Slashdot Mirror
Japanese Cell Phones Offer a Glimpse of the Future
Dynamoo writes "Vodafone K.K. have announced a new range of phones, available exclusively in Japan which easily beat everything else in terms of features. In particular, two phones from Sharp, the V402SH and V602SH between them boast a TV tuner, camera with optical zoom, virtual karaoke machine and dog bark translater (woof woof), according to this review. Perhaps some features are more useful than others, but with a bit of luck we'll see these features in worldwide mobiles sometime in 2005. In the meantime I guess I'll just have to learn to speak dog by myself."
I need a klingon translator. That would be better.
Never Smoke A Banana.
They actually want to make a regular computer inside the cell phone.. I actually want a cell phone that can be heard everywhere, with a nice battery and perhaps send pictures and such (which can already be done).
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Is this for blind people?
...that I don't want a phone with any of those features. I want a phone that
a) doesn't sound like crap
b) lasts a few days on a charge
c) functions as a bluetooth access point for my PDA/Laptop
d) doesn't cost more than $150
Now I can throw away my crappy 3" LCD camping tuner! No more are the days of power going out during one of our Eastern US hurricanes and not knowing whats going on - now that the phone has a tv tuner built in!
-Imidazole2
I guess that means I'm getting 100mbps dsl in 2005?
American engineers built the first cel phone and have developed the cel phone protocols all these years so why is our system so far behind? Why do Japan, China and Korea get the coolest phones years before we do?
Oh yeah that's right, while Asian countries spend money upgrading their communication networks, we spend our cash killing Iraqis and building butt pyramids. Thank you George W. Bush.
That's all the more the dark barking thing is discussed. Anyone know more about it? My vet friends would have been greatly amused had there been actual info I could have passed on...
Keep your eyes to the sky.
in the article, both phones have 2 hours talk, and what happens when users are using the other non-talking functions??
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Japanese dogs don't go "woof-woof" they go "wan-wan".
And cats go "nya-nya"
Just thought I'd clear that up before you rushed out to buy one for your non-japanese pets.
Cool!
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Man, my dog talks like a sailor. He's all "get me some fucking dogfood, goddamnit" this and "you best be taking me for walk, shithead" that.
When will we stop calling them cell phones and call them something else? Seems more and more the phone features aren't the main selling points.
*DrugCheese rants*
Hold on, we're almost half-way through 2004 already, they're not even out in Japan yet; the USA still hasn't managed to convert to GSM let alone UMTS or any other 3G standard, there's probably a tonne of localisation to do, and you're expecting to see these things worldwide in 2005?
You must be joking, right?
What happened to the predicted shift from the do everything machine to the seperate single purpose machines. I would never get a phone like this. My phone is the standard green screen motorola, not because I cant do better but because I have a PDA and because I have a digital camera.
Why can't a cell-phone be a small Linux machine that can double as PDA, camera, GPS, etc? That way we could put whatever software on it we wanted, have USP-like connectors, and customize it. A standardized platform is needed to spark something.
Table-ized A.I.
Technology has been evolving at a rapid rate. Consumer grade cellphones had been blended with actual camcorders and were able to record and transmit at 1080i over the airwaves. The video calls were amazing. They were still quite a bit more bulky than the ones you have in your pocket, due to the extra features and they had more of a shape of a camcorder. There seemed to be a lot more vigilante news reporting at this time too, and there was a lot more chaos in the world.
Maybe the time I saw in my dream is closer than I thought.
Mod me offtopic if you feel necessary, I think it quite in context.
Chuck Chunder is a known carmel whore!
I know this is off topic, but if you haven't spent enough time with your dog to know what he/she is thinking, feeling, and expressing without a fscking dog bark translator, then you're probably a crappy 'parent'.
Right now my dog (Jenny) is laying on the chair next to my computer desk with her head propped up on the arm, staring at me with one ear perked straight up. That clearly says "You're supposed to be petting me instead of browsing Slashdot, you moron." Just learn how to speak dog, it's cheaper and more rewarding.
>with a bit of luck we'll see these features in worldwide mobiles sometime in 2005
correction: with a bit of luck, we WON'T be seeing these features in worldwide mobiles EVER.
Whatever happened to the engineering concept of affordance?
