The world of wireless came together in San Francisco last week for CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2007 show. The three-day conference witnessed a slew of launches and announcements from global cell phone manufacturers.
Even as iPhone's international rollout draws close, companies like LG, Motorola and Samsung are drawing up strategies to protect their turf. CTIA showcased several of these flashy new phones. The good thing, however, is that not all of these phones are mere iPhone clones, but smarter phones in their own right, if one were to look at features, functionalities and applications.
Motorola Moto U9
Motorola launched its new music phone, called the Moto U9. Featuring a built-in speaker, dedicated music key with integrated Bluetooth wireless technology, the phone is an ideal device for music lovers.
Moto U9 comes with optional 8GB microSD memory card, and has the capacity to store 1000 songs. It also features an MP3 music player with dedicated touch sensor buttons, Windows Media Player6 for easy to download and sync the user's music.
The Moto U9 also sports 1.4" x 128 x 160 pixel touch-sensitive OLED display, 1.3 megapixel camera with digital zoom, CrystalTalk technology that enables crystal clear voice quality in noisy environments, 25 MB internal memory and USB 2.07 to help deliver faster downloads from PC to phones.
Housed in a metallic gloss finish, the phone is designed in small, curvaceous and seamless form. The Motorola U9 delivers maximum talktime of seven hours, with up to 14 days standby time.
Samsung BlackJack II
Successor to Samsung's popular BlackJack, BlackJack II is a thin and lightweight QWERTY smartphone with 2.4-inch screen with a 320 x 240 pixel screen.
The phone includes features like a 2.4-inch 320 by 240 pixel screen, a 2 megapixel camera, tri-band 3G UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS wireless connectivity, and built-in GPS.
The Windows Mobile 6-based phone is also holds Microsoft's System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, introduced last week by Microsoft. The Device Manager provides companies with a means for managing and securing Windows Mobile devices, and for using devices over a Mobile Virtual Private Network. The phone comes in two colours: red wine and piano black.
i-mate Ultimate 9502
The flagship handset in i-mate's line-up of Windows Mobile devices, i-mate Ultimate 9502 is pitched directly against high-end smartphones such as the Nokia E90.
Ultimate 9502 has a large 2.8" 640 x 480 pixel (VGA resolution) touchscreen. Underneath, this is a quad-band GSM device with GPRS and EDGE, tri-band UMTS (3G) with HSDPA high-speed data plus WiFi.
Also packed is a 3 megapixel digital camera with autofocus and flash, and i-mate Ultimate 9502 also has microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth.
A new feature with Ultimate 9502 is the inclusion of GPS (global positioning system). The Pocket PC offers navigation and several location-based services. Weighing 200 grams, iMate Ultimate 9502 support AAC, AAC+, MP3, Midi, AMR, ASF and WMA audio formats as well as H.263, H.264, MPEG4 and WMV video formats.
Mobile versions of PowerPoint, Word and Excel are included, plus Windows Media Player.
