While it is not always guaranteed that a newly released piece of kit will always be introduced in the APAC market first (usually, these new products will be introduced into the US market, still the biggest consumer group in the world even after the recent market slowdowns) – the Philippine’s proximity to said countries gives the possibility of back-channel access to products that are not officially released into the market yet. This is probably due to our proximity to the Hi-Tech Tigers of Asia – Korea and Japan and Taiwan, as well as the country with the biggest number of manufacturers – China.  Such access usually happens if only for the reason of testing the waters for acceptance of a new product, or simply to gauge public reaction to it.

In the case of services though, we can be confident that we are keeping up with the Jones’, in that Globe, a local communications company, has been offering HSDPA connectivity through their Globe Visibility service since March of 2006 – one of only a few Telecom companies offering this capability in the Asia Pacific. More recently, it was announced that both Smart Communications and its main competitor Globe will be offering television services to their subscribers. This brings me to the subject at hand, the Samsung SGH-P930.

                                      Samsung SGH-P930 - a little larger than life-size

Why go such a long way around the topic you ask? Well you see, this particular Samsung phone is capable of displaying televised content through a new video standard for handhelds called DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handhelds),  which in turn can only function on networks that are capable of 3.5G speeds – such as Globe Visibility on the HSDPA technology – High Speed Downlink Packet Access. Without these prerequisites, the highly touted television-showing capability of the phone will be MIA, with no recourse other than to lug a regular old portable TV around, which is so 80’s.

                                      Can't call anyone with this sir. Pretty big screen though

From the surface, all is well and good- Smart has already announced availability of the TV service to subscribers as recently as July of this year, and Globe, while still mute on their plans, can’t be too far behind. Yet a cursory peek at blogs and forums regarding the big two mobile service providers in the Philippine show that the service may not be ready for prime time. A good example of this movement of dissatisfaction can be found here. All of these technologies – HSDPA, DVB-H, plus the problem of coverage, support by hardware, customer service and user friendliness – must be overcome before hardware like the SGH-P930 can be worth considering for its TV capabilities.

The other half of the “leading edge” of technology is of course, the hardware. There is only a few handhelds I know of that has the prerequisite technology onboard to be compatible with the imminent release of TV on your cell phone. A recent confirmation came in the form of Smart Communication’s approval of the Nokia N92 for TV duties. Another cell phone that I know off is here in front of me, the Samsung SGH-P930.

                                       Hold a world of possibilities

Design – wise, this Samsung shows its vintage by its 2.0 MP camera and the fact that it’s actually only a bit slimmer than a pack of cigarettes – a lot of newer and slimmer models from Samsung have since been introduced. I still very much appreciate the technology it represents though, and the build quality – it has a “heft” that is substantial rather than heavy. The swivel-style screen reflects its dual-purpose nature – that of a phone and a video-viewing device. The screen is very clear, with vibrant colors resulting from its 262k – color TFT Screen, which measures a healthy 2.3” @ 240x320. One complaint that cropped up during its testing period: the 5-way toggle had sharp edges and is difficult to manipulate. These are the most notable details of the phone – a more complete list of specifications follows below.

Samsung SGH-P930 TV Phone Specifications:

>  Standard - UMTS 2.1GHz / GSM/ GPRS (900/1800/1900 MHz), HSDPA

>  Camera - 2 Megapixel + VGA

>  Display - 2.2″ 240×320 262K TFT

>  Mobile TV: Digital Video Broadcasting - Handhelds (DVB-H)

>  Picture in Picture (PIP) function

>  Video Recording & Messaging (MPEG4 / H.263)

>  Video Telephony & Streaming

>  MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / AAC++

>  Bluetooth v1.2, USB v1.1, Mobile Printing

>  MicroSD external memory

>  Size - 107 x 49 x 19.7 mm

>  Weight - 119g.

Now - the hardware is here, and the software (or infrastructure) is in the “Let’s roll-out” stage – all gung-ho and full of marketing piss-and-vinegar. Following multiple releases of TV-on-your-cell services around the world, it is now the local market’s turn. Hopefully problems - on multiple levels of the service – can be ironed out so that the adoption of this new technology (and the use of phones such as the Samsung SPH-P930) can be a smooth experience. Not everything is doom-and-gloom though – there was a time when texting was a hit-and-miss affair, while coverage was so spotty that there was still some merit in standing on top of your building’s water tank to get a better signal for your cell phone. Those days are long past now thankfully - perhaps the same process is being followed for the imminent introduction of TV services to our cell phones.

                             HSDPA-enabled network - Globe's towers are taller

Keeping up with the prevalently advanced tech in other countries is an admirable endeavor, but when it is accomplished at the cost of shoddy performance and half-hearted implementation, I’d rather stay a few months away from the bleeding edge – after all, it’s too easy to slip off and cut yourself on unproven technology compounded with untested services. Thankfully, the Samsung is definitely not bleeding edge – (how often can a hardware geek be glad to say that?) It was introduced in Italy November of 2006, and is already a proven performer.  Newer TV-capable  phones from Samsung have also been introduced.

P.S.: Yet even after saying all that, I still find a certain amount of gleefulness that the Philippines is actually one of the countries leading the charge for a new technology – the same kind of feeling when I happened upon a report that Filipinos led the world in cell phone texting usage. What kind of gleefulness? I dunno, maybe the novel kind?

Quote: “More regional operators in the Asia-Pacific region have started to aggregate specialized content for mobile phones, a move that is expected to drive mobile TV adoption.”

Quote: “Industry analyst Informa Telecom & Media predicted that the Asia-Pacific market will lead in the adoption of mobile TV, with a projected 68.4 million mobile broadcast TV users by 2010, or nearly 55 percent of the world's total. “

Credits: For more information, please visit the following sites:

http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39368083,00.htm  (Mobile TV trends)

http://toni.marikit.net/?p=674  (Representative of the general attitude toward sub-standard service)

http://www.betterthan3g.com/g35g/faq.asp  (More about the Globe technologies)

http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62030092,00.htm  (TV Mobile Service)

http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_article_63/  (A highly informal study – which percentage would you be in?)