Portable phone: The ideal one is really portable and really a phone. Make it small, light, have the battery last forever and never lose calls. I'll buy that one. Keep the dog translator, thanks.
Maybe they need to install a spelling checker too.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Personally I think the a1000 and the e1000 from Motorola appear to be better phones. "...full HTML browsing with Opera. It also boasts an impressive array of multimedia functions, including an integrated 1.2 mega pixel camera (with 4x zoom), video and audio streaming, capture and playback with MPEG4 and MP3 files, and dual-audio speakers." The e1000 contains slightly less wizbang features but includes AGPS.
No builtin fork and cheese grater???
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Camera phone tips
Having an optical zoom in the kaitai will certainly improve the photo quality considerably.
Did anyone else read the headline to this article and hope, briefly, that the Japanese had invented a picturephone that could see through time?
--AC
They actually want to make a regular computer inside the cell phone.. I actually want a cell phone that can be heard everywhere, with a nice battery and perhaps send pictures and such (which can already be done).
I don't even want that much. Was with you until you said pictures. All I want is a phone with a good battery life and a decent address book. I don't mind a few other features (such as a calculator or a few simple games like Tetris to pass the time if I am stuck at the airport) but they had better not murder my battery life or distract me from the main features of the phone.
My Kyocera 2325 suits me quite nicely. The address book is superb (I love the auto-dial feature where it matches letters that I type to the contacts book -- can call my GF by typing in "788" or my boss by typing in "726" -- that's the coolest speed-dial feature I've ever seen -- much nicer then a list of speed-dial numbers that need to be remembered), the SMS interface is sleek enough and it has the calculator mode that I desire. The battery will last about three days even with fairly heavy usage (I am landline free so I make all my calls on the cell) -- what more could you ask for? Sometimes less is better.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I'm not saying that a TV tuner isn't cool, those Sony Watchmen from the 80's were most spiffy among other portable TV products. However broadcast programing is very much limited... typicaly ABC CBS NVC UPN WB and PBS can be picked up on rabbit ears. I hardly ever turn in to any of the above except for news. Cable telivision carries most of watch I watch on a regular basis, making such feature pretty much useless to me.
Now a radio tuner on the otherhand I would find much more in the way of useful when out and about.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I'll skip all of those features, thank you. I work for a government contractor and we're not even allowed to bring camera-equipped phones into the building without a permit anyway.
No, what I'd rather have is a tiny flip-phone that I can slip into my watch pocket. My Samsung A-530 is good, but I wish it were tinier. I don't want four hundred annoying ringtones; I don't want downloadable games at $2.50 a pop that I have to use my minutes to get; I don't really even care for a color screen. Make it small, make it last two or three days on a single charge, give it a high-contrast display that's easy to read even in sunlight, make sure it's got a phonebook, and make it sound nice.
In short, I want a phone. That's all. Is it so much to ask for a cellular phone that functions as an efficient communications tool? I don't want to take pictures on it--I have a camera for that. I don't want to listen to MP3s on it--I have an iPod for that. I don't want to play games on it, either. All I want is to freaking talk on it and have at least a resonable chance of my call not being dropped or sound like I'm talking to Gorgo the Swamp Monster because of crappy signal strength.
(( Yes, this was a poor attempt at humour. ))
Sin
Merf
Anyone read Kurt Vonnegut's "Galapagos"? I swear that these things are beginning to sound like that little machine they had.
What was it? Mandorax or something like that?
After spending 3 years in Japan, I was disappointed at the build quality of US phone when I returned. Anyone who's used a Japanese mobile phone will tell you they are built to hold up much longer than the ones in the US. I feel like if I drop my US cell once, it's a goner. I banged my JP phone up alot and it's still going strong.
Forget adding features, add some better plastics!
My only question: does it actually make usable phone calls?
Profanity - The sign of a small mind trying to express itself.
I definitely read virtual bukakke machine when I first read the article. Maybe its time to turn off the porn and go outside for a bit.
I prefer the ones mentioned here...= 102
http://www.themq.com/index.php?articleid=45&issue
p.s. how do you make it an actual link?
1. How about a phone that doesn't drop calls? 2. Maybe eliminating dropped calls. 3. I'd also like a phone that doesn't $@%#$&* drop calls!!!!!!!!! Um, the battery thing too.
