Dialing up for a whole new world

In the 1999 hit movie “The Matrix,” mobile phones were used as the medium through which heroes moved in and out of a make-believe world. Nokia phones were used in the film. In the movie’s sequel, which is due to open later this year, a cutting-edge gadget from Samsung Electronics Co. will make its screen debut. The Samsung phone recently made appearances at two prominent electronics fairs in the real world -- one in Hannover, Germany, and the other in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both fairs ended yesterday. At the 2003 Cebit at Hannover and at the CITA in New Orleans, the overriding themes, as demonstrated very well by Samsung’s “Matrix phone,” were the rapid evolution of mobile handsets and of technological conversion. Mobile handsets now transcend merely being a medium for voice communication. The handsets have evolved into high-tech amusement tools. You can download and enjoy online games with mobile handsets. They are also digital music players and recorders. The electronics fairs highlighted another trend in the emergence of multimedia gadgets: Ones that store large amounts of data and focus on the mobility of computer devices. The much anticipated video disk recorder, which allows users to record digital broadcasting with the quality preserved, was also showcased. Visitors stopped checking out home appliances and looked instead at “home networking,” which allows users to control home appliances online. This was a hit at both fairs. “While the incorporation of combined gimmicks at mobile phones and multi-functional gadgets became the industry trend, technologies became more diversified and specified,” Kim Won-dae, a vice executive at the German operation of LG Electronics Inc., said. The Matrix phone by Samsung, which was showcased at the both fairs, resembles a spaceship, and was specially designed for the movie. Its display supports 65,000 colors; its sound resonates in 40 chords. One thing that is not prominent is its antenna; it is hidden inside. The phone will be introduced to the U.S. market in May, and will later arrive on the Korean market. Competition for the Matrix phone turned up in LG’s third generation mobile phone and Nokia’s N-GAGE. LG’s model features a 300,000 pixel digital camera, and supports video-on- demand services. N-GAGE is a comprehensive gizmo that is a mobile phone and a computer game console combined. The gadget even looks like a hand-held gaming device, with its display positioned in the middle, while switches and buttons are scattered on both sides. The handset allows users to play online computer games and digital music files, not to mention sending e-mail and text. Sometimes, mobile handsets became watches. Watchphone, by Samsung, is wearable on your wrist like a watch, and you talk to the person on the other end of the line with a microphone connected to it. “In Europe, with piloting third generation mobile services, mobile handsets are evolving into a comprehensive entertainment device, featuring computer games or music player functions,” Ji Young-min, a vice executive at Samsung Electronics, said. Movie enthusiasts will also be pleased to see video disk recorders. Nine electronics companies, including LG and Sony, unveiled their pioneers, which boast 23 gigabytes of storage, meaning that up to five digital versatile disk titles can be stored. Users can record their favorite digital broadcasting programs and enjoy them again and again. Casio showed a handheld electronics planner that can store the data equivalent of three English dictionaries, or 2.6 million English words. The device is not just a business diary, but also can be utilized as a portable database, the company said. The two electronics fairs were the first places where home-networking was displayed as a commercially feasible form. LG Electronics demonstrated controlling home appliances from a distance with personal computers or mobile phones. by Kim Jong-yoon