I won't go into all the features, but an example of something I can do on my Sharpe: I flick it to widescreen view, live digital TV and browse the OSD TV guide. There's nothing on I particularly want to see, so I play highlights from the Olympics which I had recorded previously. Whilst watching I receive a mail, so I flick to split-screen view. This give me live TV on the left, and my new message on the right of the screen - instantly. The message is in Japanese and there are 2 Kanji I don't know. So i select the passage and copy it. I then close the mail and switch to my internet bookmarks. I head to excite translator, paste the Kanji and translate it. I flick back to the mail, relpy and return to full-screen TV. All of this is pretty much instant, no lag, no TV break-up, full internet.
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
My example of split-screen TV and email is extreme to be fair, it was more an example of the flexibilty of the OS. It uses an 'alt-tab' style button to switch between 2 open activities or split screen both. The screen is a 3.2 inch Wide-Screen VGA LCD, with Aquos technology and looks gorgeous. Internet is full HTML, but flash doesn't always work and videos are a no-no so far in my experience.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
I really think you are making very pro-iPhone, pro-US comments.
Mobile phone usage in countries like Japan and Korea are very different compared to the US. Some may say much more advanced but I like to say that it's just very different.
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
I agree their are different phones for different people. That's a good thing. The iPhone isn't for everyone, their is nothing wrong with that.
I really think you are making very pro-iPhone, pro-US comments.
Mobile phone usage in countries like Japan and Korea are very different compared to the US. Some may say much more advanced but I like to say that it's just very different.
I can appreciate that. But to some degree real life practicality comes into play.
Quote:
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
Sharp having a 25% share of the mobile phone market in Japan doesn't shock me in the slightest.
The Japanese economy has always leaned towards the xenophobic side of things -- foreign companies, even ones who tailor their business model to Japanese wants/tastes, are always at a gigantic competitive disadvantage in Japan.
The American-made Xbox was a huge dud in Japan as well -- it consistently was the worst seller of any major console for its entire lifecycle and never came close to numbers posted by Japanese competitors Nintendo and Sony.
But then again, Japan is the biggest market for companies like Louis Vuitton! And it's noteworthy enough to Burberry for them to release two Japan-exclusive clothing lineups. Japan was the first non-North American market Apple Stores and Starbucks expanded into. McDonalds outsells native Japanese fast food outlets.
---
To analyze just how successful or unsuccessful the iPhone 3G has been in the Japanese market, let's consider: Have Japanese websites, like Mixi (Japan's Facebook or MySpace) or Mainichi news made iPhone versions of their websites the way CNN has, for example?
The fact Apple didn't drop the 3G name from the iPhone was incredibly naive since every phone has had the capability for a very long time. Moreover, Apple and Softbank are essentially telling people to rearrange their cellphone habits in order to get good use out of it. This isn't practical.
The iPhone's strengths are certainly not a problem! The Safari browser, Youtube, contacts organization, email integration and other applications are welcome features for all users worldwide. But by not including Japan-oriented features, you've essentially alienated this gigantic market. If Apple can special-tailor a Japanese iPhone with infrared-information sharing, wallet functionality, 1SegTV and emoji, then all of the iPhone's strengths and features that set it apart from other phones will become all that much more visible and relevant to the Japanese.
Sir, with all due respect I recommend a trip to Asia and specifically Tokyo. I moved here from London and how different it is here is unimaginable. It will really make you see the world in a whole new way. I don't mean this in a patronising, or pretensious way, I just can't recommend a holiday here enough. You'll love it.
Anyway, one more thing I'd like to point out, is that the screen on my phone is true 16:9 widescreen. At only 3.2 inches it's smaller than the iPhone's, but if you watch a movie on your iphone in 16:9 with borders, I reckon they're about the same. Anyone know for a fact? It's at least much bigger than the screen on the new Nano or iPod Classic, and they're touted as movie watching capable devices.
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
There is no viable business model for mobile tv --- even in Korea and Japan.
Sir, with all due respect I recommend a trip to Asia and specifically Tokyo. I moved here from London and how different it is here is unimaginable. It will really make you see the world in a whole new way. I don't mean this in a patronising, or pretensious way, I just can't recommend a holiday here enough. You'll love it.
I can believe its different I'm not disputing that.
But at the same time as people describe how advanced Japanese mobile technology is. I look at the facts. Japanese phones do not dominate world marketshare. Japanesec-centirc mobile technology or software is not widely adopted around the world.
