Samsung rolls out Galaxy Note 10.1; LG bets big on Optimus LTE, quad-core phones


BARCELONA, Spain ― The Mobile World Congress, the biggest gathering of the global mobile phone industry, will kick off its four-day run on Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

Some 1,400 telecom carriers and handset makers are expected to exhibit their newest products on the showroom floors of the Fira de Barcelona, the city’s convention center, on Feb. 27-March 1.

Many visitors may have been disappointed by Samsung Electronics’ decision not to announce the Galaxy S III amid the long absence of Apple at the MWC.

Instead of the successor to the Galaxy S II, the world’s second-largest handset maker will reveal the Galaxy Note 10.1, the tablet version of its latest hit smartphone with a bigger display screen than the Galaxy Note 5.3, on Sunday local time.

Considering the lower than expected performance of the Galaxy Tab, industry sources predict that Samsung could be betting bigger on the Note series to compete with Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

The tablet size also would better support the diverse functions of the Note’s signature feature S-Pen, a stylus that you can use to scribble or highlight things, they said.

On Tuesday, Samsung also plans a separate session to offer a software development kit to app makers so that they can develop mobile apps using the S-Pen.

“The Galaxy S II is still in high demand. We don’t want competition between Galaxy phones,” said Erick Kwon, a Samsung spokesperson.

“Rather than exposing our strategy early by unveiling the Galaxy phone at the wrong time, we have decided to introduce the Galaxy Note 10.1 that would appeal to consumers with emotional experience.”

Samsung’s new line-ups during the show also include the Galaxy Beam, the world’s slimmest projector phone that produces an up to 50-inch projection screen, and the Galaxy Tab II 7.0 and 10.1, both of which support voice calls.

With the delay of its archrival’s new smartphone, LG Electronics plans to show off all of its smartphone models waiting for launch in the first half of the year at the MWC.

LG, the nation’s No. 2 and global No. 3 handset maker, will unveil the Optimus Vu on Sunday, which the company calls a “phablet” integrating the mobility of phones and the wider screen of tablet PCs. 

The 5-inch handset, running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network, supports IceCream Sandwich, the latest version of Google’s Android operating system.

The Optimus Vu, featuring a rare 4:3 aspect screen ratio, also comes with a rubber-made stylus, hinting at a competition with Samsung’s Note.

After suffering from slowing smartphone sales in recent years, LG rose in the fourth quarter of last year as the world’s second-largest LTE handset maker. The firm’s MWC theme is “LTE, it’s always LG.”

LG also aims high with its first quad-core processor smartphone Optimus 4X HD, which will be announced on Sunday. Powered by NVIDIA’s latest 1.5 GHz Tegra 3 processor, the handset delivers PC-like performance, the company explained.

As HTC, the Taiwanese phone maker, is also rumored to roll out its One X quad-core smartphone on the same day, it remains to be seen whose product could secure the “world’s first quad-core phone” title.

LG also said its new Android smartphones would focus more on device design. The glassy rectangles of Optimus L3, L5 and L7 have embraced the new look named “L-Style,” which consists of LG’s signature Floating Mass Technology, seamless layout and leather-texture back.

“We will strengthen our presence in the global smartphone market with key competitiveness in speed, display and design,” said Park Jong-seok, vice president of LG Electronics and head of the mobile communications unit.

Along with the two local electronics giants, leading telecom companies SK Telecom and KT Corp. will join the industry’s annual event with new services and technologies.

SK Telecom, the nation’s No. 1 telecom operator, has set up an exhibition booth together with its platform unit SK Planet and the newly acquired Hynix Semiconductor for the first time this year.

SK Telecom will demonstrate the world’s first Hybrid Network that allows LTE and WiFi services to work as one, doubling the speed of the Internet connection. The company also will unveil the core technology of the LTE-Advanced network.

KT, which offers its own WiFi service at the MWC’s main event venues, has teamed up AT&T and Vodafone to showcase the “Connected House,” which displays various embedded wireless technologies.

By Lee Ji-yoon, Korea Herald correspondent 
(jylee@heraldcorp.com)