What sort of sick, twisted world did we just wake up inside where NTT DoCoMo is getting rehashed has-been phones launched many, many months ago elsewhere? We're kidding -- sort of -- but we do find it a bit strange that Japan's favorite omniscient megacarrier is just now getting around to announcing its own LG Prada after the original KE850 model entered our hearts and minds almost a year and a half ago. Some of that embarrassment is salvaged in the form of NTT DoCoMo-specific changes and upgrades, or so they allege, anyway; all we're really seeing is the presence of 7.2Mbps data, even though the press release insists that the new model has been "redeveloped specifically" for 'em. Otherwise, fashionistas of the Far East will be treated to a 2 megapixel autofocus cam and a 3-inch wide QVGA display when it launches next month.

Reaction to NTT DoCoMo's new logo has been mixed, but when it comes to the carrier's phones, there's still very little to not love -- and when we say "love," we mean "feel sorry for ourselves that we don't have access to these things." The recently-announced (and copied) Raku-Raku F884i from Fujitsu is now available in three delicious colors, featuring the same one-seg mobile TV tuner and gargantuan display present on the majority of modern handsets for the Japanese domestic market. Other goodies include a configurable orientation sensor that, by default, fires up the TV when tilted in one direction and the camera when tilted in the other (clever!) and upgraded voice recognition that allows for complete email dictation by sending the user's voice to a server and text back to the phone in real time. Oh, and this one does global roaming, too, so we'll take one of each, please.

Our mommies always used to tell us that in life, there are only three sure things: death, taxes, and NTT DoCoMo's stylish logo. Well, how very, very wrong our mommies were! Japan's megacarrier officially unveiled its new look today, which will go into use beginning July 1 alongside its catchy new slogan, "Unlimited Potential, in Your Hand." We're told that the red in the logo signifies the company's "energy and dynamism" -- which we're pretty sure is their way of saying "our phones still make yours look like neanderthalic tools hewn from rock." So, thoughts on the makeover, everyone?

Is there really such a thing as too much signal strength? For residents of Tsushima in Japan, the answer is a solid "yes." Folks in the area are a mere 33 miles from the South Korean shore, and NTT DoCoMo customers with international roaming enabled are finding themselves roaming on those powerful airwaves across the Korea Strait -- naturally leading to some rather unpleasant charges. The carrier reports that 38 models are affected by the problem (presumably every handset that's capable of roaming in South Korea), and unfortunately, their only solution is to have affected customers manually configure their phones to use the local network. It'd be awesome if they just juiced the towers to be, like, ten times more powerful, but we suppose that maybe that's not the healthy thing to do.

[Via IntoMobile]

Braille phones in and of themselves aren't all that unique, but a former professor (who just so happens to be completely blind) from Tsukuba University of Technology has crafted a variant that jumps and jives. Dubbed the world's first vibrating Braille cellphone, the device is programmed to emit pulses depending on which key is pressed; more specifically, a pair of terminals attached to the handset "vibrate at a specific rate to create a message." Those currently involved with the project are now toiling to make the keypad-to-vibration converters smaller, but there's no word just yet on whether the technology will be picked up commercially.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

Falling somewhere before the BT8010 and BT8040, the BT3030 most definitely takes the crown for clever design. Jabra's latest Bluetooth headset, as you can glean from the image above, was crafted to mimic the traditional dog tag, and specifications wise, you'll find Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, HSP, HFP, A2DP and AVRCP support. Additionally, you'll find six buttons useful for sending / ending calls and controlling music playback, and yes, it will lower the volume when detecting an incoming call from your livid mother-in-law. Ditch that ear critter and pick up something slightly less appalling late next month in Japan (or right now in the US) for ¥8,980 ($90). Check out the gallery over on Engadget Classic.

Just think -- this time next year, we'll all look back at this milestone and wonder how on Earth we thought it was impressive. For now, however, we wouldn't blame you for high-fiving everyone around, as NTT DoCoMo has stretched the boundaries again with a recent Super 3G field test. Reportedly, the outfit was able to record "a downlink transmission rate of 250Mbps over a high-speed wireless network in an outdoor test of an experimental Super 3G system," and while it's not quite the 300Mbps we'd heard about before, you won't find us kvetching. If all goes to plan, the firm is hoping to "complete development of the technologies required for the eventual launch of a Super 3G network" by 2009, but who knows how long we Americans will have to wait to indulge after that.

Remember the Sound Leaf? Unless you live in Japan, there's a very good chance you don't, so let us refresh your memory: it's a rather interesting Bluetooth device that looks a bit like a miniature handset and functions as a bone-conduction receiver for taking calls in noisy environments. It's a cool idea -- Bluetooth headsets are very, very rarely as loud for the wearer or as noise-free for the person on the other end of the call as they should be -- but for whatever reason, the technology really hasn't taken off in full force. Again, that's unless you're in Japan -- because NTT DoCoMo's just released the Sound Leaf+, a new take on the original that looks almost exactly the same but trades an all-white color scheme for a more in-your-face black getup and apparently features improved reception. It'll go for about 15 hours on a pair of AAA batteries, and the mouthpiece folds conveniently away when not in use. We'll take a dozen, NTT; you can float 'em across the Pacific in a bottle, if you like.

