Gadgets galore at CeBIT 2003

HANOVER, Germany -- As usual, this year's CeBIT trade show was packed full of consumer electronics and computing gadgets. Across the exhibition's 27 halls were hundreds of interesting and unique gadgets and products and through these some trends were apparent. As has been seen in recent months, the division between the worlds of computing and consumer electronics is narrowing fast as technology that was once related to the personal computer is now mainstream, even among non-PC users.

OLEDs shine bright

A few years ago displays based on OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology were only on display as prototypes, but a handful of products with OLED displays was on show at CeBIT this year.

Perhaps the most impressive was a new digital still camera from Eastman Kodak. The EasyShare LS633 camera has a 2.2-inch active-matrix OLED display on its rear, which is a type capable of showing fast moving images in full color. Compared to TFT LCD panels of the type usually found on such cameras, the OLED is brighter and also sucks up less power. Features include a 3.1-megapixel image sensor and 3X optical zoom. It will be available in Europe, Asia, and Australia in April for around $400.

A number of other products with mono OLED displays were also on show.

Samsung Electronics has built an OLED display onto the outside of its new SGH-I500 smart phone, which has a clamshell design and a TFT LCD on the inside. The handset is a new version of its SPH-I500 phone that was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The SGH-I500 has the Palm 5.2 operating system -- the first cell phone to include the latest version of PalmSource's operating system -- and that means it doesn't need a dedicated graffiti handwriting area because everything can be done in a software pad on-screen.

The company was also showing a prototype Dick Tracy style watch phone with 256-color OLED display. The phone, scheduled to be available later this year, weighs less than 80 grams and also includes a built-in WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) browser, although the watch's 96-pixel by 64-pixel screen, which has a diagonal width of roughly 3 centimeters, could be a little small for any serious mobile Web browsing.

Other cellular telephone makers are also looking towards OLED technology. Sanyo Electric was showing a prototype sliding-display cellphone with full-color OLED that it hopes to put on sale in Japan later this year and Motorola was showing its new V600 phone that includes an OLED display.

Hard disks leave the desktop

What started with Apple Computer's iPod portable music player is now becoming mainstream. Several hard-disk drive-based digital music players were on show at CeBIT, including two new models from iRiver, a leading South Korean MP3 player maker.