Yeah, I guess I'm funny like that.
in japan, for some kids the phone is their pc. they don't email they send text messages, they browse the web on their phone.
it's not obvious in the U.S. with our backwards cell phones, but in other parts of the world people are buying phones instead of PCs
Phone manufacturers (and software developers) are keeping the price of these silly things artificially high.
Back in the late 90s I heard from a developer that Nokia told them at a conference that they *could* make cell phones that updated themselves over the network; they don't because they want cell phone turnover on the rate of about one a year.
The service still sucks at times, and the stuff they add on just simply doesn't justify the insane prices you pay. Think about it - $150 for a good new phone, and (average) $60 a month for a decent plan.
That's $870 a year for a PHONE.
Price for a regular home phone, $150 a year, maybe $200 if you add on a good long distance plan. And unlike your cell, the home phone is good for life (we just threw away my grandfather's phone that he got from AT&T in the early 60s).
Perhaps I'm the anomoly, but I want quality service, long battery life, and a decent menu system (are you listening, Motorola?) over every other feature they come up with.
Just my 2 cents.
In Japan, these high-end cell phones are just used as PDA by young people, because these cell phones are not so expensive ($50~$100), and have basic communication mechanisms (phonic and e-mail) and web-browser. For most Japanese, cell phones are not only phonic communication tool but also necessary informational equipment.
In such situ., there will be "cell-phone-geeks", and want more complicated functions, like dog-human translater or tv, no doubt.
The future is mobile porn where you can get a glimpse of Gina and her friends.
As a pet owner, I agree with you. I can't say I have children, but it seems to be the same way. I mean, when my cat is being bitchy, he either needs food, water, or attention. I don't need a translator to tell me that. I have seen some products that claim to translate the cries of a child. I imagine that there is/could be a market for a product like that, but that is a saddening prospect. Your child is crying. Gee, maybe he/she is hungry, needs a new diaper, or just plain misses you. Do you need a translator to figure that out? It seems to me that the world is moving away from a "hands on" approach to parenting (either a child or a pet), and these things maybe are not so obvious anymore. If you're getting that quality time (and yes, you can have quality time with a pet), you don't need a dang cell phone to translate anything for you.
If you are going to build translation capabilities into a cell phone, why not make it something useful, like japanese to english and vice versa. I would certainly appreciate something like that, even if it only worked for basic phrases. Put an SD slot in there, and you can switch out the language cards when you are going to a different country!
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
The Sharp models have very nice displays that boast 640x480 resolution on a 3" screen. you have to realize that people use it for email / web browsing (well, maybe more mail than web for vodafone service) more than they use their phone for a phone, since calls are so expensive comparatively.
it also comes with 2mpix digital camera, which, coupled with the screen, is a very nice treat.
the phone isn't too expensive when you factor in the various contract-length discounts. It comes out to be less than 200USD for the top of line vodafone has to offer, and consider how much a slim 2mpix digicam alone would cost you, i don't think it's a terrible price.
comments on the article is that, though: isn't this kind of old news? vodafone TV has been around for like half a year now and the reception isn't terrific - especially, erm, on subways; the pet-emotion-translator has also been about 8 monthes or so if not longer. it's an add-on 32MB SD card software package, though, so didn't try it.
phones with digicams that comes with optical zoom was probably first seen on one of the earlier model panasonic FOMA phones (for NTT docomo) and that was like two years ago.
hmm, but maybe i'm just spoiled bathing in the abundant supply of unnecessary toys readily available in japan.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Here! I have a copy and I can speak, erm, very broken Klingon, and I know phrases that have no use in the real world. Nevermind. The dog translator is a better idea.
Now, if only they could figure out someway to use this device to "call" other devices and "talk" to the people using those devices. Almost like a "portable phone" system.
With all these additional features getting strapped on to phones, they must be coming up with some unique new battery solutions.
I wonder if it would be too much to ask for a cellphone that *just* made calls and lasted a really long time between charges. I think I could safely trade in the dog bark translator for that.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
*Bark, Bark, Bark!*
Translator: Send money to sharp. Pleaseeee?
