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Wellingborough, UK, 7 March 2006
The new TWIG Discovery incorporates precise & reliable personal navigation in a mobile smartphone
Benefon’s New TWIG Discovery Smartphone Navigates with a Sarantel GPS Antenna
Sarantel, the leading manufacturer of revolutionary filtering antennas for mobile and wireless devices, today announces that its GeoHelix® GPS antenna has been designed into the new TWIG Discovery personal navigator and GSM mobile smartphone recently launched by Benefon Oyj of Finland. Benefon, a global leader in the design and manufacture of GSM+GPS mobile phones, selected the GeoHelix antenna for the TWIG because its small size and high performance enables Benefon to create a truly consumer-friendly, reliable, autonomous GPS navigation experience.
Benefon has a long track record of providing high quality, high sensitivity GPS receiver technology in products targeted at security, personnel and fleet management. Announced at 3GSM in Barcelona, the TWIG Discovery extends that heritage into innovative GSM mobile phones for consumers.
“There are a lot of mobile phones on the market that claim GPS functionality,” said Jonathan Bate, Benefon’s CEO. “True navigation is much easier to design and more effective to implement when it’s a consideration from the outset. TWIG incorporates Benefon’s most advanced navigation technology resulting in a reliable and precise navigation experience for the consumer. Sarantel’s antenna gave us the luxury of not having to compromise navigation performance while keeping the TWIG small enough to meet consumers’ expectations,” Bate concluded.
The GeoHelix GPS antenna combines several properties that were important for TWIG. The antenna has a small near-field, so it doesn’t detune or lose satellite signals when users hold the phone in their hand or near their head. It acts as its own filter, rejecting noise from the GSM transceiver, which adversely affects GPS reception. Additionally, the GeoHelix antenna is omni-directional, providing good reception in random orientations so the user does not need to think about where the antenna is pointing. These factors, along with the antenna’s small size, meant that Benefon could embed the GPS antenna inside the phone rather than resorting to using one of the awkward, flip-up patch antennas commonly found in handheld navigation devices. It also means that consumers won’t need to purchase a separate wireless GPS device, or be dependent on the operator for GPS network assistance.
David Wither, Sarantel CEO says, “The TWIG Discovery really plays to the strengths of our GeoHelix technology. The high performance, small size, and omni-directional nature of the antenna ideally suit mobile handsets, which need to work efficiently even when in close human contact. Consumers can remain blissfully unaware of the technology and appreciate the TWIG for its portability, accuracy, and reliability. It was a privilege to work with the highly experienced Benefon team on this excellent GPS/GSM integrated product.”