Sony will soon commercialize the BTF-ZK48X [.jpg image] a postal stamp-size, miniature TV tuner module with a built-in FM tuner. The device consumes 0.63W, 20% less than its predecessors, and is designed for use in cellphones and other mobile devices. The product supports both terrestrial TV and FM signal reception at a signal-to-noise ratio of 47dB.
Digital Satellite TV provider SKY Perfect Communications and NTT DoCoMo announced that the two companies have agreed to jointly field test mobile video-clip streaming services and program-related information services by integrating the 3G FOMA and SKY PerfecTV! networks. The test is scheduled from June 15, 2004 to November 30, 2004 in Japan.
The Tokyo Business Show 2004 opened yesterday with a light show and pounding music that highlighted Vodafone on center stage. They have taken a beating in the marketplace — and the press — lately over the lack of new handsets, but here are 5 fresh-for-summer models that should make the critics, and customers, take notice. The V602SH from Sharp would seem to be pick of the litter with its industry-first, 2x-optical-zoom camera and huge, swivel-style LCD screen. The sleeper surprise unit, upon closer inspection, has to be the V401D from Mitsubishi with its Super-CCD Honeycomb 2-megapixel camera and — another industry first — a side-mounted finger tracing control feature to operate screen scrolling and camera zoom!!! We were in for another treat afterwards wandering by the DoCoMo booth to see they had just rolled-out the new micro-mini Premini by Sony Ericsson. If you couldn’t make it out to Tokyo Big Sight in person then we hope you’ll enjoy this quick video clip from our adventure. Program
Vodafone K.K. announced it has jointly developed a contactless interface prototype mobile handset with Sharp Corporation that is compatible with smart card-embedded flash memory cards. This prototype’s contactless communication is made possible by inserting a smart card-embedded flash memory card into the handset’s memory card slot.
Sharp Electronics, in partnership with Instant802 Networks, has just released the Galileo Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with wireless 802.11g video distribution technology in Japan. It has the ability to communicate and serve up video, photos, music, or any type of file on its hard drive to just about any Web enabled PC, PDA, or Cellphone.
Due on the street in Japan this June, we think this could turn out to be a very disruptive technology for digital broadcasters. Japanese firm Solid Alliance, in partnership with Mitsubishi Plastics, Media Ring, and Connect Technologies, has come up with a little pyramidal device [.jpg image] that hooks up to your TV and records video in 3GPP format onto an SD or miniSD card for playback on a cellphone. Two hours’ worth of programming will fit on a 128-megabyte card, and can be played back on any of DoCoMo’s recent FOMA phones or most of the newer Vodafone handsets.