. . . in a way, at least. The Japanese term for "cell [mobile] phone" is technically keitai-denwa, but in reality, everyone except NHK news announcers just says "keitai" (pronounced KAY-tie). While the origin of the word is obvious, I think it's fair to say that "keitai" represents the conglomeration of features that have been squeezed into these devices more accurately than "cell phone" does.
What you're looking for is the LG TM250/VX3100. It's tiny, sounds decent, and theoretically has up to 240 hours of standby time, although I've only managed to get three to four days on a single charge out of the stock 950 mAH battery that it comes with. I don't feel like dropping money on the extended 1500 mAH battery, but there is one available if you desperately want to make your phone last for a week on end without charging. My only gripe is that the ringer's sometimes hard to hear among background noise, even on full blast.
Y2K Compliant since the late 1890s
I would give ANYTHING to hack a series of those ala Barbie Liberation Front style. Change the "dog-bark" translator so it returns all kinds of EVIL and RUDE translations, like "Im going to eat your throat out in your sleep" and "Hah I pissed in you shoes" etc etc.
Way back when in early 95 my dad was running Win95 beta or RC , I gained remote access, installed and shared a folder that I then uploaded all kinds of 2001 a space odyssey WAV's to his system and replaced the default sounds. My Dads name was Dave, so it was friggin perfect, instead of the shutdown sound it would go into the "Dave, What are you doing Dave" sequence and so on, about 10 sounds in all.
ANYONE stupid enough to USE a dog bark translator deserves anything I can make it say.
Cell Phone. Cellular Telephone. Cellular PDA-Gaming Platform-Calendar-Planner-Universal Remote-Translator-Dictionary-Infrared Scanner-Laser Pointer-RC Probe-Camera-Swiss Pocket Knife-Movie Projector-Telephone? I sure hope I didn't forget anything.
I work at Vodafone NZ; we've dealt with our Japanese colleagues on a few occasions relating to 3G. They brought their phones with them. Way cool. Some of that technology is filtering down to the 2G phones being manufactuerd by the likes of Sharp also.
Interesting was the speed with which they were able to roll out 3G sites: thousands of cells per month. Unlike us their 2G system is completely incompatible with WCDMA so they had no concerns with radio or core interoperability - and thus they were able to rollout at an unheard-of speed. Kudos to Vodafone K.K. They have been remarkably successful!
-- Your mother uses Emacs.
Is it so much to ask for a cellular phone that functions as an efficient communications tool? I don't want to take pictures on it--I have a camera for that. I don't want to listen to MP3s on it--I have an iPod for that.
On the other hand, some of us don't feel like carrying lots of separate devices around. If I want really nice pictures I'll take my camera--but if I just want to grab a quick snapshot of something I can use my keitai. If I'm going to listen to music for hours on end I'll use my MD player--but if I'm just trying to pass time on the train I can use my keitai. I don't see these "multi-function phones" as entire replacements for other devices, but simply as added conveniences; don't worry, the manufacturers haven't forgotten about call quality. (Well, most of them . . . *cough*Panasonic*cough*)
"Japanese Cell Phones Offer a Glimpse of the Future"
Um, the Japanese cell phone market has been providing glimpses into the future for quite a while now. They are regularly on the bleeding edge of industry technology. Freakin' duh, man.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Just in case anyone was interested. I don't have more information really, but I do have more pretty pictures. Article is here.
Two or three days on a single charge? Men, I don't know what kind of phones you have in the US but my last 3 phones were able to do at least a week on a single charge. 3-4 days was the standard 5 years ago but now anything under 6 days standby is considered major drawback. For the record that is about phones sold in Europe, I guess Japan people don't care so much about that.
"Aggregate Nesting Node of Outrageous Yuppies and Ignorant Goofballs (ANNOYING)" should read
Aggregate Nesting Node of Outrageous Yuppies and Ignorant Nonsensical Goofballs (ANNOYING)
The first would actually be "ANNOYIG" which the focus group respondents said sounded far too similar to someone who had a cold.
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
You're right. In Japan, they buy a Macintosh. Some of the best case mods on the Internet were from Japan, and on Apple PowerBooks.
Orig- "Woof!"
Translation- "Hey!"
Orig- "Woof."
Translation- "Give me steak."
