Why are they called 'Smartphones'?

"Smart" has probably become an overused world. For a long time, invitations to a reception may specify the dress code as "smart casual".

In the last few years, we have become familiar with terms such as smart cars, smart homes, smart cards, smart refrigerators and smart washing machines. If you use Office XP, you may be familiar with those overwhelming Smart Tags.

Consequently, when people talk about smart phones, it is really unclear what they mean by them. The software giant Microsoft apparently did not want to be left behind, and so it developed its own version of Smartphone software based on Windows.

Now, if a phone can display the number of the party that calls it, can we call it a smart phone? Or, as Microsoft seems to conceptualize it, a smart phone is a phone that allows us to play games, view e-mail and images and browse the Web. Because it is Windows-based, managing e-mail and personal information should be done with a special version of Outlook, Web browsing should be done with a Pocket Internet Explorer, and instant messaging should be available with MSN@ Messenger. Of course, Windows Media Player should be the utilities we use to play music and video files, including MP3 and MPEG files.

However, what about one of the latest mobile devices that Samsung has just released? The Korean company's MITs M400 is so packed with features and functionality that they call it a terminal rather than a phone. Do you want to know what the MITs M400 is capable of? This gadget, which was launched just last week in Korea, will let you make and receive phone calls, watch TV broadcasts off the air, capture still images and create short video clips with its digital camera, get navigation help, and play MP3 audio files. Wait, that is not all. The terminal can also be used as a two-way radio!

The terminal is impressively configured. Running the Hangul Version of Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, which has been developed jointly by Microsoft and Samsung Electronics, it has Korean- script capability. It comes with a hefty 128 MB built-in memory, which is not enough to hold audio and video files. A memory upgrade with CompactFlash can boost the memory capacity to 512 MB. It has a 3.5 inch TFT LCD screen, which can be set to display everything in portrait or landscape mode.

Now, is the MITs M400 a snapshot of what we are going to see in the near future? Maybe. And Samsung is going to introduce more of these next generation mobile devices in the near future. But, clearly, what this tells us is that smart phones are all about convergence. They represent the convergence of all the digital technologies that we have. With the Pocket PC version of Office, for instance, they can even become a PC for the road. -- Zatni Arbi