Samsung Electronics, the first to introduce CDMA2000 1X, is now paving the way for CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, a synchronous IMT-2000 format. The product can send and receive data at up to 2.4Mbps, the fastest transmission speed of any mobile phone today. The SCH-V300 will be supplied to the SK Telecom IMT-2000 Test Group. Samsung Electronics is also about to come out with an EV-DO mobile phone model that supports videoconferencing. Samsung’s EV-DO phone uses a streaming format to support video on demand and audio on demand.

Users can receive a variety of color moving picture contents such as music videos, Internet broadcasts, animated films and news reports. The phone can also receive live World Cup matches in real time. The high-performance TFT-LCD on the SCH-V300 was developed exclusively in-house by the Samsung Electronics Digital Device Solution Division. It is large enough to display up to 12 lines of text at a time.

Users can also download, store and play back video clips. The phone has an embedded 110,000-pixel camera that enables users to take high-quality digital pictures and send them to mobile via SMS and to computer via e-mail as well. Up to 100 still photos can be stored in the phone and used as a background for the display. The camera rotates 180 degrees to facilitate picture taking from any angle. The SCH-V300 has taken mobile multimedia to a new level.

The phone supports a MMS (multimedia messaging service) that encompasses voice, image, text and background music instead of just voice mail and email. In addition, an independent voice recognition function dials the numbers of names in the phonebook without the need for a prerecording. The utility of this function is thus enhanced and a new trend has been set for mobile phones.

At a landmark 3G event in Helsinki, Finland, Nokia and Sonera demonstrated the evolution of mobile communications towards increasingly advanced 3G mobile services and devices. Both companies also reinforced their commitment to the development of interoperable mobile multimedia services and technologies. The companies further reaffirmed their frontrunner position by exhibiting live demonstrations of advanced Sonera services using the Nokia 6650 - the world’s first 3GPP-compliant dual-mode WCDMA/GSM terminal, also introduced today.

The practical and easy-to-use mobile Sonera services demonstrated to media representatives from around the globe at Kiasma, the Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art, are also the first to use the Nokia 6650 in a live WCDMA network environment, marking an important milestone in the progress of 3G. The wide range of advanced services introduced today blend picture messaging, video clips, games and e-mail into a rich service offering. These advanced services can be delivered seamlessly using both GSM/GPRS and WCDMA evolution phases of current mobile communications technologies.

The development of next-generation mobile terminals such as the Nokia 6650, combined with attractive service development, will further accelerate the take-off of new advanced 3G mobile services. Openness and interoperability will meanwhile result in the seamless use of services across networks and borders, enhancing user experience and volume usage.Senior representatives of Nokia and Sonera speaking at Kiasma outlined how they see 3G services developing in the coming months.

“The transition of services between 2G and 3G ecosystems will be an evolutionary one, with the ultimate goal of total transparency between different technologies to bring a seamless user experience,” says Harri Koponen, CEO, Sonera. “The successful introduction and adoption of these new mobile services combining both visualization and user-friendliness are based on honoring true customer need and, thus, are suitable for everyday life.”

A new way of making calls directly between phones, for free, is being trialled by a Swedish company. It is hoping to dramatically improve communications in the developing world. Swedish company TerraNet has developed the idea using peer-to-peer technology that enables users to speak on its handsets without the need for a mobile phone base station. The technology is designed for remote areas of the countryside or desert where base stations are unfeasible.

Projects backed by TerraNet recently launched in Tanzania and Ecuador. TerraNet founder Anders Carlius BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme that the idea for TerraNet came when he was on safari in Tanzania in 2002, and found that poor connectivity meant he could not ring friends riding in another jeep only a few metres away. “I started thinking, ‘couldn’t we get phone-to-phone without needing any other equipment, and actually have real voice communication, like a telephone call, between units?’” he said.

He said that were this to happen, it could potentially spell the end for the current Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications model. About 70% of all mobile phones use this technology. Mr Carlius said large mobile firms did not like the idea of using a peer-to-peer model to make calls. “One of the biggest things against us is the big operators and technology providers really pushing against us, saying this technology doesn’t work and it doesn’t have a business model,” he said. “This is fine - just join us in Lund and see how the technology works, and ask our customers how our business model works.” Mr Carlius said that mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson had invested around £3m in TerraNet, and this indicated that the business model for the network is sound.