Techno Page
Third Generation communication
Pogo to make 3G obsolete?
By Harendra Alwis
Third Generation communication
The next generation of broadband wireless communications - based on Third
Generation, or '3G' technology - will change our lives forever.
You are travelling and need to book a restaurant. Consulting your mobile
phone or personal assistant, you select a tailored, online guide that is
sensitive to your location. From a shortlist of options, complete with
reviews, you make a choice and call the restaurant direct. You confirm
the booking.
You want to pick up a new radio station, or an overseas one that you've
read about. You direct your phone or 3G-device to its unique web address
and soon you are listening to the broadcast - live via the Internet, anywhere,
any time.
This is no dream. Sophisticated wireless communication will soon be
a reality, with fast, intelligent and affordable devices opening up better
ways of organizing your life and staying in touch. Third Generation cellular
services will be available by 2002.
3G will extend the convenience and freedom of today's digital phones
with a permanent Internet connection. They will also deliver a tenfold
increase in speed - up to 2 megabits per second - for sending information
from business data to video and games for kids.
There will also be new devices; a cross between today's mobile phones
and personal assistants like the Palm Pilot. You can even expect to see
the technology pop up in car stereos and other unlikely places.
These new devices will be online all the time. In a 3G world, users
won't always need to 'dial up' to retrieve email, multimedia attachments
and other data. It will simply be downloaded to their mobile devices as
soon as it is sent or requested.
The shift to 3G services is also causing a revolution in the underlying
telecommunications system as phone companies embrace the Internet and further
integrate wireless and traditional fixed-wire networks. This will change
the way we think about telecommunications. People will be charged for information
volumes used rather than time connected, as operators move from charging
according to time to the volume of information that you send. So get ready
for a new world of speed, knowledge and convenience. Get ready for 3G.
Pogo to make 3G obsolete?
A small British technology firm is launching a gadget that it says could
make third-generation networks obsolete before they are switched on.
Pogo Technology says its mobile device can browse the web at speeds
comparable to those achievable by computer modems.
As well as being a web browser, the Pogo handheld can also be used to
send and receive e-mail, serve as a mobile phone and play MP3 music files.
The Pogo should go on sale in Europe before the end of this year.
All mobile phone operators are keen to find ways to get back some of
the huge amounts of cash they have sunk into futuristic third-generation
(3G) networks.
These future networks handle data far better than today's mobile networks
and make it possible to offer customers a faster and better service that
give them access to music tracks, video clips and interactive web tools.
But Pogo Technology claims its gadget removes the need for the 3G networks.
The device, which is roughly the same size and weight as a Palm handheld,
routes all its requests for data via interim servers that sit between the
mobile network and the larger internet.
These servers compress the pages being requested and send them on to
the device, which then reassembles them.
Pogo claims this system could transfer data files at the equivalent
of 50kbps - almost the same speed as the fastest computer modems. Because
it does a good job of letting people browse the web, the Pogo does not
have a Wap browser on it.
The funky looking Pogo is aimed squarely at young consumers, particularly
those who invest a lot of time, money and effort to modify their existing
mobile phone.
As well as being a web browser and standard mobile phone, the Pogo has
a slot for a memory card that could hold MP3 files. Text can be written
via a stylus and an on-screen keyboard.
Finished versions of the Pogo will run for 100 hours of standby time
and between four and six hours of talk or music-listening time.
Almost all handheld computers have to be regularly connected to a desktop
computer to synchronize the information they hold with what is on the parent
machine.
By contrast, the data held on a Pogo is coordinated via an owner's web
account that they get when they buy the device. Changes made to the information
held in this web account, which could include e-mail messages, MP3 files
or voicemails, will be picked up by the Pogo when it is next used.
Pogo says the gadget should be in a few select shops in time for Christmas
and will be widely available from January 2002. It is expected to retail
for about œ299 or approximately Rs. 35,000. The Pogo Company is currently
finalizing deals to distribute the Pogo in high-street retailers and cementing
its links with mobile phone networks. Keep your fingers crossed all you
Techno people!
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