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iida Ply and Prismoid phones strut their stuff at CEATEC (video)

by Darren Murph posted Oct 7th 2009 @ 1:20AM

While Fujitsu's design entrants already boggled our minds here at CEATEC, KDDI au is looking to take things one step further by actually shipping a pair of decidedly futuristic handsets in Japan. Just months after the iida sub-brand was formally launched, the Ply and Prismoid are making their debuts on the show floor. The latter sports a 2.7-inch primary display, a 0.6-inch OLED sub-display, a microSD expansion slot and a design to die for; the former packs a 3.2 megapixel camera, 1seg TV tuner and a 3-inch panel. Have a look at the gallery below (and video past the break) if you're yearning to see just how lovely a dumbphone can be, and trust us when we say you've only yourself to blame if you carelessly let this opportunity pass you by.

Continue reading iida Ply and Prismoid phones strut their stuff at CEATEC (video)

Video: NTT DoCoMo's Touch Wood concepts show their grains at CEATEC

by Darren Murph posted Oct 6th 2009 @ 8:42AM

We'll spare you the obvious cheap jokes, but grabbing hold of NTT DoCoMo's Touch Wood concepts at CEATEC was a true, honest-to-goodness pleasure. Engineered in cooperation with Sharp and Olympus, the kidney bean-esque touchscreen phone was accompanied by a TV tuning smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Both units were in the early prototype stage, with the bean shaped fellow being a mere mock-up that failed to do anything when pressed. The other guy is based around the SH-04A, and while the wood trim could've certainly encompassed more of the chassis than it did, we dig the direction DoCoMo is headed here. Have a look at Ma Earth's favorite phone (next to the Reclaim, of course) in the gallery below (and video after the break, if you're feeling extra saucy).

Gallery: NTT DoCoMo's Touch Wood concepts show their grains at CEATEC

Continue reading Video: NTT DoCoMo's Touch Wood concepts show their grains at CEATEC

Video: KDDI Polaris Robot concept -- it's like Rolly, but with a purpose

by Darren Murph posted Oct 6th 2009 @ 7:32AM

Being a Japanese carrier and all, it's no shock to see KDDI with a large presence at CEATEC. What was surprising, however, was the cute little device you see pictured above. Showcased in an "early prototype" form, the recently introduced Polaris Robot looks eerily similar to Sony's befuddling Rolly. Thankfully for KDDI (and all of humanity, really), this creature actually has a purpose. Packed with speakers, an array of wireless sensors and the ability to send video signals to your TV sans cables, the concept docking station is meant to stylishly hold your KDDI handset (lots of 'em will be compatible in due time) and beam a blown-up version of your phone's UI onto your television or LCD monitor. The good news here is that the system actually displays a far more intuitive menu layout on the screen than what's available on your dumbphone, enabling users to flip through schedules, photos, videos and playlists with ease. Technological details -- as well as information surrounding price and release -- were scant, but you can whet your appetite by peeking the video just past the break.

Gallery: KDDI Polaris Robot concept -- it's like Rolly, but with a purpose

Continue reading Video: KDDI Polaris Robot concept -- it's like Rolly, but with a purpose

Clearwire eyes global WiMAX roaming agreement, Kanye blurts out: 'LTE is better!'

by Darren Murph posted Sep 14th 2009 @ 1:26PM

Pinky and the Brain were consulted, and you can rest assured they were both highly supportive of Clearwire's latest initiative. Announced today in cooperation with Russia's Yota and Japan's UQ Communications, Clearwire has banged out a memorandum of understanding with the aforesaid WiMAX carriers that "identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realization of establishing WiMAX roaming between the [two]." With translators in tow, the trio are hoping to define and institute the necessary processes that'll ensure devices from each carrier works on the other's network, and while American's probably couldn't care less about these two operators in particular, it's the thought that counts. Just imagine -- 4G global roaming at a decent price point. That, friends, is the future.

KDDI's curious Ply goes from concept to reality in one years' time

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 9th 2009 @ 7:51AM

This phone began life as a member of Japanese carrier KDDI au's ongoing Design Project series, a line of concepts geared at envisioning tomorrow's phones -- and a pretty impressive number of those concepts ultimately go on to become production phones. In checking out the Ply concept last year, we said "the phone itself is pretty stunningly beautiful, so we'd love to see it on the streets of Tokyo even if it meant nixing the printer," and indeed, that's what they've done; the original idea was for each "layer" of the phone to represent some wild function like printing or pico-projecting, but now, the layer tabs are nothing more than stylized buttons accessing totally pedestrian features like keylock and camera. Here's our take: when your phone looks this much like five pieces of wood sandwiched together, that's a totally acceptable sacrifice to make. It'll be available in three colors later this month as a member of KDDI's iida designer series, which means that if you're outside Japan, your odds of getting in on it are precisely zero.

