We take a look at some of the weird and wonderful devices on display at this year’s CommunicAsia in Singapore:
Mobile life saver
While some people might feel dead without their mobile phones, some mobile phones are actually in the life saving business. Literally. The EPI Life phone by Singaporean firm Ephone being showcased at CommunicAsia, for instance, is a handset with built-in electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement, hooked up to a 24 hour ‘health concierge service.’
Reading a user’s heart rate takes 30 seconds and the results are beamed back to the firm over GPRS from anywhere in the world. The results are then pored over by no less than 10 cardiologists to determine whether or not the patient is in need of immediate medical attention.
If the patient is indeed on death’s door, the health concierge service will summon a private ambulance and hurry the patient to any of its three partnering local hospitals, or a network of physicians and hospitals for patients who added the frequent flyer add-on service.
Users can also make the handset check their blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol, as well as use it to access an online EPI Virtual Health Folder.
Health is an expensive commodity, however, and this handset is no exception retailing for $357 in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong with an added subscription for the health concierge service. A basic $70 a month plan means users can submit 10 EGCs a month, whereas a $215 a month plan comes with a free handset and unlimited numbers of EGC uploads.
A mobile hypochondriac’s dream, indeed.
Picture perfect
Most phone camera’s aren’t up to much, and most people would still choose to carry both a phone and a camera with them if they were planning on taking some snaps. Not necessarily so anymore with the new Altek Leo smartphone, a super 14-megapixel camera/phone hybrid.
Being shown off at CommunicAsia, the Altek Leo sports Google’s Android 2.1 (Eclaire) OS, a 1/2.3-inch CCD image sensor, an extendable 3x 36mm optical zoom, a Xenon flash and features including smile detection and sweep panorama.
The drool-worthy device will hit Asian shelves in Q4 of this year, starting with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at an estimated $500 price range.
Samsung catapults six new phones into Asian market
Not to be outdone, Korean firm Samsung was flooding the CommunicAsia show floor with handsets, launching no less than six new models.
The firm is showing off its Windows Mobile based Omnia 4 and 5, an entry level Android with the Galaxy 3, the Wave 2 and Wave 2Pro running Samsung’s own Bada and the much hyped Galaxy S.
ZTE goes green on handsets
Chinese firm ZTE is looking a little green at this year’s CommunicAsia, but not to worry, it’s for an environmental cause. The firm has been showing off its concept of eco-friendly handsets made from reusable materials, with some even using the users’ own movement into kinetic energy to power them.
The concept also includes thoughts on greener paperless packaging, using inflatable materials and biodegradable bags to save on space and transport costs. Manuals, of course, should be online, says ZTE.
The kinetic phone concept works by way of an external drive with a built-in micro-generator motor activated by movement. It comes in three concept models, the Flashing phone for casual movement, the Magnolia phone for relatively active end-users, and the Double which adds in a solar light panel to improve the charging efficiency.
NTT Docomo also goes green
Japanese carrier, NTT Docomo, also doesn’t want to miss out on any of the trendy green action, releasing some eco-phones of its own.
Showing off its cypress wood ‘TouchWood’ phones, NTT Docomo said the mobile phone prototypes were made with the surplus wood of trees culled during thinning operations to maintain healthy forests.
The prototypes were created in collaboration with Sharp Corporation, Olympus Corporation and “more trees,” a reforestation project founded by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Docomo boasted the phones had “excellent durability and resistance to water, insects and mildew thanks to special three-dimensional compression molding developed by Olympus.”
