TV mobile phones

	Shenzhen E-techco from mainland China produces the CEFON 880T, an analog mobile TV phone that supports 900/1800/1900MHz GSM frequencies.

Analog standard reigns, while digital and streaming TV follow far behind. China’s CMMB foreshadows next big thing.

Suppliers in China are developing mobile TV phones based on different standards. But regardless of the standard supported, they are emphasizing multifunction, feature-rich models that enable anywhere, anytime viewing of high-quality video.

Output, however, remains small due to sluggish demand and high production costs. Many makers are waiting for a substantial increase in demand before ramping up manufacturing.

The product line currently represents only 8 percent or 48 million units of China’s total mobile phone supply.

About half is exported, mostly to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe and Africa.

In 2008, the country produced about 560 million mobile phones, according to the Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology. Including handsets from “gray makers,” China turned out a total of 600 million units or 46.5 percent of worldwide production volume.

More than 85 percent of mobile TV phone supply is composed of analog models. The rest supports China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting or CMMB and DVB-T/H.

	Mainland China's Shenzhen Well-Share offers model WS-M-043, which has a 2.8in touchscreen TFT, GPRS and WAP.

Mobile phones, portable media players or PMPs, GPS, and notebook and ultra-mobile PCs or UMPCs are the four major portable devices likely to carry mobile TV. Mobile phones, which have the biggest user base, are projected to become the prime carrier. At present, there are three types of mobile TV phones available worldwide: digital, media streaming and analog.

Digital TV phones adopt DVB-T/H, ATSC-M/H, CMMB, T-DMB and MediaFLO standards. The products provide a clear picture, good viewing experience and stable signal. Makers, however, are faced with high investment for infrastructure and expensive terminals and fees.

Streaming TV does not require a stand-alone broadcasting network and modules on terminals. It depends mostly on cellular network and software support. Mobile TV phones that use media streaming receive TV content in the form of IP data packets.

Based on the traditional microwave broadcasting system, analog TV provides broad network coverage at no required fee. The picture, however, is not as good as those of digital and streaming TV.

CMMB, China’s homegrown digital mobile TV standard, is positioned to shape the market and influence future product trends. The growing penetration of CMMB in the domestic market is driving makers to strengthen their R&D, production and marketing capability to develop other digital mobile TV phones, including DVB-T/H handsets. The wide adoption of CMMB is likewise forecast to push down prices of DVB and CMMB terminals by as much as 10 percent this year because of tighter competition.

The standard currently has more than 1 million subscribers, 200 terminal makers and 200 alliance enterprises. It also gained the support of six suppliers that provide more than 1.5 million chips.

The release of several platforms augurs well for many companies engaged in the industry, enabling them to easily develop digital TV phones.

MTK launched the MT6515 platform, which features WVGA resolution and a 5MP camera. The product supports CMMB and DVB-T/H. It does not require an extra application processor to achieve multimedia functions.

Telegent Systems, an IC supplier based in Shanghai and China’s only TV solution provider, released its latest CMOS single chip, the TLG2300, in 1Q09. The chip includes digital DVB-T and analog PAL/SECAM/NTSC TV and FM radio. It integrates an RF tuner, demodulator, decoder, A/V processor, stereo FM radio and USB 2.0 under the NorDig specification.

The TLG2300 will be used first in notebook PCs, netbooks and mobile Internet devices or MIDs. The chip is expected to be adopted in mobile phones as well to enable digital and analog dual-mode TV phones in the future.

Most of China’s mobile TV phones are positioned in the midrange and high-end sectors. Even so, suppliers do offer low-end units. Among the selling points are larger LCDs and longer battery life.

Low-end models support analog TV. They feature a 2 to 2.4in 260,000-color touchscreen TFT with 240x320pixels at QVGA resolution. The units have a 300,000-pixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, MP3 and MPEG-4 playback, single-SIM standby, built-in FM radio and GPRS/WAP. They are priced at $45 to $60 each.

