less than a square inch and no thicker than a mouse pad, this device is capable of storing a full-length movie.
Say hello to a souped-up version of the multimedia memory card (MMC) used in most cellular phones today.
According to Jonathan Kendrick, chair of the London-based ROK Entertainment Group, his company has developed an encrypting process that can shrink a full-length movie and other media like pictures and music into an MMC.
“We have achieved a breakthrough,” Kendrick said in a press release. “Finally users can view high quality moving images on their mobile (phones) using the full screen of their handset, not just the letter-box format.”
The technology, which was developed in the United Kingdom last December, enhances the quality of the graphics stored in MMCs.
According to UST E-Service Providers computer engineer Mario Raagas, the technology may have used a form of mass storage formatting superior to the more common FAT32 (File Allocation Table) or NTFS (New Technology File System) formats commonly being used in hard disks.
“There is obviously high compression capability in the ROK MMC,” Raagas said. “When we compress data within a mass storage device, there is a formatting type similar to the ones used in hard disks.”
But Raagas said the ROK MMC may have compatibility setbacks.
The ROK website reports that only Nokia 3230, 6670, 6260, 6630, 7610, 6820, 3820, 3880, 3650, 8800, 3600, and Siemens Sx1 are compatible with the ROK MMC so far.
According to IDC, an international telecommunications analyzing firm, mobile phone sales will go beyond almost 800 million by 2008 and MMC-compatible phone sales will reach as high as 250 million units in 2005.
The ROK technology still has not been reported to be available in the country today. Reagan D. Tan
