TechJapan

Wireless Japan 2005 - Day 1

Mobile Phones / Other
Posted by sar7501 on Jul 14, 2005 - 08:04 AM

Wireless Japan 2005 is in full-swing at Tokyo's BigSight convention centre. Unfortunately, as TechJapan management is too stingy to spring for our transport costs to cover it in person, you'll have to make do with a wrap-up of WatchImpress' comprehensive coverage. Read on for WiMax, videophone, mobile phone fuel-cells, solar-panel equipped mobiles and more!

Business services for M1000 FOMA handset and imode Felica [1]

The FOMA M1000 smartphone was released on July 1 and NTTDocomo is displaying an "E-sales Manager" software solution for it that is based on "Oracle Database Lite 10g from Symbian. The software allows sales staff to check schedules, send mail, obtain updated data etc from the field.

[2]

"E-sales Manager" for the M1000

Also on display is the "TOWN POCKET" service for imode Felica. The service provides participating shops and businesses with an easy way for their customers to register for electronic payment. Electronic ticketing and coupons can also be used.

[3]

TOWNPOCKET reader/writer

YOZAN plans debut of WiMAX service by year-end [4]

YOZAN, a provider of PHS and PocketBell services, plans to dig itself out of the red by spending more money to deploy a WiMAX service within Tokyo by the end of the year. The company plans to upgrade its 3000 base station locations to support WiMAX through a fibre-optic network backbone supported by Tokyo Electric.

FOMA Videophone services and solutions [5]

Subscribers to NTT Communications "Dotphone Personal" IP phone service can now make video calls to FOMA handsets from their PCs. Users will also be to show video contents stored on their PCS to FOMA handset users using the "DocomoTV 2005" software to be distributed free-of-charge from July.

[6]

"Dotphone Personal" and FOMA handset link-up

Contactless charging, a new fuel-cell battery and a solar-powered mobile phone from NTTDocomo [7]

NTTDocomo has a number of developmental and trial products on display at their booth. Contactless chargin via electromagnetic induction is being demonstrated using a P900i. The slim charging unit can recharge the P900i's battery in approximately 120 mins.

The newly-developed fuel-cell battery uses 99% high-concentration methanol to deliver 3 times the capacity of previous models. It also avoids the water leakage problems that were present in the prototype fuel-cell developed last year.

[8]

Methanol fuel-cell battery

[9]

Contactless charging

Environmentall-friendly products on display include a SO506iC and N900iS with casings made from biodegradeable plastic and kenaf. The phones have been on display at the Aichi World Expo but this is the first time they have been displayed at a technology event like this.

Last but by no means least is a prototype Music PORTER equipped with a solar panel. Although, in its current state, the battery takes several days to fully charge and power production does not yet outweight consumption, the fully-working phone is an example of the exciting future for mobile phones.

[10]

SO506iC with biodegradeable casing

[11]

Solar panel-equipped Music PORTER