[ Part I ]

Telit. http://www.telital.com This stand didn't attract much attention, for some reason. However, they displayed a new entry-level model Telit GM822 which would come onto a scene at $130-150 in a month.

The phone supports the EMS standard, animated screensavers, images and tones; an animated image which can be sent through the SMS is stored separately. There are 20 preinstalled tones and you can also record your own one. Although the ring is not polyphonic it sounds quite loud.

The phone measures 111X51.6X21.5 mm and weighs 100 g. There is a Nickel-metalhydride battery of 550 mAh. According to a manufacturer, it can work up to 260 hours in a stand-by mode and 4.5 hours in a talk one; the charging time is about 100 minutes.

The key-pad is made of rubber, keys are easy to press and are conveniently positioned (except a too small navigation key). There are three programmable buttons.

The main menu is simple - here are item names and corresponding figures. Short sequences will help you navigate quickly.

A phonebook is only on a SIM card, the phone has no its own memory. There is a WAP browser 1.2.1 and T9 predictive texting. The phone will be available in 5 colors - blue, silvery, coral, star and lime.

Another new model, GM940, works in GSM900/1800, measures 113X47X18 mm and weighs 88 g. The standby time is 175 hours and the talk time is 6 hours; the battery is Li-Ion, 570 mAh. The EMS standard is supported. A large graphics display has a resolution of 120X160; the wap-browser is of the v.1.2.1. This model differs from others in an intellectual searching of entries in a phonebook. I can't judge whether it is convenient or not as the 940 was forbidden to touch, unlike the 822 one.

Alcatel. http://www.alcatel.com Here we could take a look only at the 511 model which will soon be available. The 311 was described only in booklets, that is why we are not going to dwell on the Alcatel phones.

Samsung. http://www.samsung.com There were displayed all models of the current line; at our site you can find reviews on them. The only thing I'd like to stress on is SGH-N350 which is very close to the SGH-N300.

LG. http://www.lg.com The company is still eager to gain ground on the European market. Here they displayed LG200, LG500, LG510 and LG600 models which are far not new.

Drin.it http://www.drinit.com The stand showed 8 models. There was even one with a support of packet data transfer of Class 4. However, the company only distributes phones on the territory of Italia, while the developer is Sewon.

A stand of Electric Fuel was also of great interest (http://www.electric-fuel.com) as it displayed its Instant Power. We have already written about zinc-oxigen batteries which can charge cell phones, PDAs and other similar devices far from power networks, for example, while hiking. These batteries are of 3300 mAh (1.7V) and allow charging mobile devices up to 5 times. This unit is supplied with a cable; currently cables are available for the most of cell phones, as well as PDAs from Palm, Compaq and HP (on the photo you can look how the Nokia 3310 is charging). One such set costs some $20.

On the second day I saw a lot of people carrying photos to the stand of ICI Imagedata http://www.ici-imagedata.com, where they scanned and printed images onto plastic surfaces, for example, onto mobile phones. Currently it is possible to make a photo at $25 for such models as Nokia 8210, 3310, 3330 and Ericsson T20. But I wouldn't have mentioned this technology if it were not unique.

First an image is scanned, then printed out with a sublimation printer on a special transparent film which is 7 micron wide. This is the first know-how used in production of images. After that an image is put into a press where a preliminary image is formed and then it is transferred from an imprint onto a lid made of special material. The resulted image is resistant to scratches and abrasion. The equipment costs $8000 including a printer and a PC. A cost price of one cover reaches $15-20, depending on a surface area.

PDA

The HP's stand demonstrated new Jornada 568 with covers of different colors.

At the Palm's stand the latest model was Palm m125, though it had nothing extraordinary: we have already written about this standard Palm PDA.

The Compaq's piece turned out to be much more interesting: they showed a new iPaq working under the Pocket PC2002 and able to send/receive video images through GPRS or UMTS.

At this display you could also admire a Small-Tel PDA http://www.all-tel.it which got a prize for design at CEBIT. It is a usual Palm PDA with all standard applications, a small size (60X98X13 mm) and weight of 86 g. It has a standard monochrome screen with a resolution of 160X160, a reverse backlight, and a Li-Ion battery (900 mAh). Besides, there is an IR-port (apart from a cable), 8 MBytes memory, but expansion slots are lacking. There is also a woman's version - with a mirror on the lid but it doesn't affect the price: both phones cost $250 at retail.

Rumors

A lot of various things were discussed at the display. I can't mention all of them, and therefore, I will share with you the most interesting ones. The GPRS won't bring the expected income to operators, that is why some companies refuse to work with small operators which have already bought the GPRS equipment. A 1-year contract necessary to start collaboration will reportedly amount at least $4,000,000. Briefly the position of the manufacturers can be described as follows: we fulfill the wishes of users and operators as far as the GPRS introduction into terminals is concerned, but we are not in charge of its success and promotion. It means that most of the player have a wait-and-see attitude.

It is rumored also that at the London's presentation, which will be held in November this year, Benefon will announce a cardinally new product with a great deal of new possibilities. The new model will combine functionality of an ordinary handset with some new features currently lacking in competitors.

Miscellaneous

Apart from electronic devices the display showed plenty of accessories without any electronic filling, for example, these holders.

There is another peculiar thing.

Finally I want to dwell on an MP3 player that I liked much. A small case houses a slot for an MMC card and 32 MBytes memory. Another variant of the player has no preinstalled memory, but features two MMC slots. The player is supplied with software and a USB cable for recording music. Such toys cost $150 and $170, respectively.

That's all I wanted to share with you about the Milan's display. Soon I'm going to release a review on a situation on the European market and reasons why one or another model gains or loses popularity.

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