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Smart phones - combined personal digital assistants and mobile phones - were once touted as the next best thing in communication but proved something of a damp squib because they were unwieldy and unstable.
But now smart phone manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Cyberbank and Hanvit I-T are back with lighter and more powerful models they hope will make the gadgets the center of attention once more.
Hanvit I-T¡¯s new HVKH1000, set to come out in June, is no bigger and heavier than an ordinary mobile phone and will unlike its predecessors comfortably fit into a pocket.
The model features a 2.4-inch LCD screen, and has the volume (97¡¿52¡¿26mm) and weight (150g) of a cell phone. Yang Do-seung, President and CEO of Hanvit I-T said the gadget is ¡°smaller than Samsung¡¯s latest handsets.¡±
Besides telephoning, it also has all the features of a high tech PDA. It is powered by Samsung¡¯s 400MHZ mobile CPU S3C2440 and a Korean version of Microsoft¡¯s Pocket PC Windows CE.NET 4.2, and is equipped with 512 MB of memory which users can expand up to 2 GB with an SD card. Wireless LAN and a 2 megapixel camera are also built in. The expected price is between W500,000 (US$500) and W600,000.
Cyberbank is planning to supply its POZ X501 to KT for a ¡°Netspot Swing¡± service which lets customers use wireless LAN. The POZ X501 is light and can easily be controlled with one hand. Cyberbank¡¯s product is similar in specifications and price as Hanvit¡¯s. That means smart phones, which were about W100,000 more expensive than top brand mobile phones, now cost W200,000 less.
Meanwhile, Cyberbank will hit the market with a new satellite DMB model -- the B-300 -- this July which allows users to watch DMB, also known as ¡°take-out TV¡±. It has a 2.5 inch screen, and with one battery charge can provide two hours of television and over four hours of phone calls. It is equipped with a 512 MB memory and 1.3 megapixel camera and will be sold through SK Telecom at around W700,000.
Samsung Electronics will launch its new smart phone M-430, also through SK Telecom, in June. The 58¡¿115¡¿24.5mm, 171g light product has a 2.8 inch LCD screen, 1.3 megapixel camera and Microsoft Office. It, too, will cost around W700,000.
(Beak Kang-young,100@chosun.com )
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