Midrange products also use analog technology. They feature a 2.2 to 3.2 touchscreen TFT with 240x320pixels at QVGA resolution, 1.3 or 2MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0, MP3 and MPEG-4 playback, dual-SIM standby, built-in radio and GPRS/WAP. Some units are equipped with 800x480-pixel WVGA LCDs. Prices are from $65 to $80.

High-end mobile TV phones adopt DVB-T/H or CMMB. Models have a 2.4 to 3.5in touchscreen TFT with 240x320-pixel VGA or 800x480-pixel WVGA resolution, 1.3 to 3MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0 or 2.1 and 128MB RAM + 64MB ROM. They include MP3 and MPEG-4 playback, single or dual-SIM standby, built-in radio and GPRS/WAP. They also support a gravity sensor.

Aside from the basic product specifications and functions, price is determined by the materials and components used, and the manufacturing procedures performed. A fine mold, for example, can cost 30 to 50 percent more than a rough mold. The price of mobile TV phones from small workshops and major mobile phone makers may also have a difference of 20 to 40 percent.

With more than a decade of industry experience, China has become the biggest production center for mobile phones. It has a skilled workforce capable of R&D, marketing, and sales and aftersales service. It also benefits from low material and labor costs, enabling competitive prices.

The mobile phone supplier base is composed of more than 1,000 makers, the majority of which are small and medium-scale enterprises. Several foreign companies have also established factories in China, including Motorola and Samsung, which have manufacturing facilities in Tianjin. Nokia and Sony Ericsson have factories in Beijing.

International phone brands currently dominate China’s domestic market, taking the lion’s share at 70 percent. Companies without a license to sell their products locally turned to exporting in 2007.

Ninety percent of mobile phone makers are now producing TV phones, which have a 20 to 70 percent share of company output. The product line accounts for about 60 percent of volume among small and midsize companies that provide OEM and ODM services. Large-scale makers with own-brand products have a smaller output.

Some suppliers maintain several partner companies, which allows them to have flexible production capacity.

The key components of mobile TV phones are the LCDs, chipsets, camera and flash modules, and antennas. Makers adopt MT6225, MT6227 and MT6228 from MTK. Some suppliers also use Spreadtrum’s SC6600 series and SC6800D as baseband solutions.

The release of MTK’s turnkey solution has lowered the technology threshold in developing mobile TV phones, boosting the line. The lower hardware and R&D costs encouraged many suppliers to join the segment.

Modules for analog TV phones are sourced from Telegent. Ninety-nine percent of the company’s chips are used in mobile phones from China. Its main solution, the TLG1100gc-ca, integrates a tuner, demodulator and decoder.

The product supports PAL/NTSC mode and can receive TV signals and FM broadcasts at 50 to 800MHz. Power consumption is within 250mW. It lists at $7 to $8.

DVB-T/H solutions are purchased from Israel’s Siano Mobile Silicon and France’s DiBcom. They include a tuner and a demodulator and cost $5 to $6. Digital TV phones based on DVB-T/H platforms are priced $10 to $30 higher than units without mobile TV capability.

CMMB solutions include a tuner and demodulator chips and peripheral circuitry. These are $20 to $24.

The majority of mobile TV phones from Taiwan adopt analog technology. With the increasing installation of digital TV worldwide, however, more makers are set to develop digital models this year. DVB-T and DVB-H will mostly be adopted, along with other digital standards such as TDMB, ISDB-T and DAB.

Taiwan has 10 to 15 mobile TV phone makers. Most suppliers can provide ODM and OEM products. Some offer own-brand units. The major players include Gigabyte Communications, Qisda, HTC and Compal Communications. Other companies such as Vanprasth Corp., TransAVA Inc. and T&X Wireless also make mobile TV phones.

Mainstream products use 2.5G standards that support dual-band, triband and quadband GPRS. Most handsets feature touchscreen displays. These have a 2.4, 2.6, 2.8 or 3in TFT LCD with QVGA resolution. The camera resolutions are 1.3 and 2MP.

High-end models have larger than 3in displays and higher VGA resolution. The units also include a microSD card slot, MP3/MP4 playback, FM radio, stereo music and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. Some high-end mobile TV phones adopt 3G technology, in particular HSPA 3.5G.