NTT DoCoMo might just enter the US cellphone market, MVNO graveyard wishes it luck

by Darren Murph posted Sep 6th 2009 @ 10:08AM

If you've paid any attention whatsoever to the goings-on in the American cellphone market, you'd know that ponying up the dough to start an MVNO here is probably not your best shot at striking it rich. One after another has fallen flat, even ones that had millions (and millions) in marketing dollars behind 'em. That said, Japan's own NTT DoCoMo is mulling the possibility of fully entering the US cell market next year, offering up smartphones and "other high-performance handsets with its i-mode mobile internet service." We're told that the operator may start as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), leasing capacity from T-Mobile USA or AT&T until it decides on its next move. Call us crazy, but we're guessing it just might have a shot here on US soil if it snags the iPhone, enables all those 3G services that have been running for years on other platforms and only charges one (as opposed to three or four) human limbs for a monthly plan.

[Thanks, shinbunboi]

NEC rumored to want in on Casio Hitachi joint venture

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 28th 2009 @ 7:49AM

The big rumor out of Japan today has NEC locked in heated negotiations with existing joint venture Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications to add itself into the mix -- a JV that's currently a 51 / 49 percent ownership split between Casio and Hitachi, respectively -- with NEC wanting to pick up a total of 50 percent of the combined operation. Japan's one of the more competitive, low-margin mobile markets in the world (just ask Mitsubishi) so it makes sense that a lot of these guys would be looking to consolidate and work on their sourcing scales of economy; if it happens, the rumor has the deal targeted for an April 2010 close that would make the combined operation the second-largest in the market at 20 percent share behind Sharp at 23 percent. Does this mean they'll be more friendly toward the crazy idea of wide-scale North American launches, by chance? Please?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Plucky little iPhone 3GS confounds expectations, tops Japanese sales for July

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 17th 2009 @ 7:34PM

Well, look at that: The iPhone 3GS 32GB was the best-selling phone in Japan for the month of July, according to a survey being reported by a number of sites, including Electronista and Mainichi Daily News. Not bad for a handset that doesn't even support 1seg TV, huh? Trailing behind the aforementioned handset at number nine (and the only other American model to make the top ten) is a little something called the iPhone 3GS 16GB. Of course, the mobile market in Japan features plenty of virtually identical phones that manufacturers assign different model numbers to, depending on carrier -- so we're going to take this with a grain of salt. But still, we have to wonder what, exactly, to attribute Apple's new found Japanese popularity to. Maybe it's because they got the phone a mere month after the Stateside 3GS launch, while the hype machine was still in motion? Or maybe someone juked the stats? We can't be sure just yet, but we do have the top ten for you -- in handy list form -- after the break.

[Via Electronista]

Continue reading Plucky little iPhone 3GS confounds expectations, tops Japanese sales for July

I-O Data's SEG Clip brings 1seg mobile TV to iPhone and PC

by Darren Murph posted Aug 10th 2009 @ 4:18AM

Softbank's own 1seg tuner / battery charger was a novel idea, but leave it to trained assassins at I-O Data to really expound upon the concept and concoct something nearly worthy of relocating to Tokyo for. The new GV-SC310 SEG Clip is a relatively vanilla USB 1seg TV tuner that plugs into one's PC in order to pull down some of Japan's finest OTA programming. Once captured, users with an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPod touch can download a TVPlayer app (shown after the break) that enables them to wirelessly watch whatever content they've stored. Think of it as TiVo for your iPhone, but only for those lucky enough to live in the Land of the Rising Sun. Not too shabby for ¥6,615 ($68), huh?

[Via Akihabara News]

Read - I-O Data press release
Read - Hands-on

Continue reading I-O Data's SEG Clip brings 1seg mobile TV to iPhone and PC

eMobile claims it has Japan's first commercial HSPA+ network

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 6th 2009 @ 12:41AM

How many Japanese carriers would have guessed already have 100 percent HSPA+ coverage? 3? 5? 17? Believe it or not, the answer was a big, fat goose egg until up-and-comer eMobile stepped up to the plate and upgraded its back end in recent days. Customers with properly-equipped hardware are now cruising along at up to 21Mbps (well, theoretically, anyhow), which should be more than enough to take 'em into the LTE-based next phase of their plans for world domination. It's said that since garnering its spectrum license back in 2005, eMobile has already managed to capture some 15 percent of Japan's HSPA market -- an impressive stat, considering they've got to go head-to-head with giants NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank Mobile -- and HSPA+ certainly won't hurt their cause.

