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Assorted CEATEC Photos
An anonymous reader writes: "The folks over at Techdirt got their hands on a bunch of very cool pictures from the CEATEC show for advanced technologies in Japan." It's an odd smorgasboard of stuff, and several of the toys actually look extremely interesting: course there isn't a lot of data. Tons of color handhelds integrated with phones, remote controls, farm animals, etc.
I think you'll find that most of them are actually smaller than most of the phones you see around you. The most popular phones in Japan are those under 100 grams - I don't think these will try and break that trend.
Anybody notice that green thing on page 6? What is that, some sort of digital bottle opener? Weird.
I'm really disappointed that we didn't see any pictures of the SEATEC Astronomy project. I've heard they're to die for.
Wait - I'm sorry. CEATEC? My bad.
What is it with integrating things into a cellphone? Can't we see some different gadgets for a change? I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in watching TV on a 1" LCD on my cellphone. Where are the roll-up LCD's that we can stick in our back pocket? Where are the Terminator scanning/target aquisition glasses? Where are the jet packs?! THEY PROMISED US JETPACKS AND HOVERCARS!!!
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
once again, there's a gap in the tech curve.
We're still obsessing about trivial crap (your laptop looks like a toy, wah wah wah), and the Japanese are trying to figure out how to plug a video phone directly into my optic nerve, as illustrated below --
J Tech : I've completed testing on the new brain transmission device!!
J Manager : Fantastic, now to create prototypes for design!
J Tech : I would like the prototype to look like a small, red puppy, which, when not on, will appear to be sleeping. When activated, it will transform into a cat, holding a cherry blossom and a pail of milk, while singing brain transmission theme song in kitty kat voice. Shutting down will make the cat say "No more brain transmission makes kitty sad, nya nya!" and will transform back to dog.
J Manager : But it reads brain waves and transmits?
J Tech : Yes, of course.
J Manager : Fine.
USians would get upset over any ergonomic feature at all, preferring a 4x8x12 block of beige (or to be hip, silver or black) plastic with no redeeming ergonomic features so that people know 'it's a serious device!'
Remember when people said that the Japanese are only good at copying?? This March, when I was in Turkey, I ate breakfast with a German woman (a fabric buyer) who insisted that the Turkish people are only good at copying.
Hehe.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I agree with you there, AC. One thing you brought up, using two displays for 3D, and as well as the price being cheap for small LCD displays:
Why aren't we seeing small, high-res, cheap LCD displays? Imagine a 1280 x 1024 display in a 1 inch display - what good would this do?
A lot, if you magnafied the image, to get a large FOV - use them in lightweight HMD's, for a 3D immersion that (should be) cheap.
It is said that the cost of high-res, large displays is due to the large "die" size of large LCDs, and getting high enough production yields with few flaws - hard to do with that size of a display. So, the solution would be to shrink the display, and wear it! Squeeze the rest of the laptop down to the size of a larger Walkman, add a twiddler (or a controller similar to this and a virtual keyboard), some kind of mouse - and you have an EXCELLENT product. And it should be cheap (one would think, since the LCD isn't the factor, now). Plus, it would consume less power, for longer battery life.
We could have this TODAY - but we are being denied it for some reason...
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
The new "shark fin" antennas make cell phones look like even more like a marital aid. Add the vibrate-on-ring feature, and there can be little doubt.
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the phone's features, functions and accessories have been carefully developed to fit an adventurous lifestyle.
The outside of the R310s is reinforced with rubber inlays to withstand harsh treatment and to provide a good grip that prevents the phone from becoming slippery when wet.
One of the first things that might strike you when you see the phone for the first time is the Shark Fin antenna. It is moulded in a flexible rubber material
To avoid getting dirt in the system connector of a phone, a protective rubber cover has been developed. The cover can be opened to facilitate easy mounting of accessories.
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Okay, perhaps things are different in japan (how much do they cost?) Here in the states, the most popular cell phone game is a slow black and white snakes game.
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Almost convinced enough to move to Japan. All the coolest and fastest stuff in cell phones happens over there first, I just didn't know they were so far ahead of the US.
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- Large screen size
- Color screens
- Oval screens
- Touch screen
- Motion video
- Cameras the size of a phone button
It's the type of features that everyone wants but nobody wants to pay the prices for because the technology just isn't there yet. (there are a few commercial phones with some of these features, but not in any significant volume)Links to other concept phone galleries:
ZDNet - Road to 3G
FutureZone - Telecom 99 Photo Gallery
CeBIT 1999
Wireless Review - Future Phone
WSJ - Staying in Touch
BW - The Latest Web-Phone Wonders Are...Still Out of Reach "Clearly, somewhere between the trade fairs and the marketplace, Ericsson runs into troubles"
If you look hard enough, you can find references to all sorts of fantastic phones that won't exist for quite a while.
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And look, there's a shiny red button....
/. is a bastion of gadgetry, but doesn't it eventually all start to look the same?
Really, I understand that
Do all of our electronics now have to look like some 13 year-old's WinAmp skin?
Comm'on! These devices aren't for real! Don't you think we'd have already seen or heard of ANY of these things ? My speculation is that these gadgets are good-quality mock-ups from a college student hi-tech industrial design competition... a contest/exhibit specifically on the topic of "future tech hand held devices". All of this stuff is likely just empty-shell mock-ups... the true purpose here is the form, not the function. So if you're a REAL tech company, you can pick & choose among these talented student designers with a touch for the greatest eye-candy appeal. Right ?
Some of those displays seem to be the genuine article, while others look like photographs stuck in place of a true display. I wonder if any of this stuff is using OLED technology yet?
On the other hand, what's with the shaping of those remotes? Looks like some kind of new combination TV remote/dildo. Never lose the remote control again!
End of lesson. You may press the button.