Versatile fun and smart

Today's mobile phones are workstations meeting the professional businessman's every need.

Etisalat has been the telecommunications service provider in the UAE since 1976 but it was joined by Du in 2007.

Today, the telecommunication providers together enjoy mobile phone service penetration of more than 150 per cent of the population of the UAE.

A recently released report from Hot Telecom analyses the current status of the telecom market in the country: From 7.9 million mobile phone subscribers in 2007, mobile customers in the UAE are expected to grow by an average rate of 4.3 per cent over the next five years to reach 9.7 million and a penetration of more than 200 per cent.

In a market with such high penetration it is no wonder that mobile phones of every kind and make are available here.

Take your pick from quad band phones, phones that have a global positioning system (GPS) installed in them or are able to download navigation routes from the internet, phones that use the latest in streaming technology to enable users to stream live video directly from their video enabled phones onto the web, smartphones that can do most of the work of a laptop computer, and several phones that take mobile entertainment and communication to the next level.

GSM is by far the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. However, various countries use different frequency bands for their mobile networks. There are four main flavours of GSM used around the world: 850, 900, 1800 and 1900.

A tri-band phone can be used on three of these bands, whereas a quad-band phone can be used on all four. Most high-end models of leading manufacturers are quad-band phones.

Pocket TV

Qik, Kyte.tv and Flixwagon are programmes available to users in the United States and can turn the mobile phone into a pocketsize television station. All three services let people embed a video player on their own website, so they can stream from their homepages. Once the live broadcast is done, the video is stored on their servers, making them easy to replay or even edit. To what extent these services can be used has not yet been gauged but suffice to say with the right mobile phone, anyone can cover breaking news as fast as the professionals and maybe even faster.

According to recent press reports, editors of brides.com captured the action at the New York shows of leading design houses with phones enabled with Flixwagon video technology for brides to take a look at the latest bridal fashions.

A research report by Berg Insight says the number of mobile subscribers downloading navigation routes using their mobile handsets is expected to grow from 16 million users in 2008 at a compound annual growth rate of 28 per cent to reach 70 million users in 2014.

GPS is built into an increasing number of mobile phones and may in a few years time be as common in phones as cameras are today. Phone makers also continue to develop cameras. Among the newest features that are incorporated into phones are face-detection, image stabilisation and the ability to take better pictures in the dark. Phone cameras with up to 8-megapixel resolutions are also being promoted.

Personal navigation systems

Geotagging, a feature that combines built-in support for navigation and photography, allows users to take a picture and save its location. Then they can overlay that information on services such as Google Maps and see where they have been. Sony Ericsson C702 and Nokia 6220 Classic have the feature.

Convergence by blending phone and multimedia options seamlessly is the aim of mobile phone manufacturers and they are succeeding.

The Nokia N96 and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 with bigger screens in a widescreen format and larger storage capacity allow users to watch full-length movies. MP3 player enabled phones that can also access FM radio stations have been popular for some time. Now trendsetting phones such as the Nokia N78 and Sony Ericsson W980 allow the user to listen to the MP3 without using headphones. The FM transmitter integrated in some new phones enables them to listen to their MP3 player on the car radio.

Apple's new iPhone 3G caters to keen music lovers who already use the iPod. It also has an array of features including phone, iPod, iTunes, Safari, YouTube, mail, text (threaded SMS), calendar, camera, photos, stocks, maps, weather, clock, calculator, notes, and settings.

Those who want to access the internet at high speeds can go for models such as Motorola Moto Z6w and Sony Ericsson G900, which use Wi-Fi technology. Furthermore phones such as HTC Advantage and Samsung Soul have touch-based user interface that make phones easier to use and is sure to become a popular technology in future.

Pioneering technology

The first phones using Google android technology are coming into the market. The T-Mobile G1.0 manufactured by HTC has been launched in the USA. The G1 comes with a configurable home screen onto which users can drop any application they like, along with a big analogue clock and a Google search box.

A quad-band EDGE, high-speed internet enabled phone, the G1, can work well on high-speed networks. Samsung, LG Electronics and Motorola are among the companies that have said they will produce phones that run on Android.

With emerging new technologies mobile phone developers are increasingly coming out with better and more exciting features– and it seems these consumers just can't get enough of them.