Engadet has the word (and photos) of LG’s newly announced PM80, a new Pocket PC featuring T-DMB (Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting). The terrestrial system is broadcast at 200 MHz (VHF) in South Korea and Europe. Korea also has a direct to handheld S-DMB mobile video system using satellites.
The PM80 features a 3.5-inch QVGA display, 64MB RAM and 64MB ROM with SD expansion, 2.5 hours of juice, and a 312 MHz Intel processor driving Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 2003 SE (aka the old version).
Unlike satellite DMB cellphones receiving broadcasts at the higher 2.6 GHz (UHF), terrestrial lovin’ devices sport those goofy telescoping antennas which just ain’t gonna fly in the west. Expect these to drop in Korea-only for about $383 for the base unit or $576 with optional GPS.
Samsung has joined the FLO Forum, Qualcomm’s 700Mhz mobile video network and Sprint may also climb on board.
The FLO Forum announced today the ratification of the FLOT (Forward Link-Only) Air Interface Specification (AIS), which specifies the protocols used over the air between the FLO network and a FLO device. It forms a foundation for compatibility standardization for FLO based terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast systems.
Samsung’s WiFi phone could be the first platform to go the the FLO. Will a WiMax handset follow?
Meanwhile, in the United States, Crown Castle Mobile Media will use AMC-9, a satellite at 83° west, for the backbone of their DVB-H mobile television system. It will deliver Windows Media content to a variety of mobile devices. Crown said they planned to offer commercial deployment by the end of 2005. Thales will provide satellite and GPS receivers, while Axcera will provide Single Frequency Network-compatible DVB-H transmitters including their Axcera’s Innovator LX Series.
Texas Instruments has a DVB-H Hollywoood chip that will be available in 2006. Their new OMAP processor supports DVD resolution up to 30 (fps) for MPEG4 and WindowsMedia 9 and VGA resolution at 30-fps for H.264 and RealVideo 10. Nokia’s $360 770 webtablet (below) runs Linux and uses a 250-MHz TI OMAP 1710 processor with 64MB of RAM and a 4″ screen. No DVB-H video - yet. TI’s new OMAP 2430 processor would boost its speed.
Nokia’s new N-Series media convergence phones (from the left, the N71, N80, and the N92) have new multimedia capabilities. Nokia likes mobile television delivered OTA via the DVB-H standard.
Nokia’s mobile video phone, the N92, will use DVB-H (at 1.6 GHz) in the United States, and uses a hinged, 2.8-inch display that lets the device sit on a table like a portable DVD player or twist into an LCD viewfinder like a handheld video camera. Their mobile television system, using DVB-H, is being tested in about 40 pilots worldwide. Nokia expects it to go live in the United States in the first half of 2006.
How soon will kiosks download movies for portable or home play? How long until U.S. consumers get mobile video from Crown Castle’s DVB-H sytem (at 1.6 GHz) or Qualcomm’s MediaFLO (at 700Mhz)? A year or two? It might depend on the “exclusivity” deals they make with cellular providers. Now wouldn’t that suck.
Related DailyWireless stories include; Global Mobile Television, Verizon Takes DVB-H Crown, WiMax Handsets, Laptop Television, Sirius Portable Radio, U.S. Broadband Policy?, XM Buys 2.3GHz, Sprint Gets Sirius, MPEG-4: Satellite, Cable & Wireless, Satellite TV on Cell Phone?, Sprint Bundles EchoStar, Satellite WiFi, DirecWay Modem Shares Access, Satphones Get Giant Antennas, U.S. Cellsats and FCC Approves Big Mobile Sat.
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