Camera Phones Plaza

CEATEC 2008, Japan, seems to be the perfect place to get in touch with world’s latest inventions in technology. The event is highly expected worldwide because it gives manufacturers the chance to reveal the results of their work and receive answers from participants.

NTT Docomo Inc. amazed the public by introducing a concept cell phone that doesn’t follow the rules of cell phones as we have known them so far. The exhibited prototype of the “Separate Keitai” can be split in two pieces, the display and a keyboard segment. Yes, don’t be so surprised, everything’s possible! And this mobile phone’s key operation part can be separated from the display part as it was shown at CEATEC.



The handset gives users the chance to make a call while doing other stuff, like reading an email or checking their electronic schedule. Moreover, users can even use the separate unit as an MP3 player. The prototype has the same shape as regular foldable mobile phones, but what makes is distinguish itself from any other similar handsets is the fact that the operation part and the display part are synced with each other through a magnet, and they can be detached by only using a small force. This way, both of the parts have their individuality very well defined and can be operated and viewed when they are separated. However, the prototype had its two parts joined via Bluetooth wireless connection.

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The surprise doesn’t end here, though: the touchscreen reacts to the way the users are holding it. For example, when the two parts are vertically attached, you can see on the operation part a numeric keypad that helps you make a call. When, on the other hand, they are horizontally joined, the operation part displays a character entry screen. The company said that in this position the horizontal function can be turned into a gamepad for some mobile video game action.



For other applications, the display part can be used as a music player while having your operation part stored in a bag. In addition, precisely like exchangeable covers that people know from cell phones, there will be available a wide variety of combinations of display parts and operation parts. This means that when a user is running, for example, you can use a wristband type display and not the normal display.



NTT Docomo wasn’t the only company who exhibited the Separate Keitai, as Fujitsu Ltd showcased also the concept phone. I’m positive about the fact that many of those who get to see the phone would like one for themselves. Unfortunately, the company said that “this is a concept model so we have not decided a schedule for practical application”. This is bad news, isn’t it?

(Source concept-phones.com)

Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (an event which is also known as CEATEC) is a trade show held every year in October, in Makuhari Messe, Japan, since the first edition, the one which took place in 2000. The event is said to be the Japanese equivalent of International Consumer Electronics Show, a similar show which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is not open to general public.

This year’s CEATEC edition has brought several remarkable inventions, more than the last couple of years combined, and the latest product NTT Docomo decided to unveil at the event does no more, no less than to continue the trend. The company is very well known for gripping the Japanese cell phone market and for recently losing the rights to the Apple’s iPhone in favor of SoftBank, which seemed to be the perfect solution, despite the fact that Docomo has a powerful network and enjoys significant brand recognition, locally speaking.



NTT Docomo Inc revealed, therefore, the prototype of a mobile phone that is designed to double as a video projector. The demonstration was made during the CEATEC 2008 event.

The company used for this handset its existing model which was integrated within an ultrasmall projector. Red, green and blue LEDs are used as a light source. In addition, the device features a “DLP Pico” chipset (( DLP stands for digital light processing) designed by Texas Instruments Inc. and it’s actually a DMD (digital micromirror device) with a reduced size for mobile use, its driver LSI and so forth. The projector has 480 x 320 pixels (HVGA) and a luminance of 7.5m, meanwhile the power consumption of the projector module comes to 3W.

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The projector is designed to screen a 20-inch image from a distance of approximately 80 centimeters and to offer 100 minutes of operating time (once again, with approximation). It’s more than enough to watch a TV show, podcast, or a short film. As I was saying before, a demonstration took place at the event. The handset projected images and its integrated Li-Ion secondary battery was being charged in the same time. The projector functioned during this test for only 15 to 20 minutes per charge. The reason for something like this to happen is that an existing battery for mobile phones was used.



In order to get this new handset to mass production there must be done some retouches. First of all, it’s necessary to reduce the heat that the projector module, then the power consumption, the cost and, why not, the size of the projector module.

It’s a great concept, there’s no doubt about it, but would it see the light of the day? I don’t know about you, but the company is confident in the success the projector will score, and plans to mount it after three years at earliest, “but only in the highest-end models”.

