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Georgia Center's Team Designs All-in-One Phone, Internet, TV Wireless Device

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

By Don Fernandez, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Oct. 9--A grand do-it-all device is still a dream. But why not forecast the potential look and form of such an iconic piece of mobile gear?

A team from the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Tech jumped at the chance to design a prototype merging a bevy of applications -- phone, Internet, music, television and others -- into a one master wireless device.

Chief among the obstacles: "Integrating all these functions through a simple interface and minimizing power demands to provide a reasonable operating time between recharging," said GEDC Director Joy Laskar.

In other words, keeping such a busy toy juiced.

The resulting design, displayed here, is functional. Yet cramming so much into a single gadget proved challenging.

The prototype features a touch-screen keyboard and icons. Want to access a credit card? Place a fingertip on the symbol. The contraption even acts as a remote control for a home television.

Kyutae Lim, GEDC associate director of technology, admits some of the technology's rougher edges need smoothing out.

"Fast-downloading of movies will take a little more time," he said. "(Electronic) payment still has different issues, but it's not technical things. It's security."

One function the team is proud of is real-time videoconferencing via a handheld. It sounds pie in the sky, but it's doable.

"It would be like a Dick Tracy phone," said Christopher Evans , director of operations at the GEDC. "I could look at you and talk to you. The biggest problem with that is the bandwidth required for that technology."

So what has the team christened this appliance?

4G. Considering that 3G, or third-generation, mobile devices are just now emerging in the United States, the design aims to enable a society seemingly fated to be dependent on wireless.

"No one knows," Evans said, "what 4G is going to be like."

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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