3GSM: Handsets Getting Ever-More Elaborate
What a change in the wireless industry over the past three years. It used to be that we could attend a trade show such as this 3GSM, and report back to Techdirt what some the coolest new handsets were, or some innovative new feature that was added to a handset. It was easy when the features were more limited. Examples included the first smartphones, color screens, SD slots, MP3 players, or cameras. But no longer can one casually identify any single handset or handset innovation – the place is rife with them and single handsets can house many features. The ‘wow’ factor after looking over the Samsung, Nokia, SonyEricsson, Motorola booths alone is off the scale, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, since lesser brands and ODMs are producing flashy handsets in droves too. As Carlo noted, though, the phones at the show aren’t necessarily freshly launched. Some phones have music, some video, some 4G networks, some VoIP, or hard drives, others have 8MP cameras with 6x optical zoom, sliders, flips, rotators, keyboards, and on and on. Others are skinny, others are light, and some, like a Bang and Olufssen-designed Samsung model, are all about fashion. We’ll have to leave it to sites like Phonescoop to cover this fertile sector. There’s a handset for everybody here – the only problem is: will they be offered by your carrier in your country?
