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"By 2004, we anticipate that a majority of all new mobile phone connections will be using 3G services," said Brendan McManus, director of NEC Australia.
The NEC Technology Centre in Melbourne had been involved in application development and customization of the phone, including development of text input applications for the e606 and email applications for future handsets.
The e606 is an all-in-one handset with phone, digital video and picture camera, music player and modem. The silver and black handset includes 2 built-in cameras for the Videotalk application.
The e606 allows for 3G multimedia services and 2G (voice) services, and supports SMS and MMS. It features a large 65,536 color display and supports various graphic, audio and video file types, which can be downloaded at speeds of up to 385kbps.It has USB connectivity, so they can be used as web cam.
The phone was unveiled as part the launch of a 3G service in Australia by telco Hutchison Whampoa. It unveiled an aggressive pricing scheme which could possibly lead to a price war. Rivals Telstra also offers 3G service.
Hutchison's "3" network is available in Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth scheduled for third quarter availability. It allows real-time video phone calls, a feature only Hutchison offers.
At present, a slight latency is evident during calls, and a split-second difference between hearing a person's voice and seeing their lips move, but the company expects the service to improve over the course of the year.
Hutchison's network has a theoretical speed of 386 Kbps, compared with Telstra's 144 Kbps, but Russell said the data rate currently fluctuated between 50-250 Kbps, and this was likely to improve over the year.
Two handsets are available for use on the 3 network: The Motorola A830 and the NEC e606. Russell said the handsets have low subsidies of "less than a hundred dollars".
Hutchison has 3G networks in Italy and the UK and will soon launch similar services in Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Ireland and Sweden.
CNETAsia staff contributed to the report.
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