Motorola Q and Motorola Q 9h Review

In my previous post, I posted about the Motorola Q that I ordered from eBay and that it arrived safely here in Japan. I played around with the Motorola Q some more, and I must say I like the device very much. I still think it was a bad idea that Motorola decided to drop Wifi on both devices, although the 9h and Q has Bluetooth.

Yesterday, I met up with Andrew and borrowed the Motorola Q 9h to review.

One cool thing about the 9h is that it has a light sensor to automatically turn off the keyboard back light when it is in a lighted room. It turns on the back light of the keyboard when it is in a dark room.

The 9h's overall design is better, because it is black, and the keyboard is now flatter, but bigger and easier to type. The 9h is slightly wider but it fits in the jacket pocket well. The advantage of these devices is that it is quite thin, unlike the X01HT from Softbank, so you can carry around without feeling its weight.

Also, the Motorola Q 9h works in Japan, although for some reason, Japan was not listed in the carrier list in automatic configuration.

Also, I scanned for Bluetooth devices in Saikyo-Line going to Ikebukuro, and I was surprised to find a lot of devices! Mostly Softbank SH phones, but I found one Nokia E61.

VGA adapter for W-ZERO3 es

This will probably come in handy for a salesman who travels around presenting presentations on the go. It is a VGA adapter that fits W-ZERO3 es. This is a picture taken with my 902T at a shop in Akihabara and I do not know the details or the product name, but it is probably already marketed somewhere. I saw a similar one back in 2006 at Akibax, which was a microSD version.

Very interesting solution though.

Motorola Q arrived from eBay!

I just got a Motorola Q from eBay just a few days ago, and this is my thoughts.

At first, I thought I would not like the keyboard similar to Blackberry devices, but I must admit I was wrong. It is actually a little easier to use than the Advanced W-ZERO 3 es, and it is pretty cool.

First off, I was a little confused about not being able to find the Explorer application, but on this device, it is called File Manager. I installed an application called viekaWordpad. It is a simple wordpad application able to edit html files. The only problem with this device is that it lacks wifi, and you can't be able to use the device in Japan due to radio frequency and technology differences. (The Motorola Q uses GSMCDMA ).

I heard rumors that you can use miniSD wifi if you put the AC adapter.... This got me thinking of ideas...

More review coming soon.

WILLCOM Advanced W-ZERO 3 es review

I got the new Advanced W-ZERO3 es without a contract, and tested it out today. Overall, the device is a great device, although the keyboard took some time to get used to. compared to the smaller keyboard keys of W-ZERO3 es, it has become bigger, and is a little similar to the upcoming X01T by Softbank. Because the CPU has been upgraded to 520Mhz, and the device runs WM6.0, browser is robust and very easy to see.

Also, the screen is somewhat better than the W-ZERO3 es. The USB host functionality enabled me to use a portable USB keyboard, and I could use it on Word and many other programs. Since W-ZERO3 es has a integrated Wifi, It can do interenet on the go.

Great device, Sharp! I am looking forward for Willcom's new Windows Mobile device.

Tsubasa K. More detailed review to come soon!

Japan Windows Mobile User Mini-Interview: Lars Cosh-Ishii, Dir. Digital Media - Wireless Watch Japan

Lars Cosh-Ishii, Dir. Digital Media, Wireless Watch Japan

Is this your first Windows Mobile Device?

No..

What device are you using and how long have you had it?

I just bought the HTC -X02HT at Bic in Shinjuku last week. Better known in America as the Dash via T-Mobile and finally launched same here in Japan a few months later than initial announced release date of July (perhaps the J o/s took 'awhile' to get ported?). SoftBank Mobile is the only operator with this model here now, although SBM and DoCoMo both carried previous HTC Hermes unit.

What your experience so far?

Pretty straight forward set-up and roll right out of the box.. considering the provided users manual does not have much useful info. in English (other than typical don't get it wet, how to re-charge the battery kind of material) so still clicking around to enable basic functions like the playlist for music and preferences for screen-saver and ringtones.. set-up the POP/SMTP and Live Messenger was easy enough.

What's your favorite feature?

QWERTY is always easier than triple tapping.. would like to load Opera
and see how that works - although it's apparently not officially
advised (ha!) to do that. Having HSDPA speed is nice and I'm looking
forward to see how many open wi-fi locations are available when running around town.

What do you most dislike?

The headphone jack (same input as power supply), I have to hack a better ear-piece onto the kit they provided. Also, betting that battery power will be an "issue", even with what would be considered normal daily usage. Having to go into the task manager to close running apps is a pain.. if you have exited web or mail (or camera, messenger etc.) it should be shut down and not running in the background chewing up juice.. then again that may well be possible to set in parameters somewhere that I have not found yet?

What feature do you wish you had?

An embedded FeliCa (m-commerce) chip and 1Seg digital-tv tuner would be nice.. at least they made sure to include a QR code reader.. whew!

Any other comments?

I'll need more time to play around with it to make intelligent comments. Want to get Skype installed, I really hope the unit will be compatible with upcoming Flash Lite 3 for streaming .flv videos etc. Over-all no doubt it will be a useful device when I'm on the road.

Learn Japanese on Your Windows Mobile Device

Having a Windows Mobile phone (i.e. something that's likely to be with you even more and therefore even more convenient than a PDA) opens up additional opportunities for learning Japanese and using reference tools such as dictionaries.

A search of Handango (long one of the leading vendors of software for Windows Mobile) currently lists gives 152 results when searching for Japanese in the Windows Mobile Professional (i.e. X01HT-like) category. Unfortunately there are only 7 matching apps for WM Standard (i.e. X02HT-like) devices, but still that's a good enough selection to be able to find something useful. (The X02HT is not listed on the site so choose the T-Mobile Dash with is a very similar device).

