New Prototypes, Gadgets And Devices From CEATE 79
Nooper writes: "This years CEATEC 2001 features a bunch of new wireless gadgets accompanying DoCoMo's 3G (FOMA) launch." Check out the cute pictures -- in their "Showcase of Japanese Keitai (mobile phone) Culture you can find 72 free to use photos from this years CEATEC. We even made a special gallery with the integrated camera of our new FOMA phone." Phones in the U.S. look like such monsters in comparison.
Wireless Tentacle (Score:1, Flamebait)
Small phones (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Small phones (Score:2, Funny)
You know you're probably getting blank stares right now because I imagine a lot of the Slashdot `community' is the calculator watch crowd. Honestly I find calculator watches absolutely hilarious.
"The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now."
Re:Small phones (Score:1)
Re:Pagers and cell phones (Score:1)
Re:Small phones (Score:3, Insightful)
This makes people think THEY HAVE TO SHOUT LOUDER on their phone to be heard. Man, that drives me mad! I have to fight off the impulse to explain that the recipient of the call is also using a phone, and shouting really isn't necessary.
Tom.
Re:Small phones (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Small phones (Score:1)
Bleah (Score:3, Funny)
this one slipped through the cracks (Score:1)
Not sure this was worthy front page material for slashdot.
What is the used electronics market like? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What is the used electronics market like? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What is the used electronics market like? (Score:2)
"And I mean really obsolete, as in they just don't work anymore."
No, all phones around the world except for the USA use GSM which is a fixed standard. As long as it is GSM it will work, from brick to matchbox.
Phillip.
Canada... booo (Score:1)
I live in canada, and we are so behind, like we are starting to get GSM, and we have digital, but phones like that wont be here for like another year or so.
Really kinda kills me...
Re:Canada... booo (Score:1)
Oh, and we've had digital for a while now.
G'luck!
Re:Canada... booo (Score:2)
But when I travel home (2 hours outside the city) my digital cell phone cant even get a normal cell signal. Different areas get different coverage based on the demand... rural area = no demand in the eyes of the phone companies.
In Japan there is a huge population in a small area, perfect for rolling out these little high-tech gadgets. Eventually they'll trickle down to North America, but not until they've proven useful over large geographic expanses.
Re:Canada... booo (Score:1)
We also have 10,000,000 sq. KM of territory which is why the major carriers are apprehensive about jumping on a new technology that might only be a stop-gap for two years when you have to do it all again (As opposed to say Japan or other small Asian countries where it is much, much easier to upgrade the infrastructure to support whatever is new). Having said that here in the Greater Toronto Area we've had digital as long as the US has. The one thing we didn't get due to arguments between the various carriers was CDPD, but alas.
Anyways pretty soon, as guaranteed by some terrorists, Canada and the US will be in an EU type union so we're going to further integrate common technologies.
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:2, Insightful)
Instead of writing crap like this [ in like 4 threads now ] why don't you spend your energy making your society stronger and more productive. This would go much further in accomplishing your "stated" ( and I doubt true ) goals.
Do you have a level of conviction which would allow you to die for what you believe in? If so, please remember you live in a country where you are free to do so.
Super phones (Score:1, Interesting)
At the same time there is that private eye/spy aspet to be able to take a quick snapshot with your phone. It would also be great for that kodak moment when you forgot your camera.
Casio Wristcam watch (Score:1, Offtopic)
I posted a picture here [renteria.net] so that you can see the size and quality. Not very good quality-wise, until you consider that it's taken by a watch and that the watch can store 80 pics (and they pics can be beamed to my Palm handheld.)
Re:Casio Wristcam watch (Score:1)
Linux (Score:2, Funny)
(Goodbye, karma)
Tom.
Apples and Oranges (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact is Japanese cell phones can be smaller because their Cell grid is a lot more dense than in North America.
Think about it this way, in Japan almost all the population lives in a small belt of land near the ocean. In North America by comparison people are spread out over vast distances. Cell coverage obviously is going to be substantially different.
You just do not need the tranmitting power in Japan you need in North America. Thus you can make smaller more compact phones.
Re:Apples and Oranges (Score:2, Informative)
I used my Nokia 8210 (which, when in the palm of my hand, I can completely cover by folding in my fingers) in Galipoli, an extremely remote part of Turkey earlier this year. The phone only needs to be recharged every three to four days.
One of the advantages of GSM is that low powered handsets can still operate a long way from a cell site.
Vonnegut? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think they're going to have to rename this if they bring it to the states.
Neutron
One of the rejected alternatives: (Score:1)
Small bad. Big good. (Score:2)
Yes, it's big and chunky, but open it up, and you have a PDA inside running EPOC, with a web browser, WAP, e-mail, SMS, and even a Java virtual machine, all with wireless access to the 'net.
And it still fits in my pocket. Lovely.
Does more than that! (Score:2)
It also runs Office too, so you can edit your Word documents or run Powerpoint presentations on your mobile full colour (4096 cols). Also has a Lotus/Outlook compatiable calendar. Quite an amazing little phone. Also supports HSCSD or 43.2kbps modem for fast 'net access. Plays video and wavs. My brother has one and I can tell you the games are pretty cool too :-)
Phillip.
All I want is (Score:3, Funny)
PHONE
!ready!
Email Dave
!send email to dave!
Hey Dave - meet in Prince of Wales at 7 OK!
SEND
!email sent - I love you!
and the phone emails dave! and the email goes to his phone or voice or whetever he has set up. I could use that SO often!
Japanese vs. US wireless markets (Score:4, Informative)
For instance, while walking down the street, the number of people I saw talking on a cell phone was significantly less than the number of people I saw playing games on their cell phones or simply picking them up and checking them periodically to show them off (well, I guess they could have been receiving text messages as that is hugely popular.)
When visiting several large electronics stores, at first I noticed that the sheer number of cell phones was astouding and then quickly realized that there weren't a huge number of cell phones, there were a huge number of styles of cell phones. Given their relatively cheap price (toy phones here cost more), every teenage girl and guy I saw had one and it was really a fashion statement. Three shades of pink with various color antenna ringer lights, huge numbers of patterns were what drew people to buy them.
When it comes to actual technology of the cell phone, there is no doubt that the Japanese phones have significantly more features (and most not in any way shape or form related to using it as a communications device), but they weren't really all that small. Large color screens were more important than small size, so for instance, the Motorola V. series and the Nokia 8900 series are much smaller than most of the phones I saw.
I have to say that I don't believe the same thing will really ever happen in the US. When I walked into a store (well... most cell phones are sold at street level so you rarely have to walk "in"), there were boxes filled to the brim with last years cell phones that people would throw away when they bought a new one and I can't see the average American consumer buying a new cell phone because it comes in a new color or can store 32 randomized wallpapper styles rather than 16. The lifetime of a cell phone in the US just appears to be significantly longer.
Sevice providers also have a hand to play in keeping the variety of phones out. In Japan, as far as I can tell... there is basically one cell phone provider, NTT DoCoMo. In comparison, in the US there dozens operating on multiple frequency bands, multiple standards (AMPS, TDMA, GSM*, CDMA, PCS, iDEN) each having different CODECs based on service provider plus proprietary modifications to protocols and every change affects battery life and features available.
I really wish the FCC would restructure the frequency band allocations so that all cell phone providers would at the very least use one band. Of course, they couldn't use AMPS and TDMA in this case without significant interoperability between providers, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice
Nokia 8900 series (Score:1)