Samsung to sell handsets for wireless Web service

date: 02 December 2000, source: Korea Herald

Samsung Electronics plans to sell new mobile handsets that can support the initial third-generation (3G) wireless service, starting early December.

The company expects the rollout will speed up commercial adoption of cdma2000 1x, which has been launched by domestic telecom carriers in trial mode in early October, but has not been widely available for lack of terminals.

The interim wireless service, also called IS-95C, is able to do almost everything promised by 3G, or IMT-2000, although its speed is slower and network capacity is limited.

It allows mobile phones to send data at a speed of 144 Kbps, 2-10 times faster than currently available, and can handle video conferencing, audio and video on demand and other multimedia services.

Samsung completed developing the mobile handsets in early September for the first time in the world.

The phones adopt Windows User Interface, allowing users to tailor the menus and functions to their own needs. The folder-type handsets sends large amounts of data faster, which increases talk time by 30 percent and double standby time in comparison to existing mobile phones. The phones measure 85 x 45 x 18.8 cm and weigh 70 grams.

The handsets are also compatible with current IS-95A and IS-95B environment.

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