What do the handsets look like?
A wide variety of styles and sizes of handsets are being developed to meet the individual needs of users. Many of the first 3GSM handsets were significantly larger than standard GSM terminals but the bulkiness of the terminals has reduced very quickly. Several manufacturers are producing their second and in some cases third releases of 3GSM terminals, rapidly building the range of choice for consumers. The look and feel of 3GSM terminals are now being dictated by functionality demands rather than technical constraints. For example, to support new Internet and multi-media services, larger, more convenient viewing screens are offered. The range of possible 3GSM services is almost limitless and it is likely that handsets will be developed for different market and service segments. As a result, the variation of form factors offered is likely to increase significantly and handsets could vary from wrist-watch style ‘simple’ telephone’s to mini PC-type PDAs for multi-media web-browsing usage.
