Year: <span>2004</span>
Year: 2004

Year: 2004

GPS Phones: Disaster Data Source

The combination of terrestrial digital broadcasting and mobile phone technology is what the developers want to be used for sending evacuation orders and alarm information to people during large-scale disasters. KDDI Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. are jointly developing a terminal equipped with GPS, while various levels of government are paying keen attention to that possibility. KDDI and NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. are in the final stage of development to lead the industry, services to mobile phone are scheduled to begin during fiscal 2005.

Dilithium Networks' AnswerFast™ Plus Reduces 3G Video Call Set-up

Dilithium Networks, the leader in 3G video telephony solutions for the world’s mobile and broadband industries, announced today that it has successfully demonstrated its new AnswerFastTM Plus technology, over live 3G networks in the UK and Australia. With AnswerFastTM Plus, Dilithium Networks successfully demonstrated that video calls can be set up in less than 1 second, resulting in call setup times that are comparable to those of voice calls. Present 3G terminals typically take 6-10 seconds to completely establish the audio and video channels.

TCL Buys NetFront for BREW

ACCESS has announced that TCL Mobile Communications, China’s second largest cellphone maker, has adopted ACCESS’s browser NetFront for its TCL1688 handset, the first BREW mobile phone released in China. The TCL1688 is supplied to China Unicom. Used widely worldwide in digital consumer appliances, NetFront supports WML, HTML, cHTML, and WAP2.0.

Moment of Truth Looms for 3G

Since October 2001, when DoCoMo turned on its 3G network, the company’s revenue from data services has risen 27.9 percent, with customers now spending 1,970 yen, or $18.69, a month on average. Data now makes up nearly one-quarter of DoCoMo customers’ monthly bills. But the extra sales did not make up for the decline in revenue from voice calls over that period. As a result, overall spending by DoCoMo customers has fallen 6.9 percent in the past three years.

Sony's Newest Aibo Dances to a Wireless Beat

Sony's Newest Aibo Dances to a Wireless BeatSony’s new-wave handheld PSP game device breaks on Japanese shores 12 December, see the WWJ video here. Unfortunately, anyone beyond the Land of the Rising Sun will have to wait until March (maybe) to get their hands on one. Those with a wad of yen (dollars or Euros) to spend, though, can plunk it down right now on another Sony entertainment gizmo — one that sits on your lap instead of in your palm. Enhanced wireless connections have Sony’s newest version of their PC pooch Aibo sitting up and playing music, taking photos and dancing to a wireless beat.

Admittedly, ‘Robot as Pet’ is still a difficult concept to get around. Sure, some people prefer the touch of cold, hard metal on their skin rather than fluffy fur — but generally they don’t answer to the name ‘Pet Lover.’ (Though they may follow similar commands, “Sit! Beg!”) Even Sony seemed to realize their dog ‘bot needed more to justify its high price than just playing fetch and lurching slowly (very slowly) after its little plastic ball. The company has redesigned and repositioned the shiny ERS M2 version of Aibo as an enhanced audiovisual machine.

KDDI Unveils MS Wi-Fi Phone

KDDI and Fujistu have introduced a prototype smart phone, or “hybrid information terminal,” that will be available to visitors attending the Aichi World Expo 2005, which begins here in March and runs through to the end of September. The ‘Love and Mate’ [.jpg] (yes, that’s what they’re calling it) handset comes in Orange and Blue; both feature Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for PocketPC software for PDA and phone operation, and Windows Media Player 9. This is one of the first deployments of Windows on a phone in Japan.