 According
to
German heise online,
Vodafone
Germany is releasing next month two DVB-T phones, the LG HB620T mobile phone
and the - already well known -
GIGA-BYTE GSmart t600
Windows Mobile Professional smartphone.
While I've recently seen a t600 which was running Microsoft's Windows Mobile
6.1, it's not yet clear if Vodafone Germany, which previewed the t600 on last
month's CeBIT, will release the GSmart t600 with newer and
just recently announced
Windows
Mobile 6.1 Professional version or with Windows Mobile 6.
Nevertheless, the release of the LG HB620T and the GSmart t600 is quite
groundbreaking for the German mobile TV market since both devices will operate
on DVB-T (digital
terrestrial TV) instead of of
DVB-H (digital
terrestrial TV for handheld devices as suggested by European Commission).
Earlier this year, the German regulation authority has given the DVB-H license
to a start-up company called "Mobile
3.0" instead of giving it to a joint venture, formed by German T-Mobile,
Vodafone and O2. As a result, it seems that these three mobile operators have no
further interest in supporting DVB-H anymore but it looks like Vodafone Germany
is the first to officially support DVB-T instead now.
While Vodafone hasn't released any official information yet, according to
heise online both - the LG and the GSmart - should be on sale in May for
something around 100 Euro (with a 24 months contract, for sure).
Cheers ~ Arne
|
