Day 4 : Amalgamation of Technology

One thing I truly love about Japan is how there is a push for combining all sorts of personal technology into one single device. The cellphones in Japan are years ahead of the rest of the word in terms of additional features besides phone calls. All phones here have email on the phones, in addition to SMS, MMS, etc... Internet accessibility, not just for WAP sites, but also for full blown websites, Digital TV off the 1SEG broadcast, so tis not using data or internet streaming, its off the airways, and the phones have built in digital video recorders so you can record your favorite shows and then transfer them to your PC later on. The phones have a two way radio system built in like the Nextel System. In addition phones have smart GPS systems that are linked to buses and trains and will give you the best options to get anywhere from your current location based on walking, driving and public transportation, it will also tell you where the train is at the moment so you can plan and see if you will make it to the train in time.

Then there are a plethora of additional features that each company has such as Text translation from Japanese to other languages via the cameras on the phone, so all you have to do is take a picture of some text and it will translate it for you.

Another great service offered is check in for flights with your mobile, so you can book your flight on your phone and head to the airport and check in to your flight with your phone and don't have to deal with airline staff at all, takes about 2 mins to get a ticket and check in instantaneousness, just put your screen up against a QR reader and it will scan a 2D barcode that your phone will display.

All very impressive stuff, however I do miss my Blackberry as it is still the best phone in terms of ease of use, however I am planning on getting a X02HT from Softbank which is supposed to be just like the Blackberry, so I will see how that compares. Or I might just get the Blackberry 8707h which is the only model they offer here in Japan, however that is not available to the general public as it is only for corporate accounts. The 8707h is offered by NTT DoCoMo.