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
...getting a phone that....merely makes phone calls. No camera, no ring tones, no games, no color, no translators, no nothing.... :(
I'll never be able to buy another of those again.
....
Woof woof. Woof woof woof. grrrrr.
Huff huff. Huff huff huff. grrrrr.
It's not complicated, really. Someone needs to do for cell phones what Apple did for MP3 players!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
kitchen sink.
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
I am getting SICK of mod abuse. This is ridiculous. The parent was ON topic.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
Woof Woof!
What's that Lassie?
Woof!
Hold on girl let me take out my cell phone!
I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
The gargoyles wore gear the recorded everything they saw, heard, sensed, etc for publication in "the library" (originally the Library of Congress). They would get paid if someone downloaded their recordings later. Some of the freelance hackers (including Hiro, I think) resent the gargoyles for clogging up the library with too much useless data.
0 1 - just my two bits
Yesterday, a phone at a table near me announced very loudly to the entire restaurant "You have an incoming call!" over and over and over again. It took the guy forever to figure out how to answer it.
What do I want in a phone?
Limit the annoyance capabilities (volume, music, etc.)
Let me have two or more phones share a single phone number. It has got to be possible, but nobody will do it. That's the only missing feature that makes me think back fondly about my old land-line phone. If someone wanted to reach whoever picked up first, or leave a message for whoever checked first, they only had one number to call; now they have two (me and my wife) and have to leave a message for both if neither of us answer. And soon half our calls will consist of "sorry, he's not with me; try his mother (or father) instead".
Let it be an option to create a blacklist of numbers (including "unknown") which will NOT generate a ring at all.
Let me hit END to drop an incoming call unanswered so I can place an outgoing call immediately instead of having to wait for the incoming call to eventually shunt over to voicemail.
Get three-way calling working better. I have had 5 different models of phones in the past 4 years, and NONE of them has handled three-way calling well at all.
Let me choose between color and black-and-white for the display. I never had any trouble reading the B&W display on my older phones at a quick glance. With this color display on my new phone, I have to shield it from the light, even at max contrast, and stare at it for a few seconds just to read the clock which is in larger numbers than everything else.
Make data cables available. I should not have to go to the store and stand in line for half an hour praying that when I get to the end of the line and ask to have my phonebook copied out, that their computer isn't down, that their cable isn't broken, that their software isn't misbehaving, that the person I get actually knows how to perform such a simple task, etc.
Make the equipment consistent. Every time I upgrade (mainly due to loss/damage) my phone, I have to get a new charger (usually included), new car charger, new headset, new data cable (if available!), new belt clip/holster, etc. And I use the term "upgrade" loosely, because out of all the phones I have had, I still like the first one best. If that model were still available, I would keep getting it, but unfortunately being 4 years old it is obsolete.
Edward Burr
Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.
Can you make phone calls with them?
If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor.
They have a mood translator at petsmart stores that will supposedly give the dogs mood, based on how the bark sounds.
You had me up until Tetris. I just want a phone with a number directory.
Ok, who's next? Anyone not want a number directory?
Anyhow, um, wouldn't the future be now, in Japan?
For the record, I would like my phone to be a phone. I could give a rat's ass about the other stuff.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
... with transceivers and independent power will be able to commo just fine though.....
sumthin to be said for old reliable technology sometimes....
If it could just tell me the result of the first race at Eagle Farm next saturday ... :-)
Whats the point of putting more features in a cell-phone when the keys are too damn small to use any of them? I have enough trouble with a regular keyboard let alone on a miniscule key-pad where my thumb covers four keys.
g _V irtual_Keyboard_Soon
:)
The only reason why these "everything but the kitchen sink" phones are so popular in Japan is because they have such small thumbs.
Maybe if they integrated these phones with a better input device, like a laser-keyboard perhaps, then they might actually be useful.
http://www.brighthand.com/article/iBiz_Releasin
Of course, even with one of these I still wouldn't buy one. The screens need to be bigger too
Sharp model numbers begin or end in SH. Sanyo in SA. Toshiba in T. NEC in N. English-language PDFs of the manuals for several models are also available.
The review didn't mention the 800 series: 801SH and 801SA.
