Toshiba is holding another seminar this month. Presentations (roughly translated from Japanese) include:

Examples of practical mobile use of the Genio

Introducing 'Format designer': Mobilizing office documents without programming

Working with graphic data using 'Web-FIS' and displaying blueprints in vector mode with 'XDF View Ce'

Synchronizing Notes data to a PDA using XTNDConnect

Benefit of using mobile databases in mobile systems: How 'PointBase expands the possibilities for mobile systems

Introducing solutions for secure eBusiness environments

Exhibitors, in addition to those already presenting and Genio products, include:

MobileCamera - Handy surveillance camera system

SWANStor - Secure mobile solutions

TransForce - Still and video picture compression and delivery for mobile devices

Toshiba innovates again - new Genio

Just look at the new Genios from Toshiba. Important new features include in-built camera or full dictionary (depending on the model), 128MB RAM (of course), latest processor, great screen, bundled screen cover, side scroll button, wireless LAN VoIP application and dual function microphone/headphone jack. The only things missing that some people really want is a replacable battery and in-built Bluetooth or 802.11x. Finally they seem to have made some changes to the control pad on the front. I find the direction hard to control accurately on the e550G so will be interested to try the new one.

For a lots of opinions on the device see the Pocket PC Thoughts Forums, athough I don't think the rumors of updates to the OS hear are correct. For me one of the most important things about this device is that it really keeps Toshiba Japan head-to-head against Compaq in the battle for the highest spec and most innovative devices. If either company could work out simultaneous worldwide releases they would be on to a real winner. The other important point is that there are lots of small improvements to this device which really show that Toshiba are in touch with the market and what users really want.

Mobility Day and Programming

Some interesting links (Japanese only). Microsoft's Mobility Day is an event to help businesses work out how they can use mobile solutions for business. For anyone thinking of getting into Pocket PC programming, there is an introductory guide here. If you are already a seasoned programmer consider entering the Windows CE Fan Software 2003 Contest which has as it's sponsors most of the big name Pocket PC supporters in Japan that you could think of.

DoCoMo Plans Always-On Net Service for PDAs, Notebook PCs

Details of DoCoMo's much awaited always on, flat rate mobile internet connection service due to start on April 1st are here. What the article doesn't mention is that the similar priced service by KDDI is only 32kbps, although KDDI also have 25 hour 128kbps plans for around the same price and flat rate 128kbps plans for around double. KDDI's cards are know not only for being flat rate but for being able to maintain the connection on a moving train and pick up a dropped connection straight away (for example after passing through a tunnel). It will be very interesting to see whether DoCoMo can match or beat the KDDI service in terms of usability. The current PHS cards can't keep the connection on the move and when the connection is dropped a redial is required. The other question is whether anyone will want to invest in the cards which come out in April when new cards (is that what they mean by device?) will be probably required for the Mzone service in June. DoCoMo have a record of making it difficult and offering financial penalties rather than rewards for people who want to upgrade CF cards.

To see what DoCoMo is doing in terms of providing content for PDAs, see their flashy M-Stage site (Japanese only). The 100 yen (US$1) charge seems great until you remember that you have to pay by the minute for access. A flat rate service will make it much more attractive.

Flashing the e550G with an English ROM

There is a post at the NCMCS Forums stating the the Toshiba e550G can be flashed with an English ROM including links to theBrighthand forums, where it looks like there is some good info, and the GenioE Fan Page. In addition to the Brighthand forums there are also forums for Toshiba devices including the e550 at Pocket PC Thoughts and Pocket PC PDA. Flashing the ROM is useful for anyone who wants to get an 'only-in-Japan' device with an English OS, but unfortunately doesn't really help those who want a fully Japanese capable English OS device.

Gundam Network Game

For any gamers among you out there 'GNO Gundam' has been making the headlines over the last few days. Win CE Fan (Japanese) has good reviews and links to other sites. The reason for the headlines? Win CE Fan is saying this is the the first multiplayer network game for the Pocket PC. As PDAs (or phones) get more powerful and cheaper and fast mobile data network access more ubiquitous, I can see a huge market for networked, multiplayer games for mobile devices like this. If Nintendo aren't in the field already I'm sure they will be soon but I would guess that having a real operating system like Pocket PC on which to play the game offers a lot more potential than there would be on a gaming only device. Discussion welcome in the discussion group.

Power Extender

Power Extender is a backup power supply for different types of PDAs. Doesn't look too big so wouldn't be burdensome to carry when travelling. If they continue to provide new adapters it will also not become redundant when you change your PDA. Pocket Games looks like a very good site to buy useful accessories like this. They also claim 'we export almost anything' so is a good option for people outside Japan who wanted to get hold of products only available here.

