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music

KDDI Opens Hip Harajuku Design Studio

Harajuku Design StudioKDDI has opened an Alpha Pup playland for its mobile universe right in the heart of Tokyo fashion central — Harajuku. Five floors of interactive phones and games, KDDI Designing Studio sits strategically at the mouth of Takeshita Dori at one of the area’s busiest intersections.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony on 3 March, we listened to KDDI’s President Tadashi Onodera describing the strategy behind the choice of locations, saying the company has to synch with the needs and wants of its customers and their changing lifestyles: “It is Harajuku that draws the opinion leaders of Japan’s youth culture.” Youth culture is a prime focus for Japan’s top 3G provider. Their Chaku Uta Full music download system and EZ Game Street mobile gaming portal are exactly what the pediatrician ordered for young mobile slackers looking for portable fun. The company hopes a flood of trendy pop princes and princesses will wash through Designing Studio’s sliding glass doors, reaching out for KDDI’s cutting-edge techno fun as they flow on through.

Walkman Cell Phone Announced

Sony Ericsson today kick-started its entry into the mobile music market with the announcement of the W800 [ .jpg image ], the first Walkman-branded mobile phone. It will now be possible to listen to music, handle phone calls and take pictures and video — all with one device and with, according to company claims, no compromise in quality. The Sony Ericsson W800 is the first device that combines a mobile phone, a high-quality digital music player (with up to 30 hours’ battery life), and a 2-megapixel camera.

Toshiba Fuel Cell Officially Certified as World's Smallest by Guinness

Toshiba Corporation, the world leader in fuel-cell technology for handheld electronic devices, today announced that Guinness World Records has officially certified its highly compact direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) as the world’s smallest DMFC. The fuel cell will feature in the 2006 edition of Guinness World Records, the perennially popular compendium of record-breaking feats and achievements. Designed for integration into devices as small as digital music players, Toshiba’s DMFC is as long and wide as a thumb, only 22 x 56 x 4.5mm ( maximum of 9.1mm with fuel tank ). This size advantage offers greater design freedom to developers of handheld electronic devices, without any compromises in performance. Although small enough for integration into a wireless headset for mobile phones, the prototype is efficient enough to power an MP3 music player for as long as 20 hours on a single 2cc charge of highly concentrated methanol.

Sprint and Sanyo Introduce the MM-5600 Mobile Phone

Sprint and Sanyo announced today the Sprint PCS Vision(SM) Multimedia Phone MM-5600 by Sanyo at this year’s Photo Marketing Association Annual Convention and Trade Show. The MM-5600 by Sanyo allows customers to listen to stereo-quality music; take, share and print quality photos; and view the latest video content from nationally recognized brands in the news and entertainment industry at up to 15 frames per second with the built-in media player, all from a single device.

Sony Ericsson V800 awarded ''Best 3G Handset''

The Sony Ericsson V800 camera phone was awarded the prestigious award for ?Best 3G Handset” during the GSM Association?s 2005 Awards evening at the 3GSM World Congress. The Sony Ericsson V800 was called the first true convergence handset in the world when announced in 2004. It can access 3G services all around the world and is sold in Europe (as V800) and also in Japan (as Vodafone 802SE). This is the second year in a row that Sony Ericsson has taken home a product award; in 2004 the T610 was awarded “Best handset, terminal or device”.

NEC to Demonstrate Next-generation HSDPA Network at 3GSM 2005

NEC announced that it has realized a total solution for advanced mobile networks boasting interoperation of HSDPA, advanced packet core, and IMS, representing its first step toward the realization of a next-generation network with an converged fixed/mobile environment. “NEC is ready to provide a total solution composed of a 3G advanced packet core, a HSDPA radio network, IMS, and other related applications to commercial services.” said Katsuhiro Nakagawa, Associate Senior Vice President of NEC Corporation. For more information regarding NEC’s activities at 3GSM, please visit: http://www.nec-3gsm.com