Other goodies: the 601T has T4G 3D accelerator and a TV output jack when playing games. 401D also has a 2MP camera. The 401SH needs a really good signal for TV, and it kills the battery. The 401SA and 801SA have the same type of body sliding mechanism to reveal the keypad, all the others flip.
The latest Sharp models, including the 801SH, have electrical and optical audio, so one can rip direct to the SD card. Unfortunately it's DRM City, so getting music onto the SD card via a computer involves Panasonic's awful SD Jukebox software and one of a small number of card readers.
The 801SA can place videocalls to similar handsets. The 801SH and 801SA use W-CDMA in Japan, and tri-band GSM when roaming internationally.
Finally, the VC701SI is a 3G modem card made by Seiko.
I never understand why, when we hear about new cellphones with these fancy features, people get so riled up and speak of them as if they were the devil. If you don't want one, guess what? Don't buy one! There are plenty of crappy old phones with nothing but a monochrome display and no features but an address book. Don't say that there aren't, because I see plenty of them whenever I go to look at cell phones.
Some of us, however, DO want things like this. I'd love to have a cell phone that has a camera inside of it that can better the actual digital camera that I have. That way, if I want to go somewhere and have both my phone and a camera, I can take one handy little item instead of two. If I have a phone that can also play music or get TV reception or play games, should I want to, why not? I don't want a big, bulky PDA, but I do want to ability to do a number of things in a small package.
If you enjoy carrying eight different pieces of technology with you somewhere, go right ahead. I, however, eagery await the day I can have different things at my disposal, should the need or desire come up, all wrapped in one small, easy to take with me package.
When I go home to the U.S. on leave, I recognize most of the American cellphones are really korean, only about one to two years behind. Last February I showed some friends my SKY Slide phone and they said "wow, yeah, my sisters getting that one next month" or "hey I was looking to get that one after my current one", then I told them that I purchased mine a year ago, second hand. Well, it good to finnally know we're finally catching up.
Anyway, here the public transportation system is very good, so everyone has an all in one bus/subway card. The best feature yet has been the cell phone that acts as one of those, where the person takes thier cell phone out, waves it in front of the subway entrance gate, and it subtracts from thier phone bill.
Its not hard to see where thats going. . . regardless of any stupid features like cameras or karaoke, mp3 players etc. . . its easy to imagine someone instead walking up to a counter at 7-11, the cashier ringing up what you order and then you just pay by waving your handphone in front of a little reader.
Saying "Militia really just means National Gaurd" is like saying "Press really just means PBS"
I know I'm not the first to say this, but JEBUS folks, how's about a really kick-ass cell phone that's ONLY A CELL PHONE?
Good power, great reception, superb audio (my pet peeve: earpieces that crap out when they're a week or two old -- can someone please put a better transducer in there?), long battery life, high contrast displays, well-thought-out menus and UNIVERSAL CHARGERS AND DATA CONNECTORS!!!
No? Thought so. Fsck it all, we'll have to keep getting inundated with all this toy-of-the-month shit. The march of progress appears backward from a utilitarian perspective.
Maybe, just maybe, one savvy manufacturer will notice this market and start building durable, functional JustaPhones.
In other news, astrophysicists have announced that they now know what all that dark matter is: it's stupidity.
I was in Japan for 10 months last year. I bought a middle of the road JPhone (now Vodaphone) model that has a camera, 10 secs of video, internet, e-mail, and an amazing alarm clock for about $30 (US)(had discounts). The best part was, I didn't even have to sign up for a year contract. I could do post-pay and not sign up for a year, how novel is that? I refuse to buy a cell phone in the States (or anywhere else I may live) unless I can buy the phone I want but not have to sign up for a year.
The stupid contracts and poor handsets (relative to Japan anyway) are really a function of the youth of the cell industry in the U.S. Here, market saturation is low and demand is high, so companies have tons of consumers willing to pay huge amounts on crap contracts and horrible handsets. In Japan, where something near 80% of people have a cell phone, the companies must offer better phones and contract options to steal customers away form competitors. Ah, the free market at work. But what do I know, I use a Mac.
The phones only have a 320x240 display (same as a PocketPC, but smaller), not 640x480. Still, I have to admit, that high a resolution on such a small screen look absolutely gorgeous.
