deserved a special attention. We have really liked this situation!
Most of the devices exposed were mobile phones; we have rarely met tech-stuff (thin LCD panels, different kinds of technologies, etc.), just like navigation and other portable devices. The hotbed for these devices is still CeBIT, taking place next month, an exposition we are sure to visit between March 4. and 9. After this nice ending let’s start concluding what we have seen, beginning with mobile phones manufacturers.
Alcatel, LG, Motorola
Alcatel
Alcatel had is representative office set up separately from other manufacturers, they had a spectacularly decorated truck not far from the entrance, this was the place where anyone who was curious could have taken the new low-end phones in his hands. They put their press conference on the next-to-the-last day, thus avoiding any conflicts with large manufacturers; still not many people were interested in this event. I care to mention that the manufacturer pays exclusive attention to the press, they had the highest-standard presentation and this is where we received the gift package we liked the most. Based on what we heard, we can say that the new management is very self-confident and even more aggressive. They were sentences flying around and upon hearing them we didn’t know which way to turn: Alcatel will be amongst the five largest manufacturers within a few years, as the quality of their devices not only is as good as the other manufacturers’, but even better. This is a bit tough, I think.
Alcatel One Touch Sport and V770
All phones presented were low-end ones. It is joyful that the first 3G-capable Alca was announced, moreover, some of the new models have OLED display. It is a pity, however, that they are still in bad terms with resolution, even their "top model" has received a 176 x 220 display and in terms of camera, the best is the 1.3 megapixel one. I would like to mention two models: the stylish, V770, that is altogether not thicker than 10 mm and the sport phone with an OLED display and step-counter, the One Touch Sport. It’s interesting, that the manufacturer also presented an HSDPA modem, the reason was really funny: "Alcatel has great experience in the field of 3G and HSDPA technologies and thus the release of such a device was a completely reasonable step."
LG
LG has created quite a few devices last few years and they were the first to launch a completely touch-controlled handset (this was the Prada), so we were very excited to visit the completely average press conference. They have presented three new devices, all of them have a touchscreen display – there is nothing surprising in that after knowing the preliminaries.
We were most fascinated about the slider phone named KF510. It has a slim, high quality case, opening mechanics reminding of luxury phones, touch-sensitive controls, fair feature-list (although 3G is missing), exceptionally fast software.
The KF600 is an even more interesting piece: it has two displays, the lower has a diameter of 1.5” and is touch-sensitive and the upper is not and has QVGA resolution. The smaller display always shows the icons representing the available choices in the current menu, which is although not a completely new concept (Samsung E950) but his time it’s done in a fair manner. The most interesting part is the picture viewer: when started the touchscreen display shows the full picture currently viewed, while the larger screen displays the zoomed part, selected on the touchscreen.
Last, but not least, the KF700. Well, this is another completely touch-sensitive piece with a 3” display, but it also has a slideable numeric keypad. The software is similar to the one used on the Prada, but of course it has been refined a bit – pity we didn’t feel any special developments regarding speed. All devices are expected to become available in Q2 2008.
Motorola
From the large ones, the American manufacturer was the only one not to organize a press conference, or at least its news didn’t get to us (if thinking logically the latter seems more realistic). They had a stand however – a nice, large one – but the novelties weren’t so convincing.
Z10, or return of the banana… and it still look like a banana. Although it knows more, the greatest hit being the 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, Motorola didn’t manage anything like this before. It is a known fact, however, that some kind of cooperation is expectable in the near future between the manufacturer and the company named Kodak, which has some considerable experience in the field of camera production, so does the question come: was it worth for the company to develop an autofocus camera "at home"? Returning to the Z10: Symbian UIQ 3.2 operating system and not, I repeat, not touchscreen display (interesting pair), HSDPA, metal case.
The other device worth to mention was a music phone, the E8. An interesting, unique design, nice exterior, use of quality materials, QVGA display, 2GB internal memory, 2 megpaixel camera, touch-sensitive navigational semicircle which helps quick movement around the menu and seeking in music.
Nokia, Sagem, Samsung, Sony Ericsson
Nokia
Nokia’s stand was one of the most crowded ones on the whole exhibition, everyone was curious about the multimedia monster, the N96. 2.8” QVGA display, front cover slideable in two directions, 5 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, HSDPA, 16 GB internal memory – which is expandable – , Symbian operating system – so it really has no deficiencies in terms of multimedia.
The other N-series newcomer is named N78. This is a musical model, and the best thing in it is that it can play back music for 24 hours. It doesn’t have any problems in the list of its other features either: it has a Symbian operating system, the display has a diameter of 2.2” and QVGA resolution, it has GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, the camera with Carl-Zeiss lens is a 3.2 megapixel one and amongst the included accessories we can find a 2 GB microSD card.
