Surfing 3G! Experiencing China Unicom's BREW-enabled U-Magic Applications

Sohu.Com
March 22, 2005

To most people, 3G services are solely about video and mobile TV applications. However, this may not be completely accurate, as the author of this article realized following an opportunity to test LG Electronics' newly launched multimedia streaming handset. Over the last few months, the author experienced superior services on the LG C950 handset through China Unicom's CDMA1X network, and found out that video streaming and mobile TV are just two of the most basic features 3G can offer.

Enabled by Qualcomm's MSM6100 chipset, the LG C950 handset supports video streaming including codec and replay functionalities. Qualcomm's MSM6100 chipset solution provides multimedia support with MP3 Music Playback, Voice Email, Still-imaging Email, Video Streaming Email, Image Capture, Voice Capture, Karaoke, 2D/3D Graphic Games, and advanced positioning applications, all of which are supported by the Launchpad™ suite. In addition, the chipset solution leverages the CDMA20001X network to support voice and multimedia streaming applications and provides a seamless path from 2G to 3G.

The BREW platform on China Unicom's network provides a flexible solution for users to download compelling applications on the LG C950. BREW's "one-point access, entire-network service," combined with China Unicom's business model, ensure unified and consistent billing of applications. This, in turns, effectively protects the intellectual property rights of content developers, promising end-users higher quality and more creative applications in the long run.

U-Magic is China Unicom's portal brand, which includes a range of packaged BREW-enabled applications. Some of the creative and attractive 'U-Magic' applications will be introduced in detail below.


It is very easy to access U-Magic. Just select to enter 'Umax' on the handset menu and choose 'U-Magic'. Click 'Software Supermarket' in the top left corner when the 'U-Magic' interface appears, and you would have entered into the splendid world of U-Magic.

There are so many unique and amazing features brought by U-Magic.

For one, the U-Magic gaming features are extremely extensive. First, you can select your favorite games and download them to your handsets easily. Due to its high-performance sound quality, games on the BREW-enabled handset are superior to 'Gluttonous Snake.' In 'Shooting Games', the author selected and played a game named 'Adventure Island,' widely acclaimed by FC Times. The cost for trying this game is 10 RMB with time limitation; if you would like to play it continuously, you can spend 16 RMB to buy it. After entering the game, users can view nostalgia images on their handsets and enjoy an unforgettable gaming experience. However, the author found some minor bugs in the game.

Online gaming will be one of the key development trends in 3G. 'U-Magic' also provides two online games.

In 'Chess and Cards World', there are two online Mahjong games. The author downloaded the game named "China Online Mahjong," had the opportunity to test the game on its own, but for some reason, could not connect to the network server.



Compared with 'China Online Mahjong,' 'Desirable Online Mahjong' is a much more popular online game. After successfully connecting to the server, you can select gaming opponents to compete with. After the opponent agrees to participate, the game starts immediately. The cost for an individual gaming experience is paid to the gaming content provider as a reimbursement of the software usage and to China Unicom for the data traffic used to download the software through the wireless network. For online games, costs go to China Unicom for data traffic, but this is relatively low especially for chess and card games.

It is noteworthy to mention a feature available with 'U-Magic' called 'Experience Mobile TV,' where users can locate the "Traffic Eye" channel. Users can check real-time traffic conditions by selecting 'Traffic Eye' on their handsets, a feature especially useful for people on the road. It takes approximately 7~9 seconds to connect and view the 'Traffic Eye' information on each road. The 'Traffic Eye' channel is in its trial phase but will undoubtedly offer immense convenience to consumers' daily lives in the near future.

'Premium TV,' another feature in 'U-Magic,' provides online, real-time TV programs on your handsets. Currently, there are several programs that can be played and viewed on a daily basis. To achieve continuous program fluency, image is over-compressed, leading to a relatively poor video streaming effect. Given that the current channels are in a promotional phase, users only need to pay a data traffic fee to China Unicom. However, given that the data traffic requirements for video streaming is fairly large, users have to pay an average of 220 RMB to enjoy one-hour of continuous real-time mobile TV.

As all services supported by the BREW platform are online, there are special features even for downloading handset ring tones. Enter 'U-Ring MP2+1' in 'Download Image and Ring Tone' category, enter the main menu, select the ring tone that you would like to download, and then click 'OK'. There are two options for you at this time: 'download' and 'try to listen'. If you click 'try to listen', the handset will play the demo of the highlighted part of this ring tone, and you can choose the appropriate ring tone according to its effects. It costs 2 RMB each time, 5 RMB for downloading three times, and 10 RMB for downloading seven times. However, similar to other application services, you would pay for the data traffic when downloading or trying the ring tone, which is 0.01 RMB/KB.

In the 'Fashion Films and TVs' category, the animation program named "FLASHSHOW" is very interesting. Handsets can play the animation image with perfect audio and video effects. It costs 5 RMB for downloading 15 times, 9 RMB for 45 times, 20 RMB for 200 times. Similar to other services, animation FLASHSHOW also charges for data traffic. The traffic fee for the Santa Claus flash, for example, is 1.96 RMB.

With its user-friendly interface, it is very easy for users to subscribe and unsubscribe to BREW-enabled services. In the main interface of 'U-Magic,' enter 'Function Settings', and then select 'Software Setting', where all software downloaded is listed. We only need to find 'Service Software' column, click 'OK' and select 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe'. The process is very simple. In the future era of 3G services, BREW users will no longer need to worry about unwanted monthly SMS messages.