[Via Slashphone]

Perhaps stinging a bit from its severed ties with Mitsubishi and a Sony Ericsson relationship that's on the rocks, Japanese megacarrier NTT DoCoMo has said that it'll be making key changes to its standard, cross-manufacturer platform that makes it easier for its partners to simultaneously offer awesome phones domestically and meh phones abroad. Apparently, DoCoMo's thinking that its extraordinarily complex, high-function platform makes it difficult for companies like Sony Ericsson to offer the same (or even remotely similar, for that matter) models both in Japan and elsewhere -- and with a Japanese phone market that's saturated and extremely difficult to profit from at the moment, the carrier would love to help manufacturers make a buck or two by reusing designs in other parts of the world. High on its list of features DoCoMo wants to make removable are i-mode (its branded mobile internet service) and FeliCa, the infrastructure behind its contactless payment system; in other words, the best stuff. Will we still want NTT DoCoMo's goods after they've been watered down? It's thinking that it wants to start offering stripped versions of its phones at home, too, so there just might still be an exotic appeal to it after all.

[Via mocoNews]

It turns out that January of this year is the very first month in history that Japanese retailers brought on no stock of 2G phones, and as amazing of a statistic is that is, we have to admit -- we're just a little surprised this didn't happen, like, several years ago. As of the end of February, about 85 percent of Japan's mobile users (read: everyone in the country, we think) were on 3G handsets, another statistic that is both surprising and, at the same time, elicits a bit of an "it took that long?" response from us. Whatever; any way you slice it, these guys and gals are still way better off in the high-speed mobile data department than anyone else we can think of, so we'll err on the side of awe and just simply be impressed at the fact that it's no longer possible to get a crappy phone in the entire country of Japan.

[Via IntoMobile]

What the heck is going on here? Despite the overwhelming popularity of gizmo-heavy mobile devices in Japan, working with megacarrier NTT DoCoMo must be a losing proposition for many of its manufacturing partners, because just days after Mitsubishi's announcement of its withdrawal, a fresh Nikkei report indicates that Sony Ericsson is raising the white flag as well to divert attention and resources to less saturated and more profitable markets. Apparently, DoCoMo will bear the brunt of the downsizing, while Sony Ericsson's partnership with KDDI -- a CDMA carrier -- will continue. [Warning: subscription required]

Update: It turns out that Sony Ericsson intends to continue working with DoCoMo by initially delivering new models through mid '08, at which point it will start buying handsets from other manufacturers and rebranding them. In other countries this would be truly egregious, but as our Japanese bureau points out, DoCoMo lays out very strict requirements for each of its lines that would probably make it difficult to distinguish a true Sony Ericsson model from a rebranded model sourced from, say, Sharp or Toshiba.

Update 2: Sony Ericsson's Japanese PR folks have denied Nikkei's report, although they did mention that they are "reevaluating" their DoCoMo line without going into any detail. Whether the report was actually false or Nikkei just managed to out the info well before Sony Ericsson wanted it out, though, remains unclear.

Update 3: The official Sony Ericsson response, and while it says that they're taking a good, hard look at their DoCoMo business, it also mentions that they'll continue to develop new handsets for the carrier. Clear as mud? Good!

Read - Nikkei report [subscription required]
Read - Sony Ericsson response

A lot of readers might be surprised to learn that Mitsubishi even makes cellphones, but yeah, it sure does. Its domestic Japanese market has typically been the recipient of its impressive wares, selling models on NTT DoCoMo using the "D" model name prefix -- but maybe not for much longer. Nikkei is throwing out some rumors today that Mitsu will be exiting the dog-eat-dog cellphone manufacturing biz and possibly doing so very swiftly, even withdrawing models due to hit DoCoMo in the next few weeks. Despite raking in over 100 billion yen (about $958M) annually from its mobile division alone, the company has apparently been unable to make it profitable and recently downgraded its handset sales forecast for the current fiscal year. Frankly, we wish Mitsu had sold enough handsets abroad for us to be really upset about this. Nikkei says an official announcement could come as soon as today, so we'll update you when we know more.

[Thanks, rinse]

Update: Nikkei was dead on. Mitsubishi has just announced that it is ending its cellphone manufacturing business, a venture that goes back some 25 years with the introduction of car phones on NTT's network. For what it's worth, the company says that it'll continue to support its devices and move the 600-odd employees in the business to other parts of the company. It also says that it will "work to maintain and further strengthen the partnership with NTT DoCoMo through the communication related business [it aims] to expand," so don't get too teary-eyed, DoCoMo. Hit the link for the official release.

Think of it like myFaves, but where your faves have to be relatives (a nightmare for some, yes, we know). NTT DoCoMo is now offering free calls to family members when both are subscribed to the Japanese carrier's "Fami-wari MAX50" plan, in addition to a nice 60 percent off video calls. There's also this bizarre clause that allows for free family calling for folks that are subscribed to either "Family Discount" or "Office Discount" in addition to the new "Ichinen Discount" service and have contracts of at least one year in length -- and, oh yeah, have been DoCoMo subscribers for at least 10 flippin' years. The simple flow chart above should help explain it all.

Separately, DoCoMo is raising pricing on its i-mode mobile internet service from 210 ($1.95) to 315 yen ($2.93) per month, which we figure is still dirt cheap compared to pretty much anywhere else in the world. That's on top of packet data charges, though those remain unchanged.

Read - DoCoMo to Offer Free 24/7 Domestic Calling to Family Members
Read - NTT DoCoMo to Revise i-mode Monthly Charge

So a Japanese company by the name of Design QR had a brilliant idea: combine two QR codes to allow twice the information to be stored. Ah, but we had an even more brilliant idea: combine three flippin' QR codes. Design QR says three or more are "possible," but we turned possibility into reality by mocking one up for you. You're welcome.

[Via Slashphone]

Right on KDDI's heels comes Softbank, roaring in with fourteen new models (not including the oh-so-pricey Tiffany phone) for the spring season. Though the lineup includes the usual array of crazy clamshells, this particular group includes a curious model designed specifically for stock trading and the Japanese introduction of a couple phones we're already well acquainted with. Can ya spot 'em in the picture there? Read on!