Wednesday, June 25, 2008

What Microsoft should do to win the competition




Danger of iPhone.

I really think Microsoft should be quite aware that the 3G iPhone is coming to Japan. Microsoft should be aware that the user interface of the iPhone is very well made. I am not saying that Microsoft's user interface is bad, but it's very hard to use at times because the interface is bloated with many menus.

Lowend models

Also, the Microsoft should begin to see a new market in low end models, with a shell on top of the Windows CE OS. As more developers become interested in making their own models of Windows CE devices, Microsoft should provide easier development environment other than eMbedded Visual Tools or Visual Studios (Ones that an average entry level users can master).

Price Range

I remember when there used to be the PC-Ephone II which was an interesting device. The problem with the device was the cost of it. 60,000yen was the price, and that was quite expensive for an average student. Also, only 256 colors could be shown (very bad if you wanted to view video on the device) I personally think that a device costing about 19800yen (the price of my first PDA, the Cassiopeia E-700WE was this price) is good.

College Students

Microsoft should be noting the fact that average college student will not be wanting a device costing nearly $800 (Tytn II was a good example), but instead something that costs between $198 to $300.

Futuristic Ideas

There should be more emphasis on the video playback, and I think a device running Windows Mobile 6.1 with a integrated Wifi or WiMax with HSDPA and GPS would be great.

Women and Girls as a huge market.

Also, the target for women and girls is a good way to go. This is very simple, put out the colors such as red, orange, pink, angel blue,etc.
(very good for Willcom who put out a pink W-Zero 3). There should be more compactness in the device, and a cute clamshell device with fancy LEDs will be nice. I happened to notice that Windows Mobile devices have less fancy LEDs which will definitely be cool looking.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

iPhone Pricing Released - What about Windows Mobile Smartphones?

Prices for the iPhone has been announced. Basically it's going to cost you 7,280/month for 2 years, including the cost of the device, flat rate data but no voice minutes.

The flat rate data plan will be 5,980 yen. I heard a rumor that this plan can also be used on other smart phone which would include of course the X01HT, X02HT, X03HT, X01T and maybe Nokia devices.

Please comment after this post if you know more. I'll post updates as received.

Zemanta Pixie

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ageet Release AGEphone Mobile 2.5 Speakerphone Edition

Good news for Windows Mobile users wanting to use VoIP on their phone.

"After many of our customers have asked us over and over we finally added support for using the internal speaker with our Windows Mobile VoIP-software AGEphone Mobile. Up until now all VoIP-programs had to cope with the problem that only the external speaker could be used. With AGEphone Mobile 2.5 it is possible for the very first time to use internet telephony just like any other calls without the need for a headset or advanced echo cancellation."

Full press release

Zemanta Pixie

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

USB Wifi for Sigmarion III

If you are bored with your Sigmarion III life there's something you might be interested in doing. You can mod your Sigmarion III by getting a USB Wifi integrated into the Sigmarion III. Follow at your own risk but the below might work. If you will be able to get an integrated wifi into your Sigmarion III, it will be something to boast about in the CE.NET 4.1 world...

Ashton Digital Air Dash WRUB-2011i - works
Buffalo WLI-USB-KS11G
Corega COR-USBstick-11
D-Link DWL-122 - works
Hawking Technology H-WU300
I-O Data WN-B11/USBS
Linksys WUSB12
Netgear MA111 - Rev 1 only - works
Planex GW-US11H - similar to Netgear
Samsung SWL-2200U
Z-Com XI725, Xi726, XI735? - Similier to Netgear - works
Zyxel-Zyair B-200 - early version only.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Japan iPhone from July 11, EMOBILE releases old device, Sharp Softbank WM Rumors

SAN FRANCISCO - JUNE 09:  Apple CEO Steve Jobs watches a video of the new iPhone 3G as he delivers the keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Web Developers Conference June 9, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Jobs kicked off the 2008 WWDC conference with a keynote where he announced an upgraded version of the popular iPhone called the iPhone 3G.Image by Getty Images via DaylifeEMOBILE today announced (Japanese only) that they will be selling the EMONSTER Lite or S12HT from the end of July.

