keitai · 2003-11-16 12:46
Whenever you think mobile phones are getting a bit boring, or you want to see the possibilities, or what’s going to happen in the next few years, there’s only one place to look: Japan. About a year ago, it seemed we were catching up in Europe – colour screens, cameras, proper Internet access, open OS – but never take your eye off the competition, as they’re busting out with new features, bad, mad and crazy.
The biggest difference in ergonomics is flip phones compared to our candybars – there are candybar phones in Japan, but they are big and ugly compared to the flips. The flip format allows some nifty features, such as a second screen. These are now as colourful and good quality as the main screen, are on all the time (unlike the idle screens on UK colour phones), and you can download programs to run on the outside screen. These displays show everything from the time, to your last mail, to information downloaded from the net.
The main displays are high quality, getting bigger with better resolution. The latest craze are 3d displays.
Japan led the introduction of camera phones (especially j-phone, now Vodafone). Resolution has now increased to over 1.3 megapixels (2mp is coming very soon). The flip format means some phones have two cameras, often at different resolutions, and also with different focus – the inside one is perfect for portraits, the outside good for landscapes. The latest cameras have proper auto-focus and high quality lenses. Image editing, storing, organizing and sending functionality is well developed.
For the late night picturetaker, several handsets offer a picture light (like a wimpy flash), and a few let you colour the light, rather like the Lomo Coloursplash. From the brochure for the SH251iS (the naming and numbering of Japanese phones is a fun topic in itself):
There are some innovations in interaction as well. Sony have incorporated a signature scroll wheel into new phones, but other manufacturers have their own variations – 360° control is growing in popularity, with the wonderfully named Neuropointer, and the Roll Navi trackball.
Additional input mechanisms are becoming popular. Several handsets can read URLs from posters and magazines, and some read barcodes. This handset needs a little lens clipped over its camera:
One phone has a fingerprint reader for added security.
Multitasking is becoming possible, allowing access to schedules, address books, and i-mode whilst talking. One implementation of this is the task key:
Location services have always been big in Japan: a lack of a useful addressing system for navigation means maps and directions are a neccessity. i-mode has offered location services for a long time, but now phones are starting to have GPS built in (I think it is actually AGPS) – NTTDoCoMo offered the F661i for a time, but the leaders are KDDI, who offer 8 phones with EZNavi capability. This service has been upgraded recently to EZNavi Walk, with improved location finding and walking directions. I suspect that only the KDDI AU network has AGPS-enabled base stations. I think some of the handsets include electronic compass capability as well, allowing maps to be rotated to your direction, but I haven’t got far enough in deciphering the Japanese. One of the greatest things in all these services is the easy emailing of a position or a map to someone.
Several features are becoming standard, mainly because of standardisation by the providers – for example the NTTDoCoMo 505i series offers Flash support, IR remote control of appliances (with i-mode integration, which means online TV listing services can program the video for you), a memory slot (normally Memory Stick Duo or miniSD), and i-appli dx, allowing applications to be written in Flash rather than Java, and easy programmatic access to the phone book, your messages, and to fetch information from the Internet. The newest range, 505iS, offers barcode reading and group chat as well.
It’s good to see that it isn’t just hyper-connected phones that are being produced. There are several niche products, both for types of people and specific uses.
The F671i has some very user-centric features: large characters, large keys, simple menu, read-aloud function and 3 speeddial buttons when closed. It’s not patronizing, it’s not dumbed down, but is designed for a target market, and to do a few particular jobs very well. The closest to the mythical one-button phone I’ve seen (Xelibris don’t count). An updated version of the phone, the F671iS, has great on-screen visual instructions to help you along.
Characters are strong – many phones offer the ability to change the UI, with cartoon characters delivering your mail and giving you alerts – Disney, Toro, and Winnie the Pooh are offered on different handsets.
Sony have taken this a stage further with the PostPet, a networked version of the keitai pet. If you send a mail to a compatible handset, your pet will deliver the mail on their phone!
There are phones for audiophiles – several contain stereo speakers, but the SO502iWM has optical digital and analogue terminals to let you record in high quality onto a Memory Stick from a CD player. It looks like a phone, but its key strength is music.
Those wanting better Internet access have a Communicator-style handset with full keyboard, the SH2101, which reminds me of a Sony PEG-UX50 with a phone built in. There’s also a 3G access point that can plug into your home computer network for instant Internet access, and also replace your home fixed phone. I’ve often touted a 3G to wi-fi access point as a potential killer device.
I can’t claim this overview to be complete, or accurate. I don’t use any of these handsets, or live in Japan. Any comments and additions very welcome.