Fed: Futuristic technology coming to a mobile phone near you

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2000
Fed: Futuristic technology coming to a mobile phone near you

The new generation of mobile phones will let callers send live video images of themselves
and turn handwritten notes into phone-delivered messages.

Ericsson chief MICHAEL HENRIKSSON says research is well underway to replace keypad
phones with voice-activated units fitted with video screens.

Mr HENRIKSSON, who heads the mobile phone giant's industrial design department, says
the so-called third-generation mobile phones should be available within a couple of years.

The phones could also act as a street directory with detailed on-screen maps showing
their position.

They could be equipped with electronic pens, allowing users to write a note on the
screen to be transferred as a typed message to another phone.

Mr HENRIKSSON predicts more mobile than fixed phones will be in use worldwide within
three to four years.

But he played down fears of health risks associated with mobiles.

He says the average mobile unit emits much lower radio wave levels than other appliances,
such as television sets and computers.

AAP RTV gfr/er/jd/gmw/jn

KEYWORD: PHONES (MELBOURNE)

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