It's maybe not surprising that the news of this old generation device (the HTC Touch) already announced for the Japanese market by DoCoMo, went pretty much unnoticed given that it was also announced today that the much blogged 3G iPhone (with GPS, Camera, MS Exchange and www.me.com support) will go on sale from 11th July here. I know which device I'll be lusting after! In fact, if you are planning to get an iPhone head over to www.iphoneinjapan.com for a newly established comunity site.

It's a shame that HTC and EMOBILE didn't go to the extra effort to get us the latest generation HTC Touch Diamond and Touch Pro here. That would have been newsworthy and exciting and good for their brand. I don't see them selling many of the old Touch devices though.



We still don't have details of the pricing plans for the iPhone. That's the news I'll be waiting for before deciding whether to line up outside BIC Camera or the Apple Store on the night of the 10th.

In other news I heard rumors that Sharp will be releasing a Windows Mobile device on Softbank later this year. That's great news for Windows Mobile, but is it too late?

Zemanta Pixie

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Softbank to Bring the iPhone to Japan

Not Windows Mobile related, but certainly something that is going to shake up the market here. After months of speculation, Softbank has finally announced that they have signed an agreement to bring the iPhone to Japan later this year. Guess I'll hold on to my DoCoMo SIM a little while longer :-)

http://www.softbankmobile.co.jp/ja/news/press/2008/20080604_01/

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

RouteFinder Navigation Software

RouteFinder is new Japanese navigation software for Windows Mobile going on sale early this month. The software is only available in Japanese. The software is available online at long time PDA & smartphone retailer PDAKobo.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Emonster in Shinjuku




I photographed a mockup of an EMonster in Shinjuku and here are the pics. The price is 19800yen for a customized version of Tytn II!.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Transformed Willcom 03


Willcom and Sharp push the bar one step further with Windows Mobile phone innovation and announce the 4th generation of their 03 series (until now W-ZERO3) - the Transformed Willcom 03.

The key selling points are the 3 amazing colors (eat your heart out rest of the world WM market :-) ) and the innovative, illuminated touch panel which replaces the keypad and can display a 10-key keyboard or cursor key set. The slide out QWERTY keyboard has been modified to slightly separate the Function and Tab keys from the rest. The unit also sports a 1-seg tuner for mobile TV, Bluetooth, customized home screen navigation, predictive Japanese input, Opera Mobile 9.5, E-J, J-E and J-J dictionaries and OCR reader for converting photos of text to text. If you happen to have an AQUOS TV that supports IR Simple it sounds like you can also wirelessly display you mobile phone on the television. Useful for sharing photos and I'm sure other applications.

Overall it looks like a very nicely designed device in a very small package. It's a shame they didn't increase the memory a bit as I sometimes can't start the camera when I'm running other apps. Also disappointed not to see GPS. I would have preferred this to Bluetooth.

The 03 will cost 63,120 yen (about $600) if you buy in straight out, or about half that if you pay in monthly installments with discounts over 2 years.

Here are the full specs:

OS: Windows Mobile Classic Japanese
Processor: Marvel PXA270 520Mhz
Display: 480x800, 3", 65,536 color, Mobile ASV LCD
Memory: Flash Memory 256MB, SDRAM 128MB
Communications: PHS (W-OAM W-SIM); Wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0; Infrared (IrDA 1.2, IrMC 1.1, IrSS)
Card Slots: Micro SD x 1; W-SIM x 1
Talk Time Battery Life: 6 hours
Stand-by Battery Life: Signal light off: 250 hours; Signal light off: 420 hours
Camera: 2 megapixels with autofocus
Dimensions: 50mm x 116mm x 17.9mm

Willcom Product Page (Japanese)

In other news Willcom announced they will be selling a phone with a Felica chip later on this year. Maybe we'll see them releasing the first Windows Mobile device with a Felica chip next year?

Thursday, May 08, 2008


During the golden week, I went to Yamada Denki in Hiratsuka, and I saw a pink Advanced W-ZERO3 es.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Yappa Mobile Interfaces

Here's a video from Wireless Watch Japan with the Founder & CEO of Yappa - Masahiro Ito. They have designed mobile interfaces for devices such as the Willcom Advanced W-ZERO3 (es) and new D4 UMPC and the emobile EM-ONE, all Sharp devices. The demos are towards the end of the video.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

HTC Universal on Yahoo Auction


I put a HTC Universal on Yahoo Auction. Hopefully it will attract buyers as it is WM6.0 HTC Universal...