(Source Dvice)

FOMA SH706i was announced in May and now it is finally released for the Japan market, being shipped together with other new handsets from NTT DoCoMo, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

The new model runs on the Symbian operating system, which is designed to deliver GPS features, broadband speeds for crystal-clear VoIP calls and real-time media streaming, a cool graphics architecture with screen effects and lower battery consumption needs, support for symmetric multiprocessing, and Demand Paging, which handles the RAM memory usage by loading read-only code and data on demand only, increasing the efficiency.

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FOMA SH706i developed by Sharp supports 1seg technology for live TV, and offers high-quality images and sound while on the go. It comes with the Mobile Oriented Applications Platform.



The phone has a 3-inch large LCD ASV display of 16 million colors and 16:9 contrast ratio, the Dolby sound technology for strong audio with bass enhancements, multimedia player, sensitive buttons, automatic download setting, Internet browser, email, chat, video calls, and the i-mode service. I-mode is a popular service in Japan, with 48 million subscribers and 95,000 Internet content providers, which provides access to email, sports, weather, games, financial and ticket booking services wirelessly. It works with the a packet switching communication technology, which provides lower costs and charges depending on the number of data packets sent and received.



Other functionalities include a built-in 2MP digital camera, microSD memory expansion slot for up yo 2GB of storage, 3G, GSM, 190 minutes talk time, 100 minutes of video calling, and 480 minutes of standby. The user can add even more storage capacity via a microSDHC card for higher capacity of up to 8GB and higher transfer speed.

The handset measures 109 x 50 x 15.9 mm at120 grams and comes in Aqua Green, Black and Pink colors.

10 of the new 19 cell phone models announced a few days ago by NTT DOCOMO will feature the PacketVideo CORE multimedia player for music and videos.
F906i, P906i, SH906i, SO906i, SH906iTV, F706i, P706iu, SH706i, SH706iW, and P706ie, included in the 90i and 70i series will come in Japanese stores with the universal player that supports Microsoft Windows Media technology.



With its support for a large variety of file formats, CORE will allow users play 3GPP (MP4), "i-motion" (MMP4) and Windows Media files. In addition, the 10 cell phones feature the Microsoft Media Transfer Protocol for transfers between the phone and the computer.
P906i, SH906i, SO906i, SH906iTV, P706iu, SH706i, and SH706iW come with support for Windows Media Video for streaming and full-browsing of video content in 30 fps.

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"It is our honor to provide our CORE software to 10 new 906i and 706i series phones, bringing our cumulative number of PV-powered phones 70 models for NTT DOCOMO," declared Kazunori Takagi, president of PV Japan. "We appreciate the opportunity to support NTT DOCOMO to expand the number of users who can enjoy the benefits of a PV-powered FOMA experience."

Another release coming from NTT DOCOMO, largest mobile communications company from Asia consists of 19 new cell phone models, with unique stylish designs, included in the company’s latest 906i and 706i series.



The 906i series brings 8 cell phones featuring from 3G/GSM international roaming, GPS, HSDPA, and One-Segment mobile TV, to 2 in 1 (2 phones in one, probably Dual SIM technology), DCMX mobile credit card, iD mobile credit payments, VGA LCD screen and voice-to-text translation for Chinese, English and Japanese.



Via DOCOMO, the future 906i users will have access to the Music & Video Channel with over 100 channels for music download, and to the i-mode video resource with free videos.
Other features of the series, not common to all the models included, are Windows Media Video, Flash 8, deco-mail for embedding flash files into emails, PushTalk, and the possibility to upload videos and pictures of up to 2MB.



The P906i, SO906i, SH906i, N906iμ, F906i, N906i, N906iμ (STNY by Samantha Thavasa), N906iL onefone, and the AQUOS Phone SH906iTV will be launched on June 1, June 2, June 3, June 4, June 5, and July, respectively.



DOCOMO’s new 706i series has 11 cell phones sporting slim and stylish housing, One-Segment mobile TV, HSDPA and 3G/GSM international roaming. This line includes the slimmest One-Seg phone, the Waterproof One-Seg cell phone, the Wellness phone with diet monitor and health monitor, and the easiest to use model with unique user interface.



The following models included in the 706i series will be available starting July, August and September: F706i, N706i, SO706i, P706ie, L706ie, N706ie, NM706i, P706iμ, SH706i, SH706ie and SH706iw.