Slashdot Mirror

We have cell phones specifically for children.
http://www.au.kddi.com/seihin/ichiran/kishu/mamorino/index.html

If you pull the tab an alarm goes off. The Phone has 24/7 tracking, and it's one touch to call parents. Service isn't expensive either, certainly reasonable for worried parents. Above that are a whole selection of cell phones with features specifically tailored to children of specific age ranges and services are tailored to them so parents can do things like block features or put limits on things - but inter family communication is always free and always-on remote location tracking is on every model.

I guess they don't have the same phones and services in the UK?

They've had those for years.
EX:
http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/sh002/
http://www.au.kddi.com/seihin/archive/kishu_archive.html?id=sh007
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/product/3G/936sh/

The thing is just how long do you leave your cell phone out in the sun every day?

Such phones have existed for long in Japan (see for example on the kddi website. I believe that, with their big keys, they are aimed at the elderly market.

Wow. I should have caught this post sooner. Major slashdot emergency.

Here is Japan Airlines:
http://www.jal.co.jp/

So here is American Airlines:
http://www.aa.com/

Jp Gov site:
http://www.stat.go.jp/

US Gov site:
http://www.uspto.gov/

Ugly Jp Consulting site:
http://www.e-netten.ne.jp/

Horrible US Consulting site:
http://www.bryantwebconsulting.com/

Now for some better pages:
http://www.au.kddi.com/
http://www.sony.co.jp/
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/
http://bape.com/ (you cannot see the JP site from the US)
http://www.capcom.co.jp/sf4/

This got world attention:
http://www.uniqlo.com/calendar/

And a typical web site gallery site will quickly help you find more:
http://www.webdesignclip.com/

So all of you who just argued for what Japanese is and what American is, you might want to give this blogger a tweet and call him out for making you think hard about the offensive stereotypes you just helped uphold.

Seriously people, if these sites look complex, its because you can't read Kanji.

Exactly! I recently moved back to Japan, looked for a new cellphone, and noticed the extremely limited choices of smartphones (about 5 out of 100 available phones).

There are 2 main phone carriers (Softbank and Docomo) and 1 less popular but still large option (AU). These links go directly to their current phone lineups (in English), so you can go to the source and see what they're selling today.

Softbank offers the iPhone and a Window's mobile phone. Docomo offers a Blackberry, a Google phone, and a Window's mobile phone. Other than that, I don't think any of those other phones are considered "smartphones".

you don't need all those features in the first place. If you really needed them, you'd know enough to ask for them in the first place. These guys are just overblown salesmen

And so you really don't understand the Japanese mobile phone market, or most non-slashdotters for that matter. Phones are part fashion accessory, part lifestyle choice. In Japan this is taken to an extreme by the maturity of the wireless market -- you have feature competition, but you also have more subjective competition based on asthetic design.

The feature lists have long since expanded beyond the point where you can just make a simple feature chart and linearly increasing price. Are you willing to trade 5 mm of thickness for lack of GPS? What percentage of your friends are on the same carrier and what will that percentage be in the future? That kind of stuff.

Wait for it, here comes the car analogy ... one does not buy cars simply on a feature-price comparison. Nor clothes (well, maybe *you* do). So the cell phone sommelier is kind of a fashion or personal image consultant, not just a salesman as you describe.

Now that reforms in mobile handset subsidies in Japan have exposed the real cost of handsets to consumers, a mobile phone purchase is something you're going to have to live with for one or two years. Coupled with the complication of navigating price plans, feature lists, and design considerations, being able to consult an expert on a mobile phone purchase sounds like a great idea to me.

Japan leads the world in simplicity too.

Sanyo makes a phone with a manually-activated alarm (a pull string on the back). It also launches a tracking application that allows you to trace it, even when off. That's a good implementation- Verizon's is not. I wish Sprint sold this model- I think it'd be popular with overprotective parents for their kids.

http://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/lineup/simple_phone_a101k/index.html

I feel compelled to say this- Is Japan (ironically) the only country that still has truly basic phones?

I believe you're looking for the MOTOFONE. In Japan, you'd be looking for something like this.

I heard (from a Korean) it was released in Korea before iPod (was released there?)...

