3G mobile phones: The next generation

Once upon a time, a mobile phone was a device about the size of a house brick. You held it to your ear and spoke into it, although actually being heard successfully over the crackle was something of a lottery.

That was way back in the mid-1980s but it was, as any modern-day commuter whose journey is punctuated by ring tones and one-sided conversations will testify, the beginning of a revolution.

Mobile communication has since advanced on every level. Today's phones are sometimes little larger than a box of matches, yet some have colour screens and all manner of features crammed inside. Choose the right phone and you can access the web, send and receive data, shop and, of course, play games.

We have come a long way indeed and there is further to go. While some of tomorrow's phones will be similar to today's, others definitely won't. Here's a look at what's around now and what's around the corner.

An unexpected success
The realisation that mobile phones were capable of more than just relaying voice calls was, like so many major technological advances, serendipitous.

Short Message Service (SMS) was introduced in 1995 not because of any great theories that it would suit the market, but because the technology at the time allowed for it. It was an unexpected and phenomenal success and more than a million messages an hour are currently sent in the UK.

SMS has now evolved into Enhanced Message Service (EMS), which allows icons and melodies to be transmitted to phones that support it. MMS (Multimedia Message Service) takes things further still and can transmit colour images between devices.

Both services are being vigorously marketed and are intended to bring revenue into an area that has seen heavy investment and will demand more.

Both EMS and MMS can exist because of the increasing speeds of the networks, helping to diversify the choice of services and generating ever more adventurous handset designs.

Streaming media
Take Java, for example. A program written in Java just needs some software (sometimes called a Java 'Virtual Machine') on the receiving device to make the software run. The same Java program will run on any device, be it a PC or a mobile phone, providing the Java Virtual Machine is there.

Java isn't new in itself but it is new to mobile phones. With Java on a mobile phone and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and third generation (3G) allowing the fast download of data, it has become possible to receive games and other media downloads on your phone.

Many handset manufacturers are building Java into their latest phones. The Siemens M50 is one example of a fairly innocuous looking phone that has Java support built in. The phone also includes EMS support among its many features.

It is likely that Java will find its most common use in gaming but all kinds of possibilities exist, ranging from personal information management applications to image viewers and beyond. Visit midletcentral.com to get a flavour.

Messaging and Java downloads are the features you are likely to hear most about but there are plenty of others. Sometimes they almost appear secreted away into phones, but they are there because manufacturers increasingly want to differentiate their handsets. Consider these examples:

• Siemens' SL45 has an MP3 player built in and supports MultiMedia Cards, so you can store plenty of music.
• Nokia's 5510 is a phone for the text message addict with a full keyboard sitting to the left and right of the screen. It also has a built in MP3 player and FM stereo radio.
• Motorola's V.Box has been around for a while but its built-in keyboard is still popular with some users.
• Nokia's 5210 is splash-proof (ideal for making calls in the heavy rainstorms that characterise a British summer) and includes a thermometer - we kid you not!

Is it a phone or not?
The advent of GPRS and third-generation 3G, plus the development of ever more sophisticated hardware for portable devices, means that the concept of a mobile phone is changing and becoming ever broader. And so is the look and feel of the hardware.

Think of handheld computers. If you wanted a combined handheld computer and phone, you had to add the phone part. Examples include the 'sled', like the OhFish one which turns your Palm V into a GPRS phone, and the Visorphone, which does a similar job for Handspring Visors.

Then along came devices such as the R380 from Ericsson and the Treo from Handspring. As one-piece devices with a slot for your phone SIM, communications had a much more integrated feel.

The next version of Palm's software - Version 5 - due to be seen in devices before the year is out, should add even more onboard communications features.

Microsoft is also taking communications seriously. Its Pocket PC is already well-established on handheld computers from the likes of Compaq and Toshiba, but it also has Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition.

This is set to appear in several devices which look like handheld computers but which allow for voice and data calls over GPRS, and which integrate this ability within existing applications very neatly indeed.

Meanwhile, 'Windows Powered' Smartphone software is designed for devices that look more like traditional mobile phones. It is centred on phone-like features but adds the diary, email and to-do list management of Pocket PC, along with the ability to run third-party applications - and yes, that includes games.

Sendo is the only company to have announced a phone running this software and it is expected to be available before the end of the year.

But Palm and Microsoft aren't the only kids on the block. Nokia's 7650, which looks and behaves like a phone but has a digital camera built in, looks neither entirely like a phone nor entirely like a handheld computer. Again, third-party applications will run on both these machines.

Other innovators have broken out of the mobile phone and handheld computer moulds altogether. The Pogo, which you can buy at Carphone Warehouse, looks like nothing else you've seen.

It is Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) only but includes a web browser, MP3 player, SMS and voice support, and has a large colour display. Its core software is based around Java and Flash rather than one of the well-known proprietary operating systems.

There are plenty of other weird and wonderful devices and much more sophisticated technology waiting in the wings: mobile phones you wear; phones in watches; we could go on and on and on.

The future looks like being a mix of fancy hardware, fast connections and multiple features, bringing everything from collaborative gaming to collaborative working.

The choice is yours
For consumers, all of these developments are exciting but they have ramifications. First it means we have to be clear about what we want our phones for.

Is voice paramount? Do you want to manage your diary using the same piece of hardware as your phone calls? What about listening to music? Do you need to send and receive data? Do you want to download games? Can you afford the faster speeds GPRS offers or will you get by with GSM?

Choosing your next mobile phone will be rather more complex than choosing your first and, just as you need to pay attention to the best tariffs today and measure the looks of different phones, tomorrow you will need to consider the services each one offers.

Communication counts
T-Mobile (formerly known as One-2-One) launched the UK's first MMS services in July this year. It used an Ericsson T68i and a clip-on gadget called a CommuniCam. The combination is available from T-Mobile for £199.

Lots of phone manufacturers are supporting MMS, and Ericsson is just one example. Nokia's new 7650, for example, has a camera built into it, making taking snaps as easy as possible.

But MMS won't be cheap. T-Mobile is charging £20 a month, in addition to your pricing plan, for up to 10MB of messages.

Despite cost and the need for special phones, however, operators hope that MMS will be as popular and as lucrative as SMS has been.

Technology driven
You hear a lot at the moment about 3G or 'third generation' telecoms. But what are the first or second generations, and what is 3G going to mean?

Generation One
The first generation of mobile phones was strictly voice only. They were analogue phones and operated over the Total Access Cellular System network.

Generation Two
The second generation of mobile phones used GSM. It is digital rather than analogue and opened up the possibility of adding more than just voice to communications. SMS, which is data-based, was the surprise success of the GSM world.

GSM is sometimes referred to as a '2G system' which is shorthand for 'second generation'. You'll also see references to 2.5G services. These are higher-speed services that use the GSM technology in more advanced ways to allow more information to be sent and received more quickly.

2.5G services include Wap; High Speed Circuit Switched Data, a data transmission service that allows some data exchange over GSM networks, and GPRS, the buzzword of the minute, which allows even faster data exchange.

Generation Three
3G is designed to deliver data at much faster speeds and will open up the door to multimedia services on your mobile phone.

3G services are already being trialled in the UK and are expected to go live before the end of the year. When they become widely available, things should start to liven up even more in the mobile communications world.