Besides the aforementioned devices Nokia presented two other handsets in Barcelona, the 6220 Classic and the 6210 Navigator. The earlier is a HSDPA-capable model with a somewhat low-keyed exterior and a 5 megapixel camera, the latter one is a phone specialized in navigation, the exposed piece was very slow in doing its job so we haven’t been convinced – for now.
Nokia 6220 Classic
Nokia 6210 Navigator
Sagem
We can say one thing for sure after visiting Sagem’s stand: they have hired a few new designers, or at least they have tripled the salary of the current ones. Every new device looks really good, but they are all part of the absolute low-en category (apart from one), but they have good chances there.
The only exception is the My721X, but not even this one could get much higher. 3 megapixel camera with fixed focus, metal case, QVGA display, Bluetooth, advanced music player – this is how we could sum up in a few keywords the quite good-looking device.
Samsung
Of all the stands at the exposition, we liked Samsung’s the least, they had serious problems with keeping people to comply with the "don’t take photos" rule, but of course this didn’t influence the new handsets. The hot shot was the U900 Soul: 12.9 mm thick metal case, 5 megapixel camera, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, OLED touchscreen display as control. There were some problems with usability, but besides that it’s not a bad handset, although we weren’t as fascinated as Samsung would have liked – as Soul was the most advertised device, on giant billboards through Barcelona.
The other novelty, the G810 fascinated us more. We’re talking about the brother of G800, which has a 5 megapixel camera. Although this is not it’s most important attribute, but the Symbian S60 9.2 operating system, so the device wants to become an opponent for the N95/N96. The latter might be too strong for it, however, as although the G810 also has WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth, its internal memory is not nearly as large as the Finnish model’s. We believe anyhow that gigabytes don’t mean everything and the Samsung model in a demanding metal case will also be successful.
Sony Ericsson
Most new devices were presented by the Japanese-Swedish manufacturer at a failed press conference. The greatest hit was the X1, alias Xperia, which is a Windows Mobile-based device with a 3” WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) display. We have asked a representative and we got to know that the device is running Windows Mobile Professional operating system, not a unique one based on the Windows CE kernel, so – although the manufacturer doesn’t specify this – the X1 is a PDA phone. There are no problems with the exterior; the QWERTY keyboard also seemed usable, although the exact release date of the handset is not yet known.
If Sony Ericsson, then Walkman, but strangely enough the manufacturer has only presented only one of this kind of phone, the W980i. The device weighing exactly 100 grams didn’t receive any substantial developments, except the FM transmitter, but there is nothing to wonder about this if we take a look at the refined predecessors. There is HSDPA support, the internal memory is 8Gb large, but unfortunately the 3.2 megapixel camera on the front has only fixed focus, so from this point of view the phone is at the same level with Sagem My721X and that is quite sad.
They have also presented two models from the G series, which only differ in the resolution of their cameras (G900 = 5 megapixel, G700 = 3.2 megapixel, both have autofocus) and the presence of WiFi (only the larger model has it). Their common attributes are the 2.4” diameter touchscreen, the Symbian UIQ 3 operating system, the HSDPA-support and the new user interface.
Sony Ericsson G700 és G900
The manufacturer presented three additional device: the Z770 is a phone theoretically specialized in web surfing, practically it doesn’t bring about any essential developments and the C702 and the C902 are two Cyber-shot models, the first one has GPS, the second is slim and has a 5 megapixel camera.
Pocket PCs
HP
At HP there was one, that is one, new device exposed, the iPAQ 614 Business Navigator. We’re talking about a combo device running Windows Mobile 6 Professional on a 520 MHz Marvell processor and has a 2.8” diameter QVGA display and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. As it is visible from its name, this is a device capable of navigation, the type of built-in GPS receiver is not known however, the only thing sure is that it’s an aGPS chip. The device with WiFi and Bluetotth support cannot be called small at all as it weighs 145 grams, its size is 60.3 x 17.5 x 11.7 mm.
HP iPAQ 614 Business Navigator
HTC
The greatest disappointment of this year’s exposition was HTC. They have also presented one new device, but the Pharos can be called and average one only if we’re really kind. It is a quite dumb handset with a 200 MHz TI OMAP processor and has no WiFi or 3G support, although GPS is present.