While phone technology and software from Europe and the US are widely used around the world.
There may be no viable 'business model' for commercial success with mobile TV, but as I'm sure most of those on this site living in Japan will agree, 1-seg is massively popular. The average commuter train home will have 2 or 3 salary men watching the baseball or a cooking show, kids buy 1-seg tuners for their Nintendo DS, you can buy a USB tuner for your Mac and you can even by electronic dictionaries with a full colour screen and 1-seg. The great thing is 1-seg is FREE, you just buy the tuner, or phone and enjoy digital TV at no charge. It's my understanding that this is why (in Japan particularly) companies can't charge for mobile TV.
I had a phone get destroyed once from being in my pocket while I walked somewhere through the rain. I'd guess that water damage due to rain, dropping it in a puddle, etc. is probably one of the most common causes of dead cellphones. Why do you suppose all the phone manufacturers put those "red dot" water damage indicators on the phone?
Getting your phone ruined due to water damage sucks - then you have to either buy a phone at a very expensive unsubsidized price, or you have to go without a phone for up to 2 years while still paying for the service.
If they made waterproof phones stateside, I know I'd consider one.
I can believe its different I'm not disputing that.
But at the same time as people describe how advanced Japanese mobile technology is. I look at the facts. Japanese phones do not dominate world marketshare. Japanesec-centirc mobile technology or software is not widely adopted around the world.
While phone technology and software from Europe and the US are widely used around the world.
OK, I'm sure someone else will provide a much more knowledgable reply, but I'll be the first to point out that Japanese phones are completely different to those used in the rest of the world and will not even work there.
Only recently have Japanese phones incorporated the slower tri-band networks like those used in the USA for Japanese customers who want to roam. In Japan SMS is also a relatively new feature, but only because Japanese phones use EMAIL. True, push email and haven't needed SMS before. Now SMS is a 'free' service that can only be used between same network users.
When I first moved here I was using a non-colour Japanese vodaphone that must have been 10 years old... I couldn't believe it when I realised I could type in a @hotmail.com address directly into the mail and send instant emails and get replies instantly, just like iPhone and Blackberry have now introduced to the rest of the world.
Take Sony Ericsson as a great example. I'm a big fan of Sony's phones in Europe, but over here they're the next level (excluding the upcoming and awesome looking Xperia1). Here they have SONY Bravia technology for 16:9 TV, GPS and whole host of features that simply aren't suitable outside of Japan, such as barcode readers, meishi scanners...
If Japanese Sony phones were available outside of Japan, you wouldn't believe how different and arguable superior they are.
My example of split-screen TV and email is extreme to be fair, it was more an example of the flexibilty of the OS. It uses an 'alt-tab' style button to switch between 2 open activities or split screen both. The screen is a 3.2 inch Wide-Screen VGA LCD, with Aquos technology and looks gorgeous. Internet is full HTML, but flash doesn't always work and videos are a no-no so far in my experience.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
This isn't specific to the iPhone. Battery is quickly drained for all phones that use HSDPA 3G.
I easily get twice the battery life on my Nokia N82 than I do with the iPhone, and this is with wif on constantly, BT running in the background, and a constant connection to a 3G network.
If this screen is typical of the user experience, I am not really impressed.
C.
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
Agreed. Being English I use more this style, but this is a terrible example, you'll have to imagine it on a crisp VGA LCD. This makes it look terrible!
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
But it certainly is not appropriate for English, French, Spanish or any character-based language.
That screen is a good candidate for the least readable display on a mobile device. And it is bizarre that they chose to feature that screen on their website.
That's perhaps why these devices don't seem to do well outside Japan.
Comments
I won't go into all the features, but an example of something I can do on my Sharpe: I flick it to widescreen view, live digital TV and browse the OSD TV guide. There's nothing on I particularly want to see, so I play highlights from the Olympics which I had recorded previously. Whilst watching I receive a mail, so I flick to split-screen view. This give me live TV on the left, and my new message on the right of the screen - instantly. The message is in Japanese and there are 2 Kanji I don't know. So i select the passage and copy it. I then close the mail and switch to my internet bookmarks. I head to excite translator, paste the Kanji and translate it. I flick back to the mail, relpy and return to full-screen TV. All of this is pretty much instant, no lag, no TV break-up, full internet.
