WAP update
The idea of mobile videophones has always conjured up memories of the old Dick Tracy cartoons and the feeling that it was interesting fantasy rather that hard fact. But that has changed. Mobile videop
The idea of mobile videophones has always conjured up memories of the old Dick Tracy cartoons and the feeling that it was interesting fantasy rather that hard fact. But that has changed. Mobile videophone capability is not only here; it has already been tested and shown off publicly in Sydney.
Ericssons North Sydney R&D centre has set up a small but operating 3G (third generation) mobile network capable of receiving and delivering full colour video transmissions. At this stage it is only the network that is being tested and the signal goes via the companys international headquarters in Stockholm. The trials have involved sending a signal from the R&D centre to a mobile van that is travelling within the perimeter of the network.
The results have been satisfying with a good quality picture at 20 to 24 frames per second and clear, crisp audio. There is still some latency between the picture and the audio and none of it is yet being done on handheld receivers, but the trials have shown the networks capability.
According to Ericsson, Australians will have access to mobile videophones, multimedia on the move and broadband Internet access on their mobile phones by mid-2002. Ericsson Australia Mobile Networks General Manager David Mason says Wideband CDMA - the global standard for 3G - will come online in Australia in the second or third quarter of 2002. Apart from being able to see the people they talk to, callers will be able to pinpoint their location and get instant information on the services nearby.
Mason says that unlike other mobile technologies, which have initially been driven by business, 3G is likely to be driven by the consumer and that could mean much faster adoption.
In other words, within three to four years after its introduction the majority of us may be communicating by mobile video and that is going to create a few headaches. Governments are likely to have to introduce new legislation governing the use of videophones in public places and motor vehicles as a matter of both safety and privacy. When we have to both look and listen our attention will be even more diverted by our mobiles than before and that is likely to cause accidents.
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