(Note, the Techeblog site fracks with my Mozilla Firefox browser in that it DELAYS my getting off their page and back into my Slashdot tab... I suspect some fracked up ad code, cookies/java/other code interrupting my keyboard and mouse...)

http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Samsung-Introduces-an--iPhone-Killer-/story.xhtml?story_id=0210017RZFZR

http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/09/14/samsung.croix.for.vodafone/

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/samsungs-iphone-killer-f700

Now, on the techeblog site, someone remarked that the phone was not touchscreen capable.... Their comments were in February.

The MacNN site has commentary that it is touchscreen.

The NewsFactor site article is also in Feb 07. See "Features Galore" section.

But, as for regular phones, check out things that kick the pants off US-market phones (tho I realize most of the cell phones here ARE from Japan or Korea):

http://au.kddi.com/english/product/index.html

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/product/3g/815t/index.html

I used to have a Vodafone phone that had a multicolor strobe emitting from the camera flash. It was independently activated.

http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/v402sh/

When I lost it I wanted to DIE.

The -one- cool phone they bring over from Japan and they uglify it.

And strip half the features and change twice at much. Guess that's what took two years.

(Link to original phone.)

Well, I see what you mean, but this is what they mean by a "RakuRaku" phone- apparently the Japanese have a different definition of simple. Maybe this might be more suited to your definition of "simple".

KDDI has been peddling these 'bare bones' Tsu-Ka Phones to Japanese pensioners for over a year now. I think they are a great idea. I've seen so many oldies pull the latest, greatest, top of the line, camera, MP3, GPS, TV phone out of their pocket and then pull out their address book to look up the phone number the old fashioned way.

I live in Tokyo half the year and I'm much more likely to see people video conferencing or using 3D GPS mapping, or using it as a credit card than using the grandpa phone. Of course people hardly talk on the phone in Japan. My Japanese calling plan give me 50 minutes of talk time a month, but unlimited text messages (the most popular plan with my carrier). In hind sight I should have gotten the 10 minutes of talk time plan. My Japanese phone I bought about 6 months ago has TV (with DVR) 2mp camera with "flash", full featured GPS (integrated with train schedules, etc), miniSD, barcode reader, music service, Java and Flash player, English and Japanese dictionaries and a bunch of features I've never bothered translating. All for about half of what I paid for my craptacular Razr. I never did figure out how to do half the crap on my Razr, but I can use most of the features of my phone in Japan (In a language I, for the most part, can't read) because they designed and engineered it well. I'd be happy with an American phone that just made calls, however I'm sure someone would screw up the UI to even make that stupid.

To stay on topic...
It's a shame that a company is trying to make money by increasing noise to signal when everyone knows the money is in the signal, not the noise. (Ask Google.) Maybe they're going to make money by charging people to not have access totheir crap.

Seems that the Japanese people have their cellphone design down pat- a simple phone that only makes phone calls and nothing else(see here for what I mean) for those who want no-nonsense basics, phones that can switch between "simple mode" and full-function mode for people who want to use all the functions, but want a little help, and full-function phones for the total geeks (I fall into this category). On my phone I have 5 ringer levels, not counting silence, and I can select Light only (flash on my cameraphone), ringer and light, vibrate only, or ring and vibrate with any volume setting, simply because vibration is a separate setting. Never seen it done this way on a non-Japanese cell phone.

uh?
yes, TO MOBILE HANDSET.
As in to the built in browser/email app/whatever.
NOT to be passed on "to PC/handheld".

Verizon wireless for $89/month:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/b roadband/index.jsp
(whoa, its $60 now, i guess I havent checked lately)

KDDI PacketWIN data service prices:
http://au.kddi.com/data/packetwin/ryokin/packetwin .html
Thats 0.1yen/packet (128bytes).
20megs = ~$160 in packet charges.

LOL @ JAPAN.

