Digital Boomerang Singapore 

GPRS has been rolled out, but devices are still not leveraging on the bandwidth

GPRS is all the rage because of the fast transmission rate. You can surf the net faster, download applications quickly and even stream audio and video into your mobile phone.

Well GPRS is finally here. M1 is already doing trials on GPRS roaming, SingTel just showcased live WAP services with GPRS at CommunicAsia and Starhub has finished running trials in Singapore.

But what’s the point of streaming audio or video into your monochrome mobile phone? It’s hard to imagine anyone enjoying a short movie clip on a black and white screen.

Using your PDA is an alternative. With your GPRS data connection, you can connect your PDA via your phone and watch those sizzling videos in colour. The Compaq iPaq, Handspring Prism, Palm m505 and Sony Clie are all colour PDAs. But… where’s the sound? So far, only the Sony Clie and iPaq come with built-in audio.

Moreover, that means you have to carry your PDA and phone around. Not exactly the most mobile of solutions. The futuristic thing is really to do it all on your mobile phone.

Mitsubishi Trium is offering you a piece of the future. Launched in March this year at CeBIT 2001, the Trium Eclipse is a GPRS phone with colour display. It comes with 256 colours in a 120 x 143 display screen. Needless to say, not only can you enjoy movies in colour, but you can enjoy your games, your personalised logos and images too.

But the Trium Eclipse is not just a colour GPRS phone. It’s also got all the high-end features packed into it as well. You can surf the net with the WAP browser, send faxes, run voice dial functions, beam your data through the infrared port, connect your PC via the serial cable and record voice memos.

Nokia’s GPRS phones, the Nokia 8310 and 6310, don’t have a colour display. The 8310 comes with Xpress-On covers for style and design but that’s just cosmetic. Similarly, other manufacturers such as Ericsson, Sagem and Siemens are all rolling out GPRS phones without colour displays.

Loyal followers of these handset makers should really demand for a colour GPRS phone! And don’t be pacified by their showcase of “phones in concept”!

- First published on IT AsiaOne, This is IT

Share This