The Samsung Z500 is the smallest 3G phone currently on the market. However, the small size and weight (only 95g) don’t affect it’s functionality. It has everything you would expect from a good 3G handset.

It comes with a main 1 mega-pixel camera and a secondary 0.3 mega-pixel camera for 3G video calling and 1.3 Mega-pixel camera for photos. It comes with 50MB of internal memory which is expandable with small TransFlash cards, which keeps the size of the Z500 down.

It supports various media playback types, including MP3, AAC, MPEG4 and Real media. A WAP 2.0 browser and an email client are also available. It can be synchronised with a PC via Bluetooth, USB and IrDA to use the handset’s built-in PIM functions.

The 3G phones in the market are not up to snuff, according to experts: “We are seeing performance differences between two 3G terminals, with as much as 6dB or 7 dB falloff in signal sensitivity. Inside a building where signals are marginal, that’s the difference between ‘working’ and ‘not working’ - and it’s not being caught in testing.”

The accusation comes from the leader in terminal (phone and handset and data cards, to us users) testing: Spirent. Director of Applications Engineering, Nigel Wright, said frankly: “The handset makers have concentrated on passing ‘conformance’ tests, at the expense of real-world performance.”

Users of 3G data services will all be well aware of the problems of trying to get error-free communications, especially on data cards. But it’s very difficult to set up a good real-world test for phones or data cards which is repeatable, and as a result, the requirements of UMTS “conformance” tests have become very watered down, Spirent thinks.

“We’re well aware that a few big handset makers have put pressure on the committees to allow performance which isn’t optimised for anything except passing the conformance test,” said Wright. “It’s a problem which the networks are very concerned about, because users are seeing calls dropped, errors, and loss of signal, which the networks are blamed for. But the problem is in the mobile terminal, in our judgement, in far too many cases.”

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Pantech has announced the launch of the PT-S100, a new 3G (CDMA 2000 1x) phone mainly aimed at camera enthusiasts. The PT-S100 features unique swivel technology design, which allows the phone to adapt to a range of different functions. The new model is specifically designed for camera enthusiasts who can utilize the phone’s advanced functionality to take a wider, more elaborate range of shots.

Another unique feature of the PT-S100 is the keypad, positioned on both sides of the LCD display. The new keypad layout reduces the size of the phone and creates an interesting new trend in mobile handset design.

The embedded 1.3 CMOS camera includes auto focus functionality, which features an adopted semi-shutter system, by which users can control the lens focus manually and take exactly the kind of pictures that they prefer. Four different sizes of still shots can be saved, up to a limit of 999 pictures.

Users also benefit from a movie recording function through the inclusion of QCIF and SQCIF technology. The recorded files are saved in MPEG-4 format and a mini-SD card slot is provided for extra capacity. The enhanced camera function is supported with a big screen of 1.93″.

The MP3 player function and the FM radio are included to provide for users’ entertainment. In addition 3D gaming and an electronic dictionary are also included.

PT-S100 features include:

Pantech’s industry leading excellence in handset design has been acknowledged on numerous occasions, most recently by accolades from the iF Design Awards, run by the German International Forum, and the Red Dot Design Awards.