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
My example of split-screen TV and email is extreme to be fair, it was more an example of the flexibilty of the OS. It uses an 'alt-tab' style button to switch between 2 open activities or split screen both. The screen is a 3.2 inch Wide-Screen VGA LCD, with Aquos technology and looks gorgeous. Internet is full HTML, but flash doesn't always work and videos are a no-no so far in my experience.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
More information on my phone here: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/product/3g/920sh/
Mobile phone usage in countries like Japan and Korea are very different compared to the US. Some may say much more advanced but I like to say that it's just very different.
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
Not to be insulting but a lot of the technology talked about from the Japanese seems to be technology for the sake of technology. I cannot think of many reasons why I would need to watch video and check email at the same time on a 3 to 4 inch screen.
I am curious about some specifics of your phone. All email is not equal and all video are not equal. Most email clients on phones do not render full HTML like the iPhone. Meaning full graphics, pictures, and text. Video can be highly compressed. I wonder the resolution and bit rate your phone is receiving.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
I agree their are different phones for different people. That's a good thing. The iPhone isn't for everyone, their is nothing wrong with that.
I really think you are making very pro-iPhone, pro-US comments.
Mobile phone usage in countries like Japan and Korea are very different compared to the US. Some may say much more advanced but I like to say that it's just very different.
I can appreciate that. But to some degree real life practicality comes into play.
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
I would be surprised if that were true.
Sharp having a 25% share of the mobile phone market in Japan doesn't shock me in the slightest.
The Japanese economy has always leaned towards the xenophobic side of things -- foreign companies, even ones who tailor their business model to Japanese wants/tastes, are always at a gigantic competitive disadvantage in Japan.
The American-made Xbox was a huge dud in Japan as well -- it consistently was the worst seller of any major console for its entire lifecycle and never came close to numbers posted by Japanese competitors Nintendo and Sony.
But then again, Japan is the biggest market for companies like Louis Vuitton! And it's noteworthy enough to Burberry for them to release two Japan-exclusive clothing lineups. Japan was the first non-North American market Apple Stores and Starbucks expanded into. McDonalds outsells native Japanese fast food outlets.
---
To analyze just how successful or unsuccessful the iPhone 3G has been in the Japanese market, let's consider: Have Japanese websites, like Mixi (Japan's Facebook or MySpace) or Mainichi news made iPhone versions of their websites the way CNN has, for example?
The fact Apple didn't drop the 3G name from the iPhone was incredibly naive since every phone has had the capability for a very long time. Moreover, Apple and Softbank are essentially telling people to rearrange their cellphone habits in order to get good use out of it. This isn't practical.
The iPhone's strengths are certainly not a problem! The Safari browser, Youtube, contacts organization, email integration and other applications are welcome features for all users worldwide. But by not including Japan-oriented features, you've essentially alienated this gigantic market. If Apple can special-tailor a Japanese iPhone with infrared-information sharing, wallet functionality, 1SegTV and emoji, then all of the iPhone's strengths and features that set it apart from other phones will become all that much more visible and relevant to the Japanese.
and who need a waterproof phone?!
with as much rain as we get here in parts of Japan, it actually is a useful idea.
I would be surprised if that were true.
Sir, with all due respect I recommend a trip to Asia and specifically Tokyo. I moved here from London and how different it is here is unimaginable. It will really make you see the world in a whole new way. I don't mean this in a patronising, or pretensious way, I just can't recommend a holiday here enough. You'll love it.
Anyway, one more thing I'd like to point out, is that the screen on my phone is true 16:9 widescreen. At only 3.2 inches it's smaller than the iPhone's, but if you watch a movie on your iphone in 16:9 with borders, I reckon they're about the same. Anyone know for a fact? It's at least much bigger than the screen on the new Nano or iPod Classic, and they're touted as movie watching capable devices.
Who'd want to watch video and check msgs on a 3 to 4 in ch screen, millions of Asians, that's who. And they've been doing most of the stuff we call innovative for years now.
There is no viable business model for mobile tv --- even in Korea and Japan.
http://www.techdigest.tv/2007/10/koreajapan_week_9.html
http://www.telecomasia.net/article.p..._article=10234
The only thing innovative is how they manage to "spin" their press releases.
Sir, with all due respect I recommend a trip to Asia and specifically Tokyo. I moved here from London and how different it is here is unimaginable. It will really make you see the world in a whole new way. I don't mean this in a patronising, or pretensious way, I just can't recommend a holiday here enough. You'll love it.
