Cell phones with video are not just a passing fad. Just look at Southeast Asia, with Japan and South Korea at the forefront, to see how these devices are increasingly common.

In fact, some models are now competing directly with some lower-range video cameras. Such is the case of the SCH-V33O from Samsung. It is equipped with a video camara featuring 300,000 pixels of resolution and allowing recording and storage of 20 minutes of video. Future models will be able to handle an hour. Before the end of the year, LG and Sharp will release onto the Japanese and Korean markets models with a megapixel of resolution.

In Spain, the first model released with this feature was the Nokia 3650. It came out early this year and allowed recording of 15-second videos. Now the same manufacturer is out with the Nokia 6600. It goes a step further by allowing simultaneous recording of video and audio.

Very soon other models are expected in Spain, such as the Motorola A835. It will combine the features of personal digital assistant (PDA) with a still-shot camera, video camera, MP3 player and 256 MB memory for storage of more than 2 hours of video; the Siemens SX1, with a video camera, radio and MP3, or the Samsung SPH-V3000, with a video camera offering 110,000-pixel quality and room to store 30 minutes of footage.

These plans show that sooner or later, video will be a common feature in cell phones. Samsung forecasts that 11% of handsets in a technological reference point country like South Korea will feature a video camera by the end of the year.

Applications of future telephones
But progress does not stop here. Telephones of the future will make it possible to see TV in color, surf the Internet at high speed or hold video conferences. To a large extent these features will be made possible by third-generation mobile phone technology called UMTS. The next thing to be incorporated into cell phones will probably be television.

The CH-X820 from Samsung is already for sale in the Korean market. It features a tuner that gives real-time access to television channels which, of course, are viewed in on its TFT-LCD internal screen with 262,000 color. The screen adjusts for viewing vertically or horizontally. Sound can be heard directly or through headphones. And it is possible to capture as many as 50 images of, say, a scene from a movie or a sporting event and use them later as a screensaver.

In a couple of years, NEC will come out with a model whose main feature is the ability to receive digital TV signals. The initial prototype is based on third-generation mobile phone technology. It is bigger than conventional handsets, has an LCD screen and allows viewing of just over an hour.

Mobile technology promises an exciting future in which handsets will become veritable multimedia centres with which we will soon be able to record still and moving images with good quality, listen to music, watch TV, play and of course, speak.