DoCoMo mention:
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<<In Japan, the cellular phone, or keitai denwa, has quickly worked its way into the heart of the culture. Everyone--businesspeople, homemakers, even high school students--carries a phone. When people meet, phone numbers are typically exchanged; people carry on conversations with faraway friends while riding their bicycles to work. Some herald it as a new age of communication, while others see the country drowning in noise. In any case, chances are good that you've never seen phones like these--they're packed with features and are a fraction of the size of American phones.
Phones are produced by a number of big-name Japanese electronics firms, such as Tu-Ka, J-Phone, and NTT DoCoMo (short for "Do Communicate over the Mobile Network"), and each phone is customized for a specific cellular service company. Almost all phones are digital, resulting in crisp sound quality.
Every keitai denwa has email capabilities, and sending an email from a J-Phone to a DoCoMo phone is cut-and-dried, though a user is limited to using 128 characters, and each email costs five yen (around a nickel). Voicemail can be stored in the phone itself (most come with a megabyte or two of storage space) or at an external location if the phone's turned off. And voice recognition is a common feature, so you can simply bark in your orders. Extra features vary per carrier: J-Phone has a system called Sky Melody, which allows you to download new music that plays when your phone rings (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" was all the rage a few months back).
The extras don't stop there. A lot of companies have implemented miniature Web browsers into their phones, letting you catch up on the local news from anywhere in Japan. There are electronic greeting card services, message boards, and just about anything that can be crammed into a one-inch LCD screen. Tu-Ka recently designed an egg-shaped cellular device for black-and-white videoconferencing between friends.
J-Phone and DoCoMo have unleashed a new lineup of color phones, featuring reflective LCD screens that are capable of displaying 256 colors at once. Popular characters such as Hello Kitty and Tare Panda have been elected as the new mascots of the Technicolor telephones, dancing about the screen to show off the vibrant hues available.
As the wireless Web gains momentum Stateside, U.S. versions of Japan's tiny telephones will likely roll in. The Hello Kitty model, however, may not survive the crossing.>>
Morgan |