What a timely article! I am currently using CATV modem at 25Mbps. Yes, you read that right, and I typed that right. My area has DSL at about 50Mbps. My wife and I have to move in with her folks whilst we prepare to move to America. My in-laws don't have a local CATV company, and I'm still trying to translate why DSL can't be installed in the house. On th heels of ADSL and CATV is "hikari fiba, or FTTH to you and me. This promises 100Mbps. Yes, you read that right, and I typed that right. I was going to get this service for my own apartment: 100Mbps Internet, cable tv, IP phone all off the same fiber cable.. and best of all... that woulfd cost less than $60 a month -- what I pay not JUST for CATV modem!! Anyways, I scrapped that plan as we need to move as I said.

So, I've been pondering how to remain "connected" at 2005 speeds and not 1993 speeds since my in-laws use POTs at 56k. So I did some research today -- that is why this article was timely.

In Japan, the big 3 carriers offer data transfer, so you can connect your phone to your computer. My carrier, AU (by http://www.au.kddi.com/english/index.html) offers their service for WIN model phones (uses Qualcomm tech.) This service is up to 2.4Mbps, and you need a $11 USB cable. The plan structure requires a PhD to understand, so I'll need to talk to a human to figure it out. Of course the wireless network for cellular in Japan is far better than the US, so, if I do go this route, I will be cruising at 2.4Mbps and not 10 percent of advertised speed.

Well, that doesn't help the guy who posted the article, but I thought I would share what is going on outside the US. Bottomline, if the US doesn't shape up soon, people will truly consider it the "Siberia of the Internet." (i.e. not a place you want to go.) This has implications for education, commerce, and entertainment.

I think perhaps the president... ok, not this joker, but the next one, should set out a goal, like they did when man reached the moon -- At LEAST 1Mbps in every home. (By then Japan will be at 1Gbps. ha ha!)

Cheers,
Carlos, Editor, http://idevgames.com/ & http://idevapps.com/

Sorry, nobody in Japan has a cel phone with GPS capability. They're all based on triangulation between cel tower locations, not GPS.

KDDI started the EZ Navi Walk service at the end of October 2003, which uses GPS. Most of 3G phones they released since then support EZ Navi Walk. NTT DoCoMo released two models that supports GPS in 2003 too (they are 2G phones).

It was a 2002 Toshiba model with au/KDDI service. I could tag any photo with the GPS coordinates and mail it off to let people know where I was. It's nice to look back at old shots and be able to find the location on a map, but I'm sure it can be used for many more practical purposes.

The procedure is : Steps :
1) Open my celular phone
2) Select the button to create an email
3) Select a group from the phone list , or select all the people i want to send an email
4) Compose the email, say anything , typing in japanese on the phones is easy because of sentence completition. English is just a pain in the ass.(I am a native spanish speaker)
5) Attach my GPS Location ( in this phones you can attach files, photos, GPS location, Movies etc.)
6) Send

The receivers , of the mail , can just watch the coordinates ( not very useful ) , watch a map of where I am , or trace a route to me (the las service has a small cost ).
I think this is the real trend ... now here is real

Japan has had both streaming TV video and TV tuners for years now as has Korea.

Vodafone has generally had TV tuner phones where as AU has streaming phones. On AU, any of the phones labeled "WIN" are phones that can stream. They support 2.4megabit data reception and you can signup for unlimited use for $38 a month although currently only for use on the phone (video streaming, web, email). If you plug it into your computer then it's metered.

It's true that it's smaller than most flip phones. It really is very small; shorter and thinner (when folded) than my old Nokia 3310. 47 (W) × 89 (H) × 22 (D) mm.

It's true that it's smaller than most flip phones. It really is very small; shorter and thinner (when folded) than my old Nokia 3310. 47 (W) × 89 (H) × 22 (D) mm.

I suppose the weirdest place I've ever read slashdot was a year ago, when I was on exchange to Japan. I had my cheap yet spiffy, internet-capable AU cell phone. I would usually play with it in the bathroom since I always had it on me, and would frequently visit slashdot. That was a lot of fun; a long headline would take up the entire screen, so reading articles would take forever, but it was a way to get American/geek news wherever I was.

This includes whenever I happened to be in my girlfriend's room (quite often; she had a much better setup than I did ^_^), and nature called.

How's that? I think I managed to do 3 of the most popular slashdot answers at the same time; 1) girlfriend's place, 2) foreign country, 3) bathroom. ^_^

KDDI in Japan did this years ago.