Supposedly, in their next upgrade you'll be able to actually make phone calls.
hmm? vodafone V601SH is the precessor to V602SH and it has 640x480 (actually 480x640 technically), i'd be damn surprised if the new model doesn't sport the fanciness.
QVGA is the size of the video you can take with it, not the brilliantly beautiful screen's size.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Let it replace all the other electronic devices you have on you. Like:
1) A LED flashlight. So handy, so simple.
2) Built-in usb plug letting it operate as a combination modem and flash drive. Of the generic variety, so you don't need to install special software to use it as such.
3) AM/FM/Weather radio. Keep up with news and sports.
4) Civilian band walkie talkie. Generic analog or smarter digital, with encryption. If it can use bluetooth, it is already capable of using the right frequencies.
Please add your own ideas...
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
I'm so sick of the clam-shell keitais. I want non moving part phones like the infobar! I nearly bought an infobar but didn't like its low-rez screen or the fact it had not english capability.
I can handle a japanese OS on a phone, but I prefer to use english.
Clamshells suck - they break easily, are heavier than all-in-one designs etc. Blah!
I'm also fluent in Japanese (according to many native Japanese acquaintances), and I say your wife is out of touch. (: Probably 80% of the "ei" in "keitai" I hear is the weakened variety, which as far as I'm concerned makes it the "standard" pronunciation. Though granted, that could have more to do with the fact that "ke-tai" (think in katakana here) is the "in" spelling these days.
(And yes, I should have been clearer that that was a long Japanese "e", not an English one.)
I've noticed it a few times before, and others may have pointed it out. But anyhow...
:) (Or perhaps it's because the later are often targeted at us, whilst the prior is not.)
I can easily see someone like my dad subscribing to the "it's just a phone, all it should do is let me send and recieve calls" opinion, which is, of course a perfectly valid one.
But geeks? Slashdot Geeks!? I mean, features like dog translators are obviously useless crap, but don't geeks (like myself) normally like their tech things to get bigger (smaller), better and faster? Even I use an old Ericsson T39m (calls, address book, bluetooth/IrDA, WAP, email, SMS) and I don't feel the need to upgrade.
Perhaps there's some kind of inbuilt geek mechanism that doesn't trigger for mobile phones but does for PDAs, notebooks, MP3 players, PVRs, etc.
Is it called "Station"?
But that won't bring revenues now will it...sigh.
Here in New Zealand way back in the mid-to-late-80's, a cellphone cost as much as NZ$15,000, and you needed a friend to help you carry it. But since the early-90's, everybody in New Zealand has become a cellphone owner; every school kid, every housewife, every truck driver, etc. It hasn't been an executive status symbol here for a long time.
In fact at one point a few years ago it was chic to be cellphoneless, as if that conferred an above-everybody-else kind of status. But everybody in the country is so used to having instant telephone access, almost no matter where they are, that few are without one.
for japanese people is it now..
Hmm, wonder if you can use them to make phone calls.
How about a cell phone that just does telephony... what a concept! I'd buy that!
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
A Hungarian tourist (John Cleese) approaches the clerk (Terry Jones). The tourist is reading haltingly from a phrase book.
Hungarian: I will not buy this record, it is scratched.
Clerk: Sorry?
Hungarian I will not buy this record, it is scratched.
Clerk: Uh, no, no, no. This is a tobacconist's.
Hungarian: Ah! I will not buy this *tobacconist's*, it is scratched.
Clerk: No, no, no, no. Tobacco...um...cigarettes (holds up a pack).
Hungarian: Ya! See-gar-ets! Ya! Uh...My hovercraft is full of eels.
Clerk: Sorry?
Hungarian: My hovercraft (pantomimes puffing a cigarette)...is full of eels (pretends to strike a match).
Clerk: Ah! matches!
Hungarian: Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya! Do you waaaaant...do you waaaaaant...to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?
"Japanese Cell Phones Offer a Glimpse of the Future"
"French Fashion Shows Offer a Glimpse of the Future"
"CEBIT Tech Gadget Shows Offer a Glimpse of the Future"
Well, doh. They've been doing that for a long time, all of them. So it's not news because it's not news that it is news? I found it interesting to see what the near future in cell phones is. If you haven't noticed, time passes. The "glimpses into the future" aren't the same glimpses as two years ago. That's why this is news, not that they offer "glimpses into the future" per se.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Is there a way to get these in the US, besides Ebay? Any Japanese companies that will buy them locally and ship them to you? Would this work on our data networks?