I'll aim to do some more in-depth reviews of some of the best Japanese software over the coming months.

Help Create a Database of Windows Mobile Devices in Japan

I've started creating a spreadsheet of Windows Mobile devices available in Japan. I'll be updating as much as I can but anyone can update below or using the full EditGrid interface so it would be great if readers can help fill in the details. Currently no user name or password is required but I'll have to change that if the spreadsheet starts getting spammed. 

You can download the sheet in various formats  (e.g. PDF, Excel, CSV and more). You should also be able to get the code to embed the sheet into your own blog or web site. Enjoy!

EditGrid Spreadsheet by user/andrewshuttleworth.

Mobile Phone Rental & Prepaid Options in Japan

I often get asked about options for renting a mobile phone in Japan.

Softbank Global Rental
You can rent either a phone with SIM, a SIM card only to use in your own phone, or a phone to use with your SIM card. Nokia is the only phone-only option at the moment, but hopefully they'll start to offer Windows Mobile devices soon now we have one with an English interface. Daily rental rates seem good and incoming calls are free, but outgoing calls are expensive.

Go Mobile
Advantages of Go Mobile include advance notification of your rental phone number when the phone is shipped and long term plans if you need the phone more than 90 days. Once again - no Windows Mobile devices at the moment.

Update: I see Softbank also offers an option to be notified of the phone number you will receive in advance.

You are sure to find other options at the airport.

Another option is buying a prepaid phone. Here is prepaid phone information from Softbank and AU. (DoCoMo does not have a prepaid service). Although identification is required, there is nothing on either site about a requirements for an address in Japan? Has anyone got any experience with this?

Japan Windows Mobile User Mini-Interview: Ryo Umezawa, Business Development Manager, J-Seed Ventures Inc./Mobikyo K.K.

Ryo Umezawa, Business Development Manager, J-Seed Ventures Inc./Mobikyo K.K.

Is this your first Windows Mobile Device?

Yes

What device are you using and how long have you had it?

HTC (X02HT) and I have used it for four days since October 2, 2007.

What's your experience so far?

So far so good! Mail downloads well and synchronizes with the computer!

What's your favorite feature?

Using Google Maps on it and searching the map in real time.

What do you most dislike?

Can not synchronize with the Mac using the HTC software...
(Ed: I guess this refers to ActiveSync)

What feature do you wish you had?

Skype call function.
(Ed: I sent the link for the Skype download for WM Standard. Interested to hear from other Japan users how much success they have had with this).

Any other comments?

More compatibility for Mac!

CEATEC 2007 Windows Mobile devices

These are the cool devices I saw in CEATEC 2007.

The Windows Mobile market was quite interesting, as many people was looking intently on the X02HT and other smartphones. It seems X02HT was drawing the largest attention. I got to touch a mockup of the NTT Docomo's HT1100, and FT1100, but it was okay. I think I would rather prefer buying a X01HT or X02HT. The X01T was interesting too, but it lacked originality, and I would prefer getting WILLCOM's Advanced W-ZERO3es.

One interesting device was in Mitachi's booth running Windows CE 5.0, and it was like a tablet device, called MIU FACE 084. It runs MIPS32 core 400Mhz, and has 128MB DDR-2SDRAM, 32MB onboard Flash, and 512MB extended Flash. It also has wired LAN and Wireless LAN (b,g) and W-SIM.

I posted a scan of the specs of NTT Docomo's HT1100 and FT1100 (in japanese).

Japan Windows Mobile User Mini-Interview: Dave Mori, Founder and President English OK and Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo

Here's the first in what I plan to be a series of mini interviews with Windows Mobile Users in Japan. I was surprised that I unearthed a few issues that already have solutions, but to give an accurate picture of what user's are experiencing I left Dave's answers as they are and posted my thoughts below. Please follow up with thoughts of your own in the comments thread.

Dave Mori, Founder and President, English OK & Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo

Is this your first Windows Mobile Device?

Yes

What device are you using and how long have you had it?

I am using the X02Ht and I have had it since the first day it came out here in Tokyo, September 22, 2007.

What's your experience so far?

Honestly, it's been life changing. I have a lot of meetings outside of the office and I like to keep up with emails or make notes whenever I have a free moment so I would end up lugging my heavy laptop all over the place and would feel sore and exhausted by the end of the day. I feel much better leaving my laptop at the office and just checking on my device every couple of hours. My shoulders and back are thanking me!!

What's your favorite feature?

I haven't utilized the calendar yet so I would say having the ability to check my POP email accounts is my favorite feature.

What do you most dislike?

The keys are a little small for longer email messages, the office products like word and excel are missing a few basic functions that make using or viewing them a little bit troublesome. Although I don't mind that much my colleagues seem to dislike the volume of my ringtone. Three of us took a crack at trying to figure out how to drop the volume but there doesn't seem to be ringtone volume control.

What feature do you wish you had?

lol, this is dreaming but a Sync solution for my Mac and a Sync function with gCalendar.

Any other comments?

So far, so happy ;) Would definitely recommend it to people who hate lugging their laptops around town and who have a slight addiction to checking emails like me.

Windows Mobile Users Abound at Engadget Tokyo Meetup

It was good to see a nice contingent of Windows Mobile users at last night's Engadget Meetup in Tokyo. They had more than 200 people show up at Google's office for a great geekfest. There were robots, gadgets, phones, digital cameras and even the $100 laptop to enojoy. Geek factor 110. Here's a few shots of some of the Windows Mobile users and a short video of the room.