I guess now would not be the time to mention that Japan is already up to two megapixel phones . . .

Here in Japan, nearly everyone has "paka-paka" (clamshell) phones with cameras. They're really useful for surreptitiously taking pictures of odd people on the train...
The best thing is that they're all priced under $120 dollars, and most you can get for free with any calling plan. Cell phone service in Japan should be a model for America: not only are all incoming calls free, you're always covered by a network and the customer service is excellent.
The newest thing being advertised here, btw, is "Movie Mail", where you can use your phone to take movies, complete with sound, and send them to your friends. AU has some promo stuff. This looks unbelievably cool.

CDMA is actually deployed fully in the USA, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan--that I know of. It's probably in many other countries too. I talked to the rep from my local CDMA company (Bell Mobility--the other CDMA company up here in Canada is Telus) and he rattled off a nice long list of countries that they have CDMA roaming agreements with.

The biggest problem with CDMA, though, is that the handsets aren't as consumer-friendly as the GSM handsets. If CDMA handsets had an equivalent of the GSM SIM chip, they'd eat GSM alive. I think that's a large part of why GSM is still kicking here--the phones are so much more hackable than the CDMA phones.

Me, I'm hedging my bets; I have a GSM handset and a CDMA handset. GSM because there's more choice available, and CDMA because it's techically superior, and it still works in analogue-only areas. If anything half as cool as KDDI's AU handsets turns up over here, my primary handset will be CDMA again.

As mobile phone functionality increases even outside Asia, I am sure that this could well develop into the so long sought after "killer-app" for bluetooth. Forget about the mp3 player in your shoe, the mini-tv in your jacket button. Bluetooth in a cell phone, sort of like a portable LDAP server, is the way to go. Another step closer to centralizing all your data in one convenient location.

Japan's mobile phones are generations ahead of anything coming out of Europe, let alone the US. That's one of the reasons why Motorolla and Nokia haven't been able to penetrate the Japanese market at all. (The other reason is that they don't want to invest in network compability).

J-phone started selling phones with video cameras years before the Sony Ericsson T68. The latest lineup from Sony Ericsson seriously puts the T68 to shame. You can hardly find monochrome phones anymore - nearly every new phone in the market has a color screen. All those cool features that are being promised in 5 years from 3G (video conferencing, multi-player games, streaming music, Java, etc.) were available yesterday by au, j-phone , and DoCoMo.

Now I don't want to write Apple off just yet - Apple has a great brand in Japan for product innovation and design. But to think that Apple will come out with a phone that can beat the Japanese in cool factor (see the Keitai Gallery for the newest and coolest) is pushing it.

Actually there *are* competitors to iMode-- the biggest are aU (offered by KDDI), J-Phone, and Tsuka (which I think may have merged with aU... but don't hold me to that). These companies' market shares are dwarfed by DoCoMo's, but they are not insignificant in the least. They keep a decent market share because they are usually cheaper than DoCoMo, and tend to have a lot of innovations before DoCoMo does (I got an aU phone because they had a waterproof/shockproof model. One of the three was also first to market with a digital camera built into the phone, letting you email photos immediately to friends).

Email for all of the manufacturers' phones are interoperable, because it's all just plain old email. All of them have color screens and let you browse the web. Only DoCoMo has specific i-Mode sites, but that just means that you go to different pay site to get your horoscope or check the weather or download tunes if you have a non-DoCoMo phone.

Actually, from what I've seen on the street from friends, the iMode sites aren't a big deal. All that everyone really wants is email service. The rest is just fluff and icing. The reason that DoCoMo is so big is that they have the biggest marketing budget, which makes it easier for them to set DoCoMo phones as the "coolest" and most "professional" in the minds of consumers.

I don't know that DoCoMo itself will be a huge hit in the States, but if they aren't then it will be due to marketing blunders like overpricing. The services that they offer (real email to your cell phone being the biggest) will definitely catch on, because it's just so damn convenient once you start using it. And it saves lots of cash, too, because it's always cheaper to send a cell-to-cell email than it is to talk when just a 1-line email will suffice.

Land-based lines are great when your butt is parked in front of a PC, but people who don't stay parked there makes for a pretty big market as well... :-)