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b87192737

Monday, April 14, 2008

Willcom Announce D4 Mobile PC

画像:ワンセグ&カメラ機能
画像:周辺機器で広がる使いかた
画像:高機能と豊富なアプリケーション
Japanese mobile phone carrier Willcom have announced the D4 Windows Vista Mobile PC which they plan to sell from mid June. Specs have been translated (on a best effort basis) below. What I first looked for was the battery life but it seems this is still being tested. Depending on this it could be quite a nice portable PC.

The Willcom 4x PHS data connection theoretically offers speeds of up to 256kbps which I find acceptable for email and basic web surfing, but not good enough for Skype of live video streaming.

The basic price plan is as follows:
- Inital Payment 39,800 yen
- Monthly payments 3,700 yen × 24

・W-VALUE Discount 1,600 yen × max 24
Actual cost = 90,200 yen

It's great to see Willcom continuing to innovate and I look forward to seeing what they come up with when they have Wimax data speeds.

Willcom Product Page & Flash Showcase Page (Japanese only)
Sharp Product Page (Japanese only but has lots of nice flash)



Model Number
WS016SH
Maker Sharp
Operating System
Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack1
CPU
Intel Atom Processor Z520 (1.3GHz)
Cache Memory
Level 1 56KB
Level 2 512KB
System Bus (Bemory Bus) 133MHz (533MHz)
Chipset US15W
Main Memory
1GB Fixed (DDR2-533、PC2-4200対応)
Display Internal Display

5" Wide TFT LCD (WSVGA, LED Backlight)
Resolution 1,024×600、800×600
Color Up to 262,144 colors
Graphic Accelerator
Inside the chipset
Video memory
Up to 254MB (Uses main memory)
External Display *1 Resolution Maximum 1,360×768
Color Up to approx. 16.77 millions colors
Multi-Monitor Supported
Storage Hard Disk Drive
Approx. 40GB (1.8", Ultra ATA/100)

Format NTFS
Floppy Disk Drive
No
CD/DVD Drive No
Communications LAN (Included with cradle sold separately)
Wireless LAN Yes (IEEE802. 11b/g)
PHS (Cellular data module)
Yes (Compatible with W-SIM that supports W-OAM)
Bluetooth Yes (Bluetooth Wireless Technology Ver.2.0+EDR)
Telephone Yes *2
Sound Within Chipset + High Definition Audio Codec, Speakers (Inbuilt monaural)
1-Seg TV Receiver
Yes
Camera
Approx. 2 mega pixel CMOS camera
QR Code Reader
-
Input Keyboard 64 Key (Metal dome switch style, key pitch approx. 12.2mm)
Pointing Device
Illuminated touch pad (with wheel functionality), touch panel
Interface Earphone mic port (flat) ×1, Micro SD slot ×1, USB (USB2.0, miniAB connector) port ×1
Power Battery
Special standard battery (Lithium ion) , Special high capacity battery (sold separately, lithium ion)
Battery life
Now testing. Results will be posted on the home page as soon as testing is finished.
Standby time
Charging time
AC Adapter
AC100-240V (Within Japan only AC100), 50/60Hz (Product number: EA-UM1V)
Power Cord
AC100V (Japan standard)
External dimensions (W×D×H)
(When closed, Excluding protruding parts)
With standard battery : Approx 188x84x25.9mm
Weight With standard battery: Approx 470g
Operating temperature & humidity
5-35degrees celcious /20-85% (No condensation)
Main peripherals
W-SIM Card (RX420IN), Headset, Stylus Pen, Standard Battery Pack, AC Adapter, Soft Case, Office Personal 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007 etc.
*1 Cradle and RGB/USBnecessary to connect to external display
*2 Headset required for voice communication. Voice not played back through inbuilt speakers.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

X03HT voting

If you happened to get the Softbank mails that come every month, you can vote for X03HT.

Just a friendly reminder.

Tsubasa K.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Windows Mobile Ads in Seibu Ikebukuro Line



Windows Mobile Ads in Seibu Ikebukuro Line are here.