New Casio Pocket PC - E3000

Casio have announced their first Pocket PC 2002 device which will be released at the end of March in Japan. There had been rumours that they would leave the Pocket PC market but it doesn't seem so, which is good news given that only Toshiba, Fujitsu, DoCoMo, HP and NEC are the only other companies currently selling Pocket PCs here. Unfortunately the device looks decidely boring adding hardly any interesting features compared to other Pocket PC 2002 devices which have already been on the market for the best part of a year. For comparison purposes I'll use Toshiba's latest model, the Genio e550GX. (Toshiba is the Pocket PC market leader in Japan and the e500GX is the highest spec Pocket PC on the market here).

First the good points. They are claiming a 15 hour battery (compared to 10 at 400MHz for the e550GX) life or 30 hours with the optional higher capacity battery. For IR users they claim a maximum transmission speed of 4Mbps (compared to 115.2kbps). The screen type literally translate as 'LED backlit semi-transmissive TFT color LCD' and from the pictures it looks good. The text says it works well outdoors but I'll leave it to the screen gurus to judge whether this is any better than the e550GX's 'frontlit, reflective, low temperature polysilicon TFT'. Finally the E3000 has 6 hardware buttons, a 5 way directional pad and a two way scroll contrl on the side. The Genio only has the five hardware buttons and this makes one-handed operation much more difficult.

Now for the not so good points. The physical hardware specs which are very important in a PDA look particularly poor compared to the Genio:
3.5" screen compared to 4"
78�~135�~17.6mm compared to 76.5 x 125 �~ 15.9mm
190g compared to 170g

The processor is the now standard (for any new devices) XScale 400 Mhz PX250, but the device has only 64MB of RAM compared to 128MB for the e550GX

Win CE Fan is saying that the device will be around the 60,000 yen mark which will probably make it a bit cheaper than the Genio but only by a few thousand yen. If Dell, ViewSonic or HP ever decide to enter the market with their lower end devices they will really shake things up. The Casio does have both a CF and SD memory (no mention of SD-IO) slots which you would expect for a device of this size.

The bundled software certainly contains no surprises. The only minor difference from other makers is Casio's own schedule, address book and mail software which can be downloaded. Notable ommissions are map, text to speech software and Java.

Overall it's good to see more support for the Pocket PC market here which should lead to more services and accessories targetted at the platform.

Related links:
Casio Press Release (Japanese)
e3000 Product Page on the Casio site (Japanese)
Pocket PC Thoughts Post and Discussion (English)
Win CE Fan Announcement and Review (Japanese)

Genio eBusiness Solutions Seminar - 4th February 2003

Toshiba will be holding another eBusiness Solutions seminar on the 39th Floor of their Tokyo headquarters on Tuesday 4th February 2003. The seminar program look good if you have any particular interests but the exhibition floor featuring 25 companies will also be well worth a visit. It is worthwhile visiting a show like this to see what products and services you can expect in the near future. Companies include those involved in mobile mapping, GPS, data communications, business solutions and other peripheral and software vendors. Of course Toshiba will be strongly represented with the Genio and services and solutions offered by different divisions of the company. Toshiba had held a number of similar seminars over the last year and strongly support third party seminars and expos which really shows their commitment to the PDA market. For more details and to sign up see the this web page (Japanese only).

NTT DoComo's Infogate Content Service

It's interesting to see what NTT DoCoMo is doing with online content for PDAs. They have stuck with Windows CE and Pocket PC devices as the target PDA platform over the last few years and their current offering is branded as 'Infogate'. Here is a review in Japanese with screenshots.

Mobile Devices Enter Thinness Battle

CLIE Will Add More Value to Create New World of PDAs': President of Sony Handheld Computer

Sharp PDA IP Phone May Be Key to Boosting Wireless LAN Use

Japanese See Mobile Networks as Communcation Tool

JWPce 1.40B

Slightly old news, but there has been an update to the great dictionary, kanji tool and word procesing software for Windows CE based PDAs has been released. A whole host of updates included and more planned. The full list can be found on the Pocket PC Japan mailing list from Glenn himself.

There is a great if slightly old article on greggman.com about using Windows CE PDAs to study Japanese with lots of references to JWPce.

pda.meetup.com

meetup.com has a PDA event and Tokyo is one of the cities.

USB Host CF Card

Ratoc Systems have announced a Compact Flash USB host card which with the right drivers will be compatible with keyboards, bar code readers and flash or removable memory storage devices. The CNET Japan* Review mentions that it is not yet compatible with CD-RM drives or hard drives ... hopefully this is on the way in the future. The good news for some Pocket PC owners is that they already have USB host functionality via the cradle or and add on cable that doesn't use a valuable card slot. Hopefully as this card opens up USB host functionality to more Pocket PC users a lot more interesting more supporting devices will hit the market.


* Sadly CNET Japan will be ceasing business at the end of the year. It has been a great sight for up-to-date tech news from Japan and overseas in Japanese and I'm sure will be missed.