Nokia has announced a new mobile device that might be a category creator:

"The Nokia 7700 Media Device should be available to consumers from 2Q/2004. It is Nokia's first "media phone", a new type of device with a completely new look, and bursting with properties. In fact it has so many tempting applications that it is almost a surprise to discover that it also serves as a phone, as Wasenius demonstrates. Amusingly, the 7700 must be turned on its side to perform this humble basic function.

The 7700's special application is the so-called "visual radio" function, of which more later. The media device is also the first mobile phone that has the technical wherewithal to enable viewing of digital TV transmissions, when it is hooked up with the Nokia Streamer, a mobile IP Datacast receiver using the DVB-H standard."

"Visual radio might just be a new killer application with which Nokia could grab a slice of the network-based distribution of music, and at the same time it could revolutionise the role of radio."

"With visual radio, the listener will get not just the sound signal but the ability to show images and text on the handset display screen. To take a practical example, let's say Kiss FM are playing a number by Finnish band The Rasmus, then up on screen there might be an image of the band's vocalist Lauri Ylönen, and the name of the piece, its current chart listing, and other short bits of information."