SK Telecom Gears Up for Wireless Lifestyle
By Kim Deok-hyun
Staff Reporter
Next-generation mobile phone services have been revolutionizing the way people lead their daily lives.
Cellular phones are no longer merely a means through which we can communicate with each other. These mobile phones have also become a source of information, as the gadgets are rapidly being equipped with allsorts of Internet services.
The service with the tongue-twisting name CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (evolution data optimized), which SK Telecom (SKT) introduced last February, offers data transmission speeds of between 800 kilobit per second and 1000 Kbps.
Although the service is still in its infant stages, the EV-DO mobile network promises fixed-line broadband Internet connections on the move accessible on the snazzy cellular phones.
For instance, a customer can download video clips at a speed of 300 Kbps, a speed that compares favorably with the internet on personal computers, while in a vehicle traveling at 60 kilometer per hour.
In the foreseeable future, wireless e-mail services will be essential element of the lifestyles of trend-conscious teenagers. They will also be able to use their Internet-accessible cellular phones, or what may be called a ``smart'' phone, for getting personalized location-based information and sharing audio and video data with their friends.
Industry naysayers are skeptical over the levels of demand for the next-generation of mobile phones, but the nation's handset manufacturers and mobile phone operators are pinning their hopes on EV-DO services, which offers always-online capabilities and the simultaneous connection to a raft of mobile applications.
Let's look at some potentials of the EV-DO mobile phone that will soon become an integral part of life for us.
Five years ago when the current second-generation (2G) cellular phone services first gained popularity, it could deliver data at a transfer rate of 9.6 Kbps.
Interestingly enough, one of the reasons for its initial popularity was the voice dialing function, granting mischievous people the ability to set the phone respond to the users voice-prompts of derogatory words such as ``idiot'' and ``moron'' when calling people whom you would generally not refer to in such terms in their presence, such as husbands, wives or seniors.
Nowadays, mobile phones can understand a caller's voice without pre-recording one's voice prompts. Consider the latest model (SCH-X430) manufactured by Samsung Electronics. The phone is designed to automatically call when its user refers to a name in the phone's directory.
With a color liquid crystal display, the phone will soon be commercially available for individual consumers.
The phone also features a small digital camera, which can be rotated 180 degrees to facilitate picture taking from any angle, enabling users to take digital pictures and send them to other mobiles via simple messaging services, or to computers via e-mail. More than 100 still images can be stored in the phone and the photos can be used as the phone's desktop background.
What's more, the new phone supports multimedia messaging service (MMS) that allow the transmission of voice, images, text and music instead of just voice mail and e-mail, according to Samsung Electronics.
``In the foreseeable future, handset manufacturers will make the voice-recognition system a tool for users to manage their menus and information in their phones,'' said Kwon Chul-keun, an official at SKT.
As the technology takes off, the so-called ``thumb tribe,'' referring to the tech-savvy youngsters seen using two thumbs to type rapidly on the small key pads of phones, will be replaced by a ``voice tribe,'' he added.
One of the most remarkable features of the new EV-DO phones is its videoconferencing ability, until now something only seen in sci-fi movies. With data delivery speed 16 times faster than current 1X networks, people can talk and look at one another over their cellular phones.
Videoconferencing will change societies culture. For instance, a man and a woman will be able to check to see how good looking the other is via telephone before getting a wedding planner to organize their first real face-to-face meeting in a restaurant.
Stories, like the one reported about a man who nabbed the thief who stole his mobile phone and wallet by tracing the suspect with the global positioning function embedded in the phone will no make sensational news stories.
The GPS-enabled phones, which will soon evolve into allowing the provision of location-based information service, will tell users where they are and when they should be there.
Using 24 satellites in stationary orbit above the earth, GPS can help in determining where the phone is by analyzing the strength of radio waves, according to experts.
To date, GPS-enabled phone has been viewed as a difficult product to commercialize because of glitches in parts and design. But the problems have now being solved. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are already in export mode to send their GPS-enabled handsets to the U.S.
In the aftermath of September 11, the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, a state telecom regulator, has made GPS-enabled features mandatory for all mobile communication carriers in the country. The GPS functions will help police catch up with criminal suspects by tracing their telephones.
Demand is also growing for mobile users to be able to interact with machines, and for machines to interact with other machines, over wireless connections _ reporting faults, ordering new stock or relaying location details whenever necessary.
In 2001, SKT took a major step in strengthening its leading position in the nation's wireless telecom industry by adopting new business models that will create sustained revenue growth and ensure future business perspectives for its shareholders.
As part of the plan, SKT launched the world's first CDMA2000 1X network, the first phase of CDMA2000 technology with a maximum data transmission speed of 153.6 Kbps. The nation's top mobile carrier currently said it has 8.6 million wireless Internet-enabled mobile phones in the hands of customers last year.
kdh@koreatimes.co.kr
입력시간 2002/07/25 17:50
