NEC Electronics Corp. and its subsidiaries in the US and Europe today introduced the industry’s first Pseudo Static Random Access Memory (PSRAM) device [.jpg] designed in accordance with the Common Specifications for Mobile RAM (COSMORAM) Rev. 3, a memory interface standard developed and promoted jointly by Toshiba, Fujitsu, and NEC Electronics for the mobile handset market.
Love comes to the really, really small screen in a mobile, only-in-Japan, soap opera made exclusively for KDDI 3G cellys. The live-action soap opera, Yokohama 80s, follows the predictable lives, loves, and losses of young, beach-loving Japanese boys and girls back when Madonna was still Like a Virgin. Eighties’ big hair, big shoulders, and big hits have been downsized to tiny, two-and-a-half-minute broadcast bites. The story is adapted from Shogakan Shukan’s weekly Big Comic Spirits-series “Tokyo Eighties” (published as a serial manga) but features all-new original characters and storylines by the same author. Can the mobile laundry soap commercials be far behind?
KDDI brings a cool synchronicity of art and technology to a new mobile handset, the Talby. Conceptualized by acclaimed Australian designer Marc Newson, it weighs in at just 79 grams and a mere 13 mm thick. Though you might readily file it with other vanity handsets, it’s not just a pretty face. Arguably the lightest handset yet (except perhaps for DoCoMo’s tiny Premini at 69 grams but we’re talking about cell phones you can actually use), its ultra-slim, ultra-flat design is achieved in part by placing the antenna internally.
Talby also has a high-resolution QVGA LCD screen, Flash, 2-D barcode reader, camera, is compatible with KDDI’s EZAppli BREW applications and their advanced EZNavi Walk navigation system, plus other bells and whistles — but the “phone as fashion accessory” is definitely part of the message here.
Sharp will begin marketing November 10 the latest model in the Personal Mobile Tool Zaurus series of PDAs. The SL-C3000 PDA [.jpg image] is the first in the industry to feature a built-in 4GB hard drive to enable users to carry large-volume data such as business documents, photo images, music and video. It can also be doubled as an external hard drive when linked to a PC via a bundled USB cable.
Watch out, iPod! The hottest mobile news on planet Earth this week is KDDI’s announcement of a full-song mobile download service for 3G. If the service launches as planned, the profits could be enormous for carriers and labels alike. But all is not well in Japan’s mobile music land and those pesky FTC raids are just part of the worry.Part 1 of a Series.
WWJ Editors, 14 October 2004
Casio has
