As well as the usual round up of mobile handsets, telecoms plumbing and assorted comms geek stuff, there was a selection of tiny stands dotted around which featured stuff from Korea, China, and other exotic locations such as Birmingham. Here’s a round up of some of the more interesting stuff –
BlueTooth
Bluetooth (is that with cap T or not, I’m konfused) is definitely coming in force, as was very evident from a lot of the stands at the show. Take for instance the veritable rash of BT mobile phone headsets (that’s Bluetooth dewd, not British Telecom) which dotted the show like multi-coloured plastic beetles.
Looks like a price war may be looming before they’ve even left the starting gate, this Taiwanese company was quoting ex factory prices of $39.00 US per unit for shipment next month.
For me though, the most interesting BT application was this wireless networking system based around Bluetooth and Pan Area Networking technology. The Korean company is selling the BlueBerry FUD – 202 package for around $100 US wholesale, which includes two BT modules and software on CD.
Plug them into two PC USB slots, fire up the software and presto you have a Class 1 (i.e. 100 metre range) wireless network offering file sharing, Internet sharing and general network access. Simple and effective. In fact the only thing it won’t do is connect to other Bluetooth devices, because of the PAN implementation, and of course the range is going to be more like 20 metres indoors, but still….
The company also offers a combination BT module with integral flash memory, which does away with the need for a CD, so you can literally plug and play. Hopefully these things will be hitting the shores of Europe real soon now. BT speeds are around 700kbps, so it’s not blindingly fast, but you can hook up to 7 devices working simultaneously together on a small wireless network.
Many of the stands were showing off BT firmware and components for building everything from BT home automation systems, to car audio systems which could use a GPS enabled mobile phone to download maps into the player in the dash for navigation purposes.
Finally these guys at Possio, were showing off their PX20 wireless gateway, which effectively converts a standard wireless 802.11 hub into a BlueTooth hub. The idea is that you stick a BT card in the top of the unit, and an airport card or equivalent into the bottom, and you have a hub which can talk to both BlueTooth and WiFi clients.
GSM
A neat product from Chinese company Netac, the Mobile DataStar is a small GSM module into which you insert your mobile phone SIM card, and then plug it into the USB port of your PC or laptop. You can then send or receive SMS messages via your computer using your normal mobile operator. The company also supplies a range of bootable USB flash memory drives.
Along the same lines is the CyMobil Bizfone from Korean company Saehan IT. This little $400 US box is a portable credit card reader, which uses an integral GSM module as the wireless transmission mechanism. Plonk your SIM card into the unit, take it out with you to your fruit and veg stall in the market (or your restaurant), and presto you can accept VISA cards for those essential purchases.
The bad news is that the company doesn’t seem to want to export out of Korea, lots of blank faces when I asked.
Bits
There was also a selection of other bits and pieces on show, like the Thumbdrive Touch USB Fingerprint Reader module from Trek of Singapore. Due out in August, no price as yet.
Finally, the folks from BulkGSM.com deal in mobile phone handsets. Lots of them. In fact if you want to buy or sell over 100 at a time, these people might be worth a call. They’re going to be setting up a handset auction service soon too. Not bad for a bunch of lads from North London.
