Sleek new 3G phones hit market

Sleek new 3G phones hit market

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, zatni@cbn.net.id

Within our telecom industry, there is a strong belief that Indonesia will have 3G Wideband CDMA services late this year or early next year. However, none of the infrastructure suppliers are willing to be totally open as to who they think will eventually provide the services. The licensing issue is certainly one of the reasons why no one has really announced more specific plans, including the launch dates.

However, handset makers are already relentlessly introducing their new, 3G-capable cell phone models to the local market. And, who else other than Nokia would bombard the market with new models?

Late last month, Nokia gathered groups of journalists and analysts from countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia in Kuala Lumpur. The highlights were three new premium models for the 3G WCDMA. There are a couple of new things that I learned during the event.

One thing to keep in mind is that all the 3G WCDMA cellular phones -- not only from Nokia but also from the other vendors such as Motorola and Sony-Ericsson -- are also GSM cell phones. It means that these cell phones can still be used in areas where the GSM service is available.

It also means that you will have no problem using your 3G WCDMA cell phone to call someone who still uses a GSM cell phone, but you cannot make a video call or start a video-sharing session.

Video calling and video sharing are two things that we need to learn to distinguish, too. As a 3G WCDMA user, you can choose whether to initiate a video call or a voice call when calling your friend, provided he is also using a WCDMA cell phone. If you make a video call, the connection will continue as long as both of you are within the WCDMA network coverage and as long as you do not hang up.

Or, if you prefer, you can also initiate a voice call. Now, while talking to your friend, you may see something and you want your friend to see it, too. It may be a gorgeous new SUV, a new cafe or a house for sale. You can then initiate a video-sharing session. You basically let your friend see what you see through the digital camera on your cell phone.

While you are sharing the video clip as it is captured by your camera, you can continue your voice call. The main difference is that the video sharing works only one-way, while a video call works both ways. When you close your video-sharing session, you will stay connected via the voice call.

What are the new features?

At the event, Nokia announced a new series of cell phones called the Nseries. Again another potentially confusing naming rule by Nokia, but by now I guess we have gotten accustomed to it all and it does not matter much anymore.

The first three models from the Nseries are the N70, N90 and N91. The higher the number, the more sophisticated the model.

At a glance, the N70 looks similar to the sleek Nokia 6680, which I reviewed briefly quite recently. The N70 is smaller than the Nokia 6680, though. It is Nokia's smallest 3G cell phone. It also boasts two digital cameras, a 2 megapixel at the back and a VGA in front.

The N90 is a flip model with multiple hinges. You can rotate the LCD portion and turn it into a viewfinder. To take your own picture, you can rotate the camera housing so that the lens will be directed toward yourself.

Obviously the most important feature of the N90 is the use of the Carl Zeiss lens. The camera is also a few steps higher than previous models, as it is also a 2 megapixel camera. It also has an integrated LED flash, which will help a little if you want to take a picture of your date at your first candlelight dinner.

The N91 is geared more toward music lovers, and I guess it will be a very exciting model, too. I was told that it would be the first cell phone model from Nokia to finally use a hard disk. In fact, I am not aware of any other cell phone that uses this type of storage device.

With storage capacity expected to reach 4GB, the N91 will be able to hold up to 3,000 songs. This model reminds me very much of my favorite Nokia 7650. It has a sliding keypad cover with all the necessary controls for playing music on it. Pull the cover down, and the keypad will be revealed.

As a high-end product, the N91 does not skimp on features. It supports Bluetooth as well as the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g wireless standard. It also has a 2-megapixel camera.

These models are expected to hit the market this year, and I just hope I will have the chance to test at least two of them -- the N90 and N91. The prices have not been announced yet, but I guess they won't be within the "affordable" range.

One preliminary comment, however, is that Nokia should add a separate button for Video call so that choosing between a voice call and a video call will be a matter of pressing one button or the other. As it is implemented in this series, we still have to choose from the Option menu to make a video call or a voice call.

Another concern is the battery life. Nokia told me that they would do their best to keep the battery life as good as possible, and that we will have 12.5 hours of music listening or four hours of talk time. With all these features thrown into a cell phone, it will be quite a challenge, so let's see what the results of our test will be.