Touch-Sensitive Cell Phones Riding High

The war over the next-generation touch-based mobile phones is seemingly exhibiting uprising momentum, riding on greater consumer appetite despite concerns over the global economic turmoil.On Monday, Samsung Electronics enriched its touch mobile portfolio initially for Southeast Asian consumers in a move to tap marketability of such a promising segment.The world's No. 2 handset maker revealed its SGH-i900 mobile, dubbed ``Omnia'' ― meaning ``everything’’ in Latin. The firm said the phone has a 3.2-inch screen with enhanced wireless internet capabilities such as HSDPA at 7.2Mbps and Wi-Fi, as well as a 5-megapixel camera, accelerometer functions and even an extended memory option of up to 16 gigabytes.The handset, which is Samsung’s strategic product for the second half of this year, runs on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system. And its haptic ― from the word meaning ``touch’’ in Greek ― feedback makes the phone vibrate when users touch its screen.The Omnia phone comes ahead of the iPhone release, which is slated for early today.``The quick launch of the Omnia has been in line with the iPhone release,'' a Samsung spokesman said. The phone is also suited to North American consumers with its quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA support, which allow it a full access to networks from AT&T.For iPhone, Steve Jobs will stand up in front of the Apple faithful at its annual conference with ``iPhone 2.0,'' which is believed to be equipped with GPS satellite navigation and a camera with video conferencing capability.Samsung expects that the Omnia smart mobile will grab much attention from business people since it can become an entertainment device during long-haul flights and lengthy meetings.``Our Soul phones have been selling well, however, we need more and I can say this phone is the company's strategy to surge ahead of Motorola in North America in the second quarter,'' the spokesman added.Earlier, Samsung’s chief of mobile phone division Choi Gee-sung told The Korea Times that his company will defeat Motorola in the U.S. company's home-turf in the second quarter even though Samsung will not pay too much attention on the volume of its shipments.Weeks ago, Samsung commercialized a 5-megapixel full-touch-screen phone in Europe. The SGH-F480 Touchwiz handset features the advanced sophistication of a user interface ― drag-and-drop, auto-focus, smile shot and LED flash and the price has been set between 349 and 399 euros.The mobile comes after Samsung introduced their slider Soul phone in February at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain. The 5-megapixel GSM-based handset is being marketed toward European customers for availability in April and Samsung insiders say the company is now focusing on Europe's touch phone market as ``uncertainty'' is very high in North America.Haptic FrenzyHaptic has been a keyword among mobile phone designers. It was LG Electronics’ product design team chief Kim Jin who first used the term in phone design at least in a printed publication. Kim, then the chief of its mobile phone design center, said in a 2006 interview with The Korea Times that haptic would be the next big trend in phone design whether it be a vibrating body or a soft, organic skin. Now the company says all of its phones over 500,000 won ($500) will have the touch-screen platform, and there will be over 10 types released this year.According to Gartner, a market research firm, the global demand for touch phones will increase two-fold from 2007 to 35 million this year, capitalizing on traditionally-proven spots. Another researcher Strategy Analytic forecasts that touch mobiles will account for 40 percent of the phone market by 2012.Korean firms such as Samsung and LG are not alone in the ``haptic phone’’ frenzy. Some believe that the new iPhone from Apple will be equipped with ``haptic’’ functions. According to dvice.com, Apple is reportedly in discussions with a company called Immersion for a vibration response. For South Korean customers, KTF has been discussing with Apple for over a year on selling the iPhone here. The company said they are still in talk and details will be announced later. Motorola is also interested in the haptic technology but it is taking a slightly different approach. Its phone has a ``virtual’’ keypad system named the ModeShift technology, which transforms the keys according to the function being used. For example, the keypad shows numbers in the phone mode. When playing music, it displays control keys for the music player ― play, pause, fast-forward and rewind ― instead of the numbers. Using vibrating haptic technology, the device also provides tactile feedback, so the users can confirm whether they have pressed the correct key.