CeBIT 2003. Mobile phones from NEC and devices of the future

Let’s view them one by one. NEC is known by its i-mode phones (N21i, N22i) in Europe. Next model – N31i was presented on the exhibition. On the contrast to its predecessors, it has an external screen, which supports up to 4096 colors and internal 65 K-display. Integrated camera enables to send your own pictures as MMS messages. Java-games are presented as an entertainment. But you can download any other application. Taking into account features and fancy design, the phone is really worth to see.

Nec e525 is almost similar to N31i. The only difference is that the first one doesn’t have i-mode.

Models of the third generation (UMTS/GSM) are very interesting. They are base on one platform and called e606 and e808. The first phone is simpler, although it supports almost all available features. For example, it has bluetooth, 32 Mb memory for Java-applications and data, a possibility not only take photos but short videos as well. An internal display supports up to 65000 colors. The phone is equipped with two, not one (as most of the phones) cameras. Besides, it has many other features, full specifications we’ll publish in the end of the month.

The differences of e808 are 64 Mb memory pool and integrated QWERTY keypad. The phone can easily send and receive e-mail, it also supports sending of video as MMS-messages. Besides, the handset has compact dimensions, which are comparable with a small PDA. It’s a big advantage of this kind of devices. To say the truth, capabilities of these two models are really impressive. It’s a pity that, most likely, they won’t be available in Europe. They will remain just exhibition samples.

It’s also interesting the company’s view of the future of communication devices. On the photo below you can see a simple design of the future phone.

These pens unite several features. Firstly, they are cellular phones, you can speak with a help of ear-phone (bluetooth). Certainly, voice dialing is available. To input information, you could just write something on any surface and the pen will recognize and save the text. Synchronization with PC is also available. A virtual keypad and a small projector are built-in this pen. Finally, there is a small camera, which also can serve as a scanner to recognize print text. Besides, engineers added a personal ID chip to this camera. These devices can be united in networks on short distances to send e-mails, providing transport for other devices and etc. Frankly speaking, many of these features are not available today, but they will be realized within 5-10 years. For example, Anoto technologies, which allow sending text recognized by the pen, are already existed.

The last device describes the concept: saving images in the analogue of watch. Developers state that technologies are not so important today, design forms a customer choice. So, they offer a fashion accessory, which could store your memory, taken from unusual angle. To say the truth I didn’t understand, whether it is a usual digital camera made in a shape of a bracelet or a special device, which constantly records your impressions.

Such interesting elaborations were shown by Nec. In the next article we’ll tell about concept ideas of other manufactures.

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