Made in Korea:
Slimmest Cell Phone Unveiled
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
KTF Technologies, a mid-tier Korean cell phone maker, Sunday took the wraps off a 7.9-millimeter-thick handset, which the company claims is the world's thinnest model.
KTF Technologies, an affiliate of the nation's runner-up wireless carrier KTF, plans to market the bar-type EV-K100, codenamed ``No. 7,'' early next week via its parent firm at just below 400,000 won ($412).
``Our ultra-slim phone would be a grand slam since it offers rich applications at a reasonable price. The slimness will also arrest the attention of design-savvy customers,'' a KTF spokesman said.
Previously, the 8.8-millimeter phone made by KTF Technologies' local rival VK was recognized as the world's slimmest mobile phone since its debut late September.
Back then, VK president Yi Cheol-sang contended 8.8 millimeters as a downward limitation with current technologies as even the tiniest antenna should be about 7 millimeters thick and a pair of plates must occupy 1.8 millimeters.
``To meet the international standards, the thickness of the antenna cannot be less than 7 millimeters with today's techniques,'' Yi said at the time.
``As a result, our 8.8-millimeter phone would be the thinnest model in the world for the time being,'' he predicted.
However, KTF Technologies overcame such a conventional barrier by slashing the thickness of the embedded antenna in a unique way. The firm refused to reveal the precise antenna size.
``We substantially cut down the thickness of the antenna incorporated into the EV-K100 and instead extended its length to secure all the necessary functions,'' the KTF spokesman said.
Despite its super slimness, the model that weighs 60 grams by no means lacks features as it sports a mega-pixel built-in camera, an MP3 player and a 1.8-inch liquid crystal display monitor.
Plus, the internal memory of 165 megabytes can hoard up 40 MP3 files and its embedded electronic dictionary software retains 333,000 words.
Wafer-thin phones have become the rage across the world with the clamshell-type 14.5-millimeter-thick RAZR phone of Motorola, the second-largest cell maker in the globe, having swept the market over the past few years.
KTF presently has no plan to export the sleek phone based on the code division multiple access (CDMA) but brisk local sales might prompt the firm to go global with the model.
``Technologically, it is not a big deal to change our phone's format from CDMA to global system for mobile communications (GSM) for the vigorous exports,'' the spokesman said.
CDMA, Korea's single standard, and GSM are the two mainstream technologies enabling wireless phone calls.
CDMA is an offspring of U.S.-based Qualcomm and is widespread in North America and some Asian countries including Japan, China and Korea.
In particular, Korea has spearheaded commercialization of CDMA while GSM is popular in Europe and other Asian nations.
Currently, most global customers employ GSM-based phones and KTF Technologies would need to overhaul the format of the EV-K100 to GSM in order to hit overseas markets in full swing.
