Technofile:As the world's mobile phone industry gathers once again at the annual GSM conference in Barcelona, you can guarantee one topic of conversation will be on everyone's lips: this is going to be the big year for mobile.
Never mind that last year was supposed to be "the one", or the year before that. As with anything technology-related, one gets the impression that you are in a scene from Groundhog Day - the movie where history repeats itself.
Having said that, this year the mobile industry does seem to be getting its act together, both on the design front and in terms of functionality. Here's a round-up of the latest developments.
• Samsung, Korea's answer to Nokia, has decided not to take Apple's iPhone lying down, and brought out its own smartphone with a big, wide touchscreen. But unlike the iPhone, the new F700 will also tote a real (rather than screen-based) slide-out keyboard with vibration feedback to make typing feel more natural.
The interface is original, employing a "drag and drop" navigation, similar to a PC. The five-megapixel camera trumps the iPhone's two-megapixel capability, while the phone will also be 3G and HSDPA-enabled, making it a fast data companion.
The F700 is also slightly thicker than the iPhone, but thinner and shorter. Samsung additionally announced a new seven-megapixel mobile handset. At 5.9mm, it could well be the world's thinnest phone.
• BlackBerry users have a new toy to play with. Garmin has launched a mapping service that delivers satellite navigation functionality to BlackBerrys. The annual subscription-based service stores the maps on Garmin's servers, not on the BlackBerry, and older BlackBerry users can get hold of a GPS 10x, a portable GPS sensor, or the GPS 20SM mount.
• Nokia has launched a range of new phones at 3GSM this year. The Nokia 6110 Navigator is a slider phone aimed at average consumers and sports a built-in satellite navigation GPS receiver and Route 66 maps.
Packing HSDPA and 3G connectivity alongside quad-band GSM, accessing maps is going to be quick - useful for the person in your life who has a habit of getting lost. Nokia also unveiled a major new product in the form of the e90 Communicator.
Fans of the old Nokia Communicator series will recognise the brick-like feel of this phone, but at least the features are now coming through in the form of a 3.2 megapixel camera, one inside, a GPS receiver, a 512MB MicroSD card, two colour screens, 3G, Wi-Fi, HSDPA, quad-band, and more.
It also supports lots of e-mail systems including BlackBerry Connect and POP3. Nokia also demonstrated the N77 DVB-H enabled multimedia phone the E65 slider, and the E61i smartphone update.
n In a potentially huge move Nokia has announced a deal with YouTube and Reuters that will see a dedicated button on its multimedia handsets linking users directly to the video.
And in an exclusive deal (so far) for Vodafone, MySpace, eBay and YouTube will be pre-loaded on selected 3G handsets and available from its Live! service.
Which handsets? We'll have to wait and see, but you can bet they will be 3G ones.