HTC Pharos
i-Mate
At i-Mate’s stand we had at last the possibility of personally taking a look at the new Ultimate device, which we heard a lot about. We were satisfied: the 8150 and the 9502 are two machines with CGA display; the first has a 520, while the second has a 400 MHz processor. The size of the RAM/ROM pairs is 128/256 MB in both devices; the camera in the 9502 with a QWERTY keyboard is a 3 megapixel one, while its brother has a 2 megapixel one. Another common attribute is the HSDPA-support, the Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system, the 802.11b/g compatible WiFi. GPS and TV output, however, are only part of the larger model, while only the 8150 has FM radio.
i-Mate 8150
i-Mate 9502
The model numbered 8502 also has really impressive specifications. Although its display has only QVGA resolution, but it has powerful hardware: 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM. Its communication abilities are complete, it supports HSDPA, it has WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS receiver. The camera has a resolution of 2 megapixels and amongst the extras we find TV output. The only problem with it, just like with other members of the Ultimate series, is that it’s quite heavy, it weighs 140 grams.
i-Mate 8502
Besides the Ultimate devices, we had the opportunity of taking a look at a low category machine. The JAMA 101, weighing 110 grams, has the following specs: Windows Mobile 6 Professional, 300 MHz Samsung processor, 64 MB RAM, 128 MB ROM, 2.4” QVGA display, Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera.
i-Mate JAMA 101
Palm
Palm didn’t have a separate stand, in their nicely arranged little building journalists could have taken a look at their two novelties, the Centro and the Treo 500v. They are devices with a demanding exterior and average features, the first one runs PalmOS 5.4.9, while the latter one has Windows Mobile 6 Standard.
Treo 500v
Centro
Toshiba
We have seen two Pocket PCs at Toshiba. The design of G910 reminds us of Nokia communicators, its internal display has a diagonal of 3” and WVGA resolution, its camera is a 3.2 megapixel one, it has WiFi, Bluetooth and it’s HSDPA-compatible. It’s built on a 520 MHz Qualcomm CPU, it has a built-in GPS, and so it knows a lot. The only problem is that it’s not even close to being small; it weighs 183 grams with a size of 117 x 64 x 19.8 mm.
Toshiba G910
The other machine is named G810. It is a Pocket PC with a clear-out, elegant exterior and has a 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM. Its display has QVGA resolution and 2.8” diameter, it has GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, supports HSDPA and HSUPA technologies – overall it’s a promising one.
Toshiba G810
Everything else, summary
As I have already mentioned in the introduction, we have rarely met navigation solutions. As for the bigger fish only Garmin had representatives, they showed us a non-functioning Nüvifon; well, they should really get themselves together.
Garmin Nüvifon
There’s only one company left, but hey are really interesting: modu. Our article about them resulted in fiery debates; there were who liked them (just like us) while others considered it useless crap. Due to space limitation I only sum up the essence of modu, those interested in it can get additional information by clicking here. It is a matchbox-sized mobile phone that can be plugged in to specially designed, so-called, jackets, which are practically phones without own memory and GSM module and are only functional with the modu. The company’s concept is, that we have a modu and lots of jackets, from which we always use the one we need. A few examples: GPS-jacket, MP3-jacket, camera-jacket, etc.
Conclusion
Many people have been thinking for years that the evolution of mobile phones will stop, as there is no new function that could be packed in a machine of such a size. But as we could have seen at the Mobile World Congress, there still are features that can be implemented. Larger manufacturers are moving towards touchscreen user interfaces, LG jumped this obstacle with quite good results and we should take a look at Nokia’s Series60 platform on a mobile phone to form an opinion about it. Samsung doesn’t really stress itself about all this touch-sensitive stuff; they are quite fine off with their demanding slider phones. Sony Ericsson is a bit fallen behind in this matter; they still haven’t announced a system controllable with fingers, although Xperia might have some surprises. Motorola is obviously trying to stay alive, we hope they succeed, the E8 doesn’t seem to be a bad device and although we don’t like the Z10, it has useful developments.
There are many things clearly visible regarding multimedia. On one hand large manufacturers are continuing the megapixel-war, all of them have reached number 5 and we can only hope that they will stop here and start to concentrate their efforts on other stuff we consider more important. On the other hand mobile TV is coming unstoppably, at Qualcomm we have seen the MediaFLO intended for the US market and device manufacturers are trying to launch handsets compatible with some kind of standard.
On the market of PDA-phone combos there is a never before seen dumping expected, so HTC should be keeping up. Although Asus disappointed us with the M930, but the P750 can still be a big hit. The i-Mate and the Toshiba devices are very promising; the latter company seems to think seriously the recovery of its somewhat faded reputation.
Of course the picture is not yet complete, but we can promise that we will be here with a similar article after CeBIT in early March.
Bocha
Translated by Szaszati
