New Cell Uses Pitched at 3GSM Show
From a cell phone with just six buttons to one that lets users dictate text messages and another that delivers the results of a breathalyzer test, mobile handset makers put their most eye-catching gadgets on display at this week’s wireless industry conference.
Dozens of new handsets were unveiled at the 3GSM wireless conference, many sporting radical new designs and capabilities.
The main theme of this year’s show, attended by more than 60,000 people, was the integration of programs such as instant messaging, blogs and mapping to blur the line between the computers and phones.
But some offerings targeted simpler needs.
Spain’s Imaginarium showed off a small cell phone with just six buttons, all of them in bright green, red, blue and orange. The “Mo1″ is aimed at children. There’s no numerical keypad because all calls are restricted to the phone numbers a parent has programmed in. Plus, it can’t be used for text messages other than to receive them from preapproved contacts or send a simple note to a parent, or guardian, telling them where the child and the phone are.
U.S.-based Nuance Communications Inc. displayed mobile applications of its speech recognition technology, Dragon’s Naturally Speaking, where users can press a single button and use voice commands to get news, sports and other information. Another feature lets a person dictate an SMS and send it on its way. A person also can request directions from a navigation program or tell the phone’s MP3 player what song to play.
“With more than 2.5 billion cell phones in use, and about 5 percent using speech recognition, we see an enormous untapped market,” said the company’s president, Steve Chambers.
One of the more unusual devices came from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo. Simply put, it is a phone that delivers the results of a breathalyzer test along with real-time video of a…
