Year: <span>2005</span>
Year: 2005

Year: 2005

Vodafone's New V804SH 3G Phone

Vodafone K.K. have just announced completed development of the Vodafone 804SH [ .jpg image ], a new 3G model by Sharp, which will be marketed in Japan from mid-January 2006. The 804SH is the second handset which will include the Mobile Wallet (“Osaifu-Keitai”)-compatible function with an embedded Mobile FeliCa smartcard to support the ‘Vodafone live! FeliCa’ service, which lets customers use their handsets in ways relevant to their daily lives such as for transportation ticketing, electronic money shopping and point card services. The 804SH is also Vodafone K.K.’s first 3G handset to feature a Motion Control Sensor that responds to movements, thus enabling customers to enjoy new virtual gaming experiences by moving the handset in corresponding directions.

Finding the Camera Phone Creator

Back in July of this year, analyst Jon Peddie was on a mission to find the inventor of the camera phone — a product category that is responsible for a significant portion of the current mobile phone boom. Peddie found the first camera phone, but couldn’t identify the precise inventor, and wasn’t sure if there even was a single person who could be found. TG Daily picked up where Peddie left off — and got lucky in Japan. (Seems it was not Sharp’s J-SH04 after all! — Ed.)

Starhub's EASi-Mode for Singapore

Even before its official launch, StarHub’s i-mode has more than 50 content providers on board. The list includes MediaCorp TV, MTV, OCBC Bank, Yahoo!, Far East Flora and Zuji Singapore. StarHub hopes to attract 50,000 users within the first year, but i-mode is a unique proposition. The service requires i-mode compatible phones from the likes of Samsung and NEC, so you cannot use other 2G or 3G handsets to access the service. StarHub will reveal full details to the press tomorrow.

Web Update: 18 Nov. DoCoMo PR confirms.

IC Tag Child Protection Service

NTT DATA Corporation, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., its communications Inc., Tokyu Security Co., Ltd., and TRENDY Corporation announced that they have developed an expanded IC tag ‘i-safety’ Service that is expected to help reduce traffic accidents involving children, in addition to help protect them from crime. The expanded service, which is still in the experimental stage, alerts drivers to the presence of children in the vicinity thanks to a voice-recording from an electronic information device in the car that warns ‘Children nearby. Please be careful.’

Japan Gets 2nd Chance at Global Market

They have full-fledged Web browsers, and they even have fingerprint readers and cameras with face-recognition software that locks up a phone if an unwanted stranger tries to use it. Interested in getting one? Good luck. You essentially can’t buy one outside Japan.

Editor’s comment: This article is a good review of why Japan keitai are the world’s best, underscoring Editor-in-Chief Daniel Scuka’s comments earlier this week in the WWJ newsletter (click here to subscribe for free).

NEC Electronics Announces World's First Implementation of Mobile CMADS

NEC Electronics has announced that its uPD161833M and uPD161605M LCD driver ICs, based on its Mobile CMADSTM (Current Mode Advanced Digital Signaling) high-speed serial data transmission method, will be employed in select NEC mobile handsets from the fall of 2005. This marks the first successful implementation of cutting-edge display drivers with integrated receiver circuits, as well as the first use of NEC Electronics’ Mobile CMADS technology, designed to enhance data transmission speed, performance, and mobile handset design.