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SONY Announces Commercialization of Ultra-small Digital Tuner

Sony Corporation introduces a small-size digital tuner module, capable of receiving 1-segment digital terrestrial TV broadcasting signal and digital terrestrial radio broadcasting signal, its sample shipment starting in the beginning of December this year. In order to achieve applications into various mobile products, the industry’s smallest size of approx. 20mm x 16mm x 2mm in external dimension and the industry’s lowest power consumption of less than 150mW have been achieved.

Test Drive on Sharp's J-SH53 Handset

Test Drive on Sharp's J-SH53 HandsetTake a 2 hour trip to Tokyo – compressed into a 3 minute time lapse – and check out Vodafone’s answer to the 505i series. Boasting a 256k capable java appli that makes the ’53 a perfect gaming device, its little wonder that companies like Namco and Taito have lined up some great content for the early adopters. Perhaps most impressive was how clean the 3D Polygon graphics look on that QVGA screen, pardon us for almost forgetting this unit was also the first mega-pixel camera phone on the market to boot. Its not all just games either, a couple of sexy voice recognition functions are on tap in this demo as well, so buckle up for a great ride..!! Full Program Run-time 19:57

WPC Expo 2003: 1st FOMA Intl. Video Call – DoCoMo Finally in the Drivers Seat?

WWJ was busy shooting video at Makahari Messe in Chiba last week, think telematics, wristphones and international FOMA videoconferencing. But enough teasing: The news we didn’t see elsewhere about the show was that DoCoMo, is – finally – taking telematics seriously, as we found in a quick interview with Hidenori Obara of DoCoMo’s ITS Business Promotion Office. Obara admitted that DoCoMo is “behind” KDDI, with the latter pushing all sorts of mobile-WLAN technologies to potentially hook into a slab of Japan’s 12.3 million in-auto car navigation (car nabi) systems. In a separate development, we heard that Seiko is adding a color screen, but not a camera function, on its Wristomo PHS phone. Unsurprisingly, they are not planning to mount a CCD chip because it’ll make the wearers’ wrist limp from the extra weight, and the extra battery power needed might be another issue. Tune in next week and see it all for yourself when we show FOMA’s first international video call, chat with DoCoMo’s Mariko Hanaoka, and get a peek at Panasonic’s next killer app. for camera phones everywhere!!

NEC to Launch New Mobile Platform

NEC Corporation announced that it has realized an advanced new telecom platform. The first product based on the new platform for mobile operators are new SGSN and GGSN, a packet core node which can handle large-volume IP packet transmission applications such as video streaming and GPS for 3G services. The new platform is the world’s first working model of an Advanced-TCA(TM) (ATCA) based commercial product.

DoCoMo Press Conference: Exclusive Access

DoCoMo Press Conference: Exclusive AccessOn Sept. 4th WWJ attended the Otemachi Corporate News Room for a press conference hosted by DoCoMo President and CEO Dr. Keiji Tachikawa. He covered a wide range of topics including; a new carry-over billing plan and upgraded service offerings for FOMA, brisk sales – 2.7 million units – of the recently launched 505 series handsets and the new ‘Hearty Style’ campaign package for handicapped users. He also took questions regarding their current and upcoming 3G activities in China and Taiwan, and offered his personal thoughts on the differing strategies between DoCoMo and Vodafone. If you need the full-skinny, in English, we’re the only game in town! Full Program Run-time 21:19