I want broadband, not TV. When are business execs finally going to figure this out?
According to a recent article in (I believe) the WSJ (and a DowJones newswire article yesterday on DoCoMo) DoCoMo/Vodafone are losing market share in Japan because KDD is killing them with their CDMA2000 offering. DoCoMo is projecting a loss this year because of lost wireless market share.
I've read similar articles that CDMA450 is killing them in other markets (E. Europe and possibly South America.)
I don't begrudge anyone their crazy new features. If you want to play Splinter Cell, or watch TV, or take pictures, or check the attenuation of Cat 5 cables. But I want a better PHONE.
I mean I want an earpiece with good volume, which fits comfortably against the ear, and a connection over which I can speak clearly without distortion or delay. I personally use Verizon Wireless, but I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone on their cellphone, regardless of their carrier, and had the quality be near landline quality. I'm not an expert at the wireless signaling technology involved, but I would assume that there is some way to improve signal quality, though obviously at some cost. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to put my money into that cost, rather than into a digital camera, web-enabled, voice-recognizing gadget. I can get that from an actual digital camera or a PDA. I want a friggin' cellphone that works like a normal phone.
What is gonna be fun is the instant messengers with VoIP in the phone-pda-combinations with wlan capabilities. Its gonna kill 3G.
Actually, no. I agree with the grandparent post: I ACTUALLY WANT a phone that is just a phone. Text display in low-rez, low-power black and white; good sound, good mic, good reception; small size with no moving parts. That's it. Nothing else. Should last a week or more on one charge with light usage.
That is, in fact, what I want. You can show me all the gadget-phones you like, but I just want the above feature-set, please and thank you.
Doug
I want my phone to be a phone and nothing else.
Is this for blind people?
this is an interesting question - i can imagine a blind man and his dog crossing the road, while the phone translates the barks into simplified versions of "look out, here comes a truck" or "damn, there goes a cute bitch. wish i was not on a leash stuck with this man and his fancy phone!"...
errr... hold on. for a blind user, won't the phone also need some kind of a bark-to-human-voice conversion? also AI good enough to figure out the difference between a wuff wuff and a woof wuff? not to mention, an articulate dog who isn't the canine counterpart of our mumbling slyvester stallone?
Well.. The Nokia 7700 will be introduced withing a month or two. It'll include a TV receiver, a camera, and mp3 player. To name a few things. The best thing is it's running Symbian, which is already a big operating system for cell phones. As it's widely used, you also get many programs for it. You can also code your own programs for it at least with C++, Java and Python. So, the Japanese aren't actually that much far away from us.
Where have your banknotes been?!
This would be limited by battery technology (and may be why it hasn't come to fruition - or only prototype level, if that):
You would have an "earpiece" that would be a combo of the receiver speaker and a small tube (or no tube?) microphone - it would "clip" over your ear or maybe fit right in your ear. Battery to power the audio and bluetooth (or similar tech)...
The receiver/transmitter would fit on your wrist, not much bigger than a watch, with a small screen - showing numbers, status, etc - this would house the actual "phone", and also serve as a watch and simple PDA. If you could throw a camera in, fine (if you could integrate it into the earpiece, facing forward, even better!). It would wirelessly communicate with the earpiece via bluetooth.
Basically, a phone that is always there, always with you - low beeps could alert you when you had a call coming in (no disturbing others with the ringing), both hands are free to do other tasks (typing or writing).
I know this isn't a new idea by far - prototypes and such have been shown by various manufacturers, and similar stuff has be "designed and worn" at some "wearable fashion shows" for a long while. I just wish battery technology (or whatever is holding it all back) would catch up...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
People, you're talking about Bluetooth and wireless integration with this and that -- do you think the average 14 year old Tokyo high school girl (who can sell her underwear for 50$) gives a rats ass about Bluetooth?
We Japanese will never buy these fxxkin' phones.
Almost people in Japan think so, because of
wanting mobile phones be more simple as
a real "phone" and a email&web client,
and more excellent designs like Nokia are needed.