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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
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.
Anyone who has to stand in public transport for hours a day.
"Honestly, who would want to watch TV on a cell phone? "
Somebody who's at a restaraunt waiting to be served. Somebody taking a dump at work. Somebody trying to find out what happened after an Earthquake and all the power's out. Somebody riding the bus. Somebody taking a...
"Derp de derp."
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?
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.
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.
Why do Japan, China and Korea get the coolest phones years before we do?
Because they are the guinea pigs and the phones get tested there before trying it in the "final" markets. Oh, and also demand
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
No builtin fork and cheese grater???
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
It's your regulatory environment.
While in the USA, multiple different companies went off and developed multiple, incompatible systems (which weren't particularly future-proof), and Telcos even implemented different networks in different parts of the country, the Europeans got together and developed GSM (Global System for Mobile telecommunications), which I'm sure you've heard of by now.
They actually bothered to implement things like inter-network and overseas roaming, and anticipate the need for an upgrade path for future requirements. They also assigned and reserved radio spectrum across Europe, and much of Asia followed suit.
Meanwhile, the USA hadn't reserved the same spectrums, so even when US operators decided that the bigger GSM handset market was a good thing to be involved with, handsets from Europe and Asia still couldn't be used because they had to be modified to work on different frequencies!
It's one case where an unregulated, free and open market has been quite detrimental to consumers, and in fact the whole country.
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.
(( Yes, this was a poor attempt at humour. ))
Sin
Merf
Well several alternatives have been proposed, such as:
Cellular Relaying Antenna Point (CRAP)
and
Aggregate Nesting Node of Outrageous Yuppies and Ignorant Goofballs (ANNOYING)
and
Standardized TDMA Focusing Umbrella (STFU)
However, all these names were rejected by focus groups. The first two were classified as vaguely insulting (although the respondents could not quite say why). The respondents also said that STFU made them feel like they had made a stupid post on slashdot (kind of like this one....)
Please note that I am (obviously) not a professional creator of acronyms.
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
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.
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.
And now we need our phone to tell us what the current conditions are? Considering that you generally would have your cell phone outside, why can't you just, oh, look up??? If you really need it, have a temperature sensor inside the phone so the cell network isn't flooded with weather data. (Idea! Better patent it!)
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.
<a href="urlhere">link text</a>
I also reply below your current threshold.
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.
. . . 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.
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.
Except that the countries with the most advanced cellphones (Japan and South Korea) are using proprietary and incompatible standards just like the USA did, so your argument doesn't hold up.
I'm not saying standards like GSM are bad, but if this really was a standards issue, wouldn't we all be ooh-ing and aah-ing over Europe's awesome high-tech GSM phones, instead of Japan's awesome high-tech (insert random 2.5G/3G celphone standard here) phones?
If anything, Japan has proven that GSM isn't the best technology for densely populated urban areas.
"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
Yeah, those guys already love the "walkie-talkie" feature. Actual overheard conversation:
*be-deet*
"Where are you?"
*be-deet*
"Taking a shit."
*be-deet*
"Wanna see a movie?"
*be-deet*
"Okay, when?"
*be-deet*
"Five-thirty."
I swear, video conferencing will take off when they put it on a cellphone with a built-in wall projector. And people in restaurants will use it to talk to people who are taking a shit.
-- . . ramblin' . . .
Woof Woof!
What's that Lassie?
Woof!
Hold on girl let me take out my cell phone!
I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
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.
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.
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"
While that's true, the difference is that in Korea and Japan there were a few large companies that spanned large regions or the whole country. And where the companies were regional, roaming onto other regions was neither difficult nor expensive.
In the USA by contrast, the Bell breakup shattered your industry into a million tiny competing pieces, who all went out and made life as difficult for each other as possible. That of course was the natural conclusion of the court order, which put so much fear of personal penalites (ie, you personally could go to jail) due to anti-trust issues into the company executives.
Also worth noting that for 3G, both Korea and Japan are following the rest of the world this time round and choosing WCDMA. It's likely that the US will be as isolated in it's 3G standard(s) as it was in 2G.
-- Your mother uses Emacs.
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.
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'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.
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?!