I can believe its different I'm not disputing that.
But at the same time as people describe how advanced Japanese mobile technology is. I look at the facts. Japanese phones do not dominate world marketshare. Japanesec-centirc mobile technology or software is not widely adopted around the world.
While phone technology and software from Europe and the US are widely used around the world.
and who need a waterproof phone?!
<raises hand>
I had a phone get destroyed once from being in my pocket while I walked somewhere through the rain. I'd guess that water damage due to rain, dropping it in a puddle, etc. is probably one of the most common causes of dead cellphones. Why do you suppose all the phone manufacturers put those "red dot" water damage indicators on the phone?
Getting your phone ruined due to water damage sucks - then you have to either buy a phone at a very expensive unsubsidized price, or you have to go without a phone for up to 2 years while still paying for the service.
If they made waterproof phones stateside, I know I'd consider one.
I can believe its different I'm not disputing that.
But at the same time as people describe how advanced Japanese mobile technology is. I look at the facts. Japanese phones do not dominate world marketshare. Japanesec-centirc mobile technology or software is not widely adopted around the world.
While phone technology and software from Europe and the US are widely used around the world.
OK, I'm sure someone else will provide a much more knowledgable reply, but I'll be the first to point out that Japanese phones are completely different to those used in the rest of the world and will not even work there.
Only recently have Japanese phones incorporated the slower tri-band networks like those used in the USA for Japanese customers who want to roam. In Japan SMS is also a relatively new feature, but only because Japanese phones use EMAIL. True, push email and haven't needed SMS before. Now SMS is a 'free' service that can only be used between same network users.
When I first moved here I was using a non-colour Japanese vodaphone that must have been 10 years old... I couldn't believe it when I realised I could type in a @hotmail.com address directly into the mail and send instant emails and get replies instantly, just like iPhone and Blackberry have now introduced to the rest of the world.
Take Sony Ericsson as a great example. I'm a big fan of Sony's phones in Europe, but over here they're the next level (excluding the upcoming and awesome looking Xperia1). Here they have SONY Bravia technology for 16:9 TV, GPS and whole host of features that simply aren't suitable outside of Japan, such as barcode readers, meishi scanners...
If Japanese Sony phones were available outside of Japan, you wouldn't believe how different and arguable superior they are.
http://3gweek.net/2008/04/28/spy-pic...series-phones/
Adding the iPhone to this list, it would be interesting to see how it compared.
My example of split-screen TV and email is extreme to be fair, it was more an example of the flexibilty of the OS. It uses an 'alt-tab' style button to switch between 2 open activities or split screen both. The screen is a 3.2 inch Wide-Screen VGA LCD, with Aquos technology and looks gorgeous. Internet is full HTML, but flash doesn't always work and videos are a no-no so far in my experience.
So, yes iPhone has a better screen for watching movies and the internet is more impressive, but the way I use the tabbing feature to dart back and forth between apps, with a copy paste feature that will hold 10 elements (an element can be a few thousand words, it's whatever text you've selected), I couldn't replicate on my friends iPhone. Maybe I'm just not used to the iPhone yet, or maybe Apple's firmware isn't quite there yet....
More information on my phone here: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/product/3g/920sh/
If this screen is typical of the user experience, I am not really impressed.
C.
This isn't specific to the iPhone. Battery is quickly drained for all phones that use HSDPA 3G.
I easily get twice the battery life on my Nokia N82 than I do with the iPhone, and this is with wif on constantly, BT running in the background, and a constant connection to a 3G network.
If this screen is typical of the user experience, I am not really impressed.
C.
haha! I think that is from 'easy mode' or something.
I've googled it to try and get a better idea of the screen, this doesn't do it justice but you get a better idea:
http://www.pcvz.com/mobile/UploadFil...1161317823.jpg
If this screen is typical of the user experience, I am not really impressed.
C.
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
Agreed. Being English I use more this style, but this is a terrible example, you'll have to imagine it on a crisp VGA LCD. This makes it look terrible!
Please remember that Japanese is a different language from English and that the style you see in the pic is definitely appropriate for the Japanese language.
But it certainly is not appropriate for English, French, Spanish or any character-based language.
That screen is a good candidate for the least readable display on a mobile device. And it is bizarre that they chose to feature that screen on their website.
That's perhaps why these devices don't seem to do well outside Japan.
C.