A three-day fair on smartphones and tablets kicked off yesterday in Dhaka to bring the latest communication gadgets to the masses.

The exhibition, organised by Expo Maker, an event management company, are being held Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

"Smartphone has become an essential part of daily life as it makes life easy," said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for telecoms and information technology.

The use of mobile devices has changed over the years with the adoption of new technology, he said at the launch of the show. "Bangladeshis are tech savvy as they can adopt technology very easily and quickly. Earlier, mobile devices were only used for making voice calls and sending SMS. But people are now using cellular phone to make video calls."

About 24 percent of the population use the internet in Bangladesh, which was only 4 percent five years ago, he said.

The exhibition has 10 pavilions and eight stalls of LG, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Flora Limited, Arcos, Ainol, Gazette Gang 7, Goby and some other brands.

Mobile operator Robi is the title sponsor of the exhibition, while Avira, Nokia, Samsung and Symphony are the co-sponsors of the event.

Some apps development firms are also showing various apps during the exhibition.

The exhibition will remain open from 10:00am to 08:00pm without any entry fee.