Hitachi's 720p Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo now shipping in Japan

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 31st 2009 @ 2:52PM

If you're more concerned about your ability to record stunning high-definition video on the road than you are about your ability to comfortably and conveniently say the name of your phone, look no further than the latest model in Hitachi's Wooo series over in Japan. Announced earlier in the year, the Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo stands starkly as one of the longest, most unfortunate model names in phone history, but we suspect that the presence of 30fps 720p recording will quickly allay any disappointment you may have with branding. Anyhow, it's finally available now on KDDI au, the country's big CDMA provider -- so go on, show us what sort of Oscar-caliber stuff you can cook up.

ZTE shows off recent smartphones at Wireless Japan

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 23rd 2009 @ 11:14AM

China's ZTE is still sticking to the low end in North America, but in its home country, the manufacturer is a huge player. Evidence of that lies strewn about ZTE's booth at Wireless Japan this week, where it's showing a pair of WinMo devices plus a Linux-based model that look ripe to compete with some of the best in the world. First up, the RAISE and XIANG do WinMo and HSPA for China Unicom's Wo network, rocking 5 and 3.2 megapixel cameras, respectively. The D820 reps the open-source world (though we're not sure what kind of Linux distro is running on it -- it's not Android, if we had to guess) and runs CDMA with WiFi, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. We're not sure if ZTE is using phones like these as warmups for more global launches, but given what we're seeing here -- and the low price points they're likely looking to hit -- we're all for it.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

NTT DoCoMo succumbs to the solar trend, announces Sharp's SH-08A

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 15th 2009 @ 1:04PM

For Sharp's domestic carrier partners, solar power is all the rage right now, and now NTT DoCoMo is hopping up on the exceptionally eco-friendly bandwagon with the SH-08A. Bearing the same SOLAR HYBRID badging as its sister device on SoftBank, the 936SH, the SH-08A flip features IPX5 / IPX7 compliance for splashes and submersion up to a meter, an 8 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, and -- of course -- a wide VGA display. You'll get one minute of talk time for every 10 minutes of time spent baking in the sun, which certainly isn't bad when you're in a pinch and there's not a wall outlet for miles. The SH-08A will go on display at Wireless Japan this month with sales following on in September.

Japan's networks buckling under data strain, culprit is exactly what you think

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 11th 2009 @ 4:09PM

The saturation of high-speed networks is a virtually inevitable side-effect of compatible hardware becoming cheaper and more capable; Japan's been trekking in that direction longer than anyone, and it seems that they're nearing the breaking point. The problem's exacerbated by the fact that truly unlimited usage plans are still available over there -- we bet that doesn't last much longer -- but what's everyone downloading? Porn, of course. All of the local carriers are either clamping down on the heaviest downloaders or are considering doing so; some of the larger content providers say they're signing up over a thousand new users a day, and when you consider that many Japanese are using their phones exclusively for personal internet access, it doesn't take much work to connect the dots. Can't someone please, like, invent more spectrum space?

[Thanks, Will]

NTT DoCoMo boosts its femtocell with HSPA support for fall launch

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 11:03AM

In these United States, honest, hard-working Americans aren't asking for much -- all they really want out of life is the right to bear 7.62mm tracer ammunition, the right to patronize 24-hour burger joints, and the inalienable, immutable right to a 3G femtocell in every home. Unfortunately, T-Mobile's gone its own way with the whole UMA thing and AT&T's dragging its feet, but over in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has just announced its second-generation device, the simply (but accurately) named Enhanced Femtocell Base Station. While the outgoing model topped out at 3.6Mbps on the downlink and a measly UMTS-capped 384kbps on the uplink, the enhanced station supports full HSPA -- 14Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up (though the carrier warns that HSUPA isn't deployed just yet). It's not just about speed, though -- the new gear also supports interesting new services, including the ability to notify users when other users (for example, children) have entered the base station's range and reception of time- and location-sensitive coupons directly to phones presently attached to the cell. All this action fits into a sexy little box 5mm thinner than the version it replaces, though customers will have to wait until this fall for a retail launch.