The 3GSM World Congress 2007 was held earlier last week in Barcelona so I thought I’d dish up a quick round-up of the events proceedings. The big players Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola all had new handsets to show off, however none from Sony Ericsson, which did come as a bit of a surprise.
Lots of new handsets then, so lets crack on with it …
Nokia
Probably the most highly awaited phone from Nokia at this years event was the Nokia E90 Communicator. It replaces the old Nokia 9500 business model, with up-to-date features such as a 3.2 megapixel camera, 4″ screen, full QWERTY keyboard and all the latest in high speed connectivity. It looks set to be popular already.
The Nokia E61i and Nokia E65 were also announced as part of their business range of phones.
Next up comes my favourite looking Nokia phone I’ve seen for a while, the Nokia N77. It looks very similar to the N73, yes, but this one focuses on DVB-H technology which is on the up. Its large 2.4″ 16M colours TFT display is superb. It also comes with a 2MP camera and 3G.
The Nokia 6110 Navigator looks a complete navigation solution with Navigator application, 3G and HSDPA support and a decent TFT display. The phone looks somewhat of a cross between the Nokia 6280 and a SE W850i, but overall doesn’t seem too bad.
And finally Nokia wouldn’t be Nokia without bringing another classic – this time the 3110 which sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo FM radio, Bluetooth, Infrared and tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support.
Samsung
Samsung’s main highlight was the announcement of their Ultra Line II range, comprising four new handsets – the Samsung U600, Samsung U700, Samsung U100 and the Samsung U300. Without doubt the big one was the Samsung U600 – now the world’s slimmest slider - boasting a great 3.2MP camera, 2.2″ TFT display with a QVGA resolution, microSD memory card slot … all squeezed into a case 10.9 thick!
Samsung also announced a host of other phones including these great lookers – Samsung F700, Samsung F520 and Samsung F510 (which is an updated version of the Samsung F500).
There were also quite a few slider phones which you expect from Samsung nowadays- the E740, E840, i520 – and an interesting clamshell also, the Samsung P110.
On a slightly different note, Samsung also showcased their new Mobile WiMAX technology - ’Mobile WiMAX WAVE 2′. It’s a next generation mobile telecommunications technology created by a combination of Mobile WiMAX and 4G technology. It can realize 40 Mbps download and 12 Mbps upload transmission speeds at maximum, and that’s pretty fast if you ask me! It will take less than 0.7 secs to download a 3MB MP3 music file, and wait for this … less than an incredible 2 mins 45 secs to download a 700MB movie! That’s lightning quick!
Motorola
Motorola’s recently rumoured phones were brought to light with announcements of the Motorola RIZR Z8, Motorola SLVR L9, Motorola Q q9, Motorola KRZR K3, and Motorola W215.
Pick of the bunch would have to be the Motorola RIZR Z8 with its unusually flexible construction – just see below, as you slide it open! It comes equipped with a 2MP camera with red eye reduction, a 2.2″ 16M colours TFT display, stereo Bluetooth, 3G with video calls and most importantly, it’s HSDPA-enabled.
LG’s Black Label series is proving to be very successful so far, first with the popular LG Chocolate phone, and now with their recently released LG Shine, so we were expecting another one or two gems to be unveiled.
Three handsets were announced, the LG KS10 - a HSDPA-enabled smartphone, the LG KU250 – a bar-shaped 3G mobile with modest dimensions, and the LG KU950 - aimed at the mobile TV market. The KU950 is the world’ first UMTS-based HSDPA/DVB-H phone, well supposedly. It’s also a great looking phone and features a neat 2.4 inch rotating screen. Unfortunately it only comes with a 1.3 MP camera, a real shame in my opinion.
And finally there were also a couple of LG shine variants on shown, namely an LG Shine clamshell and a candybar (the LG KE770). Both were not announced at the event, they were only showcased. Specifications for either are not known as yet … the clamshell handset doesn’t even have a model number assigned as yet… so we’ll just refer to this as the Shine Clamshell for now!
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