TechJapan

Special Feature: Next year's FOMA 900i series

Mobile Phones / NTT DoCoMo
Posted by zmcnulty on Dec 20, 2003 - 05:30 PM

The phones are to start coming out February of next year. They will support Flash, animated characters for incoming call notifiers, and even replacing your own picture with a character when using the TV phone service.

NTT DoCoMo presented their new style FOMA "900i" series phones, in tandem with new services. The phones and services are scheduled to be on sale in February of next year. Newly offered is a larger capacity for iAppli, "Chaku Motion" which plays when there are incoming calls, and "Character Den" which can be used during a TV phone session.

-iAppli expanded to 100KB main unit, 400KB scratchpad
[1]
First to be announced about the 900i series is the ability to play "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy" from Square/Enix and NTT DoCoMo; iAppli versions are planned for the end of September.

At this presentation, how this was achieved, via an expansion of the iAppli technical specifications, was explained. on current FOMA series such as the 505i series, iAppli main unit is up to 30KB, and scratchpad is up to 200KB; but from now on, the main unit has been expanded to 100KB, and the scratchpad to 400KB.

Although this is is getting into the technical specifications presented to the public, graphic displays and detailed parts will use new the new "DoJo 3.5" standard API.

The enhanced presentation powers of the "900i" series go beyond just "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy" (Square Enix); softwares such as "Shin Megami Tensei" (Atlus) featuring new scenarios and characters, "Tengai Makyou" (Hudson), "Nobunaga's Ambition: Record of Military Commander's Elements" (Koei), "Taiko Expert" (Namco) are also slated contents.

[2] [3]
Let's Make a Pro Soccer Team!        Screen after the intro...

[4] [5]
    Namco's "Tales of Tactics"                 Image that was presented

[6] [7]
   "Final Fantasy" to be preinstalled          Battle screen
   on P900i phones

[8]
   "Dragon Quest" to be preinstalled      beautiful reproduction!!
   on N900i phones

-"Chaku Motion" played when call comes in
[9]
"Chaku Motion" is a new capability that plays animations when a call comes in, and uses the currently offered "iMotion." The data has a maximum size of 300KB, and uses MPEG-4 for video and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) or AMR for audio.

Also, a while DoCoMo is pushing their "Chaku Uta," a representative has said about the "Chaku Uta" function, "we do not plan on offering 'Chaku Uta', or any audio-only data."

-Using the HTML file type, "Dego Mail" allows for rich presentation
[10]
"Dego Mail" is a function that uses the internet standard HTML file type to create emails. You can now change the background color, text color, text size, and other things by choosing from a variety of options. You can also arrange images taken with the camera function, or those downloaded from i-Mode sites.

It is possible to change the text color and text size, and the position of sentences by choosing the text you wish to change, and selecting the option that appears on the menu. You can also freely use emoticons and variety, since the emoticons can be sent as images. When sending messages to a unit that does not support "Dego Mail," they will be displayed as text only.

[11] [12]
   "Dego Mail" menu                              Changing text size....

[13] [14]
   Setting text position                             insert picture, change bg color

-Use characters instead of yourself on TV phone using "Character Den"

In response to those who "don't want to be seen right now" using TV phone, a new function called "Character Den" has been prepared. You can now change between a character display and a "real" display with the push of one button. It is not limited to just still images either; for example, pressing the "1" key will show movements of happiness, and other feelings will be portrayed through the character.

According to i-Mode's Planning Head, Tsuyoshi Natsuno, "We thought not only about using a character instead of yourself, but we also wanted to actively help out this function." Additional characters will be able to be downloaded from contents providers and i-Mode sites.

[15] [16]
   "Character Den"                                 Change to preferred character

-First Flash support for FOMA, 5 times the capacity of 505i

It was presented that Flash will be supported by the 900i series. Currently featured on the 505i series, Flash allows for lively animations; however, on this 900i series, the maximum capacity will be 5 times (100KB) that of the 505i series.

In preparation for this, on the 900i series, the entire "i-Menu" can now be displayed in Flash. Also, when accessing the i-Menu, there are no data transmission charges.

Also, while i-Mode information used to have a maximum cost of 300 yen (monthly cost), it will be changed to 500 yen in accordance with the release of the 900i series.

Original Article:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/16923.html [17]

News Release:
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/new/contents/03/whatnew1218.html [18]