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Handhelds Communications Hardware

Advanced Mobile Phone Tech in Japan 138

Posted by michael from the tiny-high-tech-and-useless dept.
jonknee writes "MobileTracker notes that Japanese researchers at NTT DoCoMo are busy working on a technology to make mobile phones tie in with your senses. This should be a part of 4G technology, which with the way things are going here, may never come to the US. A sidenote about 4G technology, download speeds are 100 megabits per second!"
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Advanced Mobile Phone Tech in Japan More

Advanced Mobile Phone Tech in Japan

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  • Wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by Peden ( 753161 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:45PM (#8762946) Homepage
    Now phonesex will actually be an option, so there is NO [slashdot.org][slashdot] reason to leave the house.

  • old news (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MoFoQ ( 584566 )
    when it comes to IT, it's like the difference between Afghanistan and the US when it comes to military technology.

    makes me want to move over there....100Mbps (synchronous)...drooool

  • Already? (Score:2, Funny)

    by mindstormpt ( 728974 )
    Ok I'd be happy if I see 3G deployed, why are these guys always thinkin about the future?

    Thinking about it, I don't even need 3G. I can place calls, send SMS, browse the net trough GPRS.

    Ohh but I can't control my own mars probe!!! That's it, I need 5G.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:01PM (#8763098)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Already? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by caluml ( 551744 ) <slashdot@spamgoe ... minus herbivore> on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:47PM (#8763379) Homepage
        You don't want 3G. We have it in the UK and it sucks

        Wha...? It's lovely. GPRS is only up to about 40kbps, whereas 3G is 128, and up to 384 if the network supports it. I was driving around Bristol with my laptop plugged into my car stereo, bluetooth connection to a 3G phone listening to Bassdrive [bassdrive.com], and that was summer last year. Being a passenger in a car, and SSHing from a laptop at 80mph into your Linux box at 128kbps to check your mail with mutt is pretty trippy too.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • if you got 384kbps over bluetooth, i'd be *seriously* surprised, and you've not been able to get internet over 3g until vodafone brought out their package this month. nice idea, piss-poor execution in the UK.
          • if you got 384kbps over bluetooth, i'd be *seriously* surprised, and you've not been able to get internet over 3g until vodafone

            I think you'll find BT is about 700-800 kbps. And I have been able to get internet over 3G, thank you. Try doing a whois on my domain, and look for the registrant. Don't jump to conclusions.

      • Re:Already? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Uber Banker ( 655221 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @06:27PM (#8764039)
        The UK doesn't have 3G. It has a company called '3' which promises 3G technology one day, but if you buy a 3G phone on contract now you are buying a 2.5/3G phone and a GRPS contract. That's right, a '3' phone is a 2.5G service. They hope to roll out a 3G service later this year, in limited areas.

        So 3G is not failing in the UK - IT IS NOT IN THE UK! They like to keep this under wraps - I only noticed as I am a shareholder of PCCW. Go into your nearest '3' store and demand an answer.

        Looking further afield, 2.5G services has become hugely popular in S. Korea, to the cost of those companies which bought the 3G licences. I don't think it is a technology sweeping the public over thing, rather public picking and choosing the technology as they like - th the moment they don't like.

        BTW - 3G contracts are not a cost of the networks, they are passed wholly onto mobile users (present users are paying interest on debt the phone companies built up right now) - they are a tax on the mobile phone.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re:Already? (Score:3, Informative)

          by throwaway18 ( 521472 )
          a '3' phone is a 2.5G service
          Hmm, that would explain why they are ignoring the people petitioning them for internet
          service.

          So 3G is not failing in the UK - IT IS NOT IN THE UK!
          Actually vodafone launched their 3G service a few days ago. Up to 384kbps down 64kbps up
          depending on how far you are from the cell and how many other people are using it. The coverage [vodafone.co.uk] is just London and a couple of other citys.
        • Are you on crack? 3 has had 3G services for about 10 months now in the UK. Sure there is only coverage in the greater London area and a few other cities but claiming that the service doesnt exist is like saying that the moonlanding didnt take place!

  • Wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by bigbaloney ( 767817 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:46PM (#8762962)
    "download speeds are 100 megabits per second!"

    Does that mean it can be used for VoIP?

    • Re:Wow (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jonknee ( 522188 ) *
      GPRS is being used for VoIP right now.
      • GPRS is being used for VoIP right now.

        I can't quote a source, but I have read that GPRS can't be used for VOIP since its latency is far too high for VOIP.

        • Look up Buzz2Talk, it's a program for Symbian phones that lets you to PTT via GPRS. That would be VoIP. Nokia is adding GPRS PTT to all its new phones, starting sometime later this year.

  • Tie in with senses? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:47PM (#8762964)
    Great, something more annoying that current mobile phones.

  • Senses indeed! (Score:5, Funny)

    by BenSpinSpace ( 683543 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:47PM (#8762970)
    I'm a little afraid of this technology. I can see incorporating visual bits or even taste (I can eat my phone!) into a cell phone...

    But feeling? Uh oh.

    What happens if someone gets on the phone with you, and punches the little graphic if your tele-head in the face? I can just imagine the new wave of tele-assassinations.

    But hey, just imagine the possibilities with pornography!

  • Download at 100Mb (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrIrwin ( 761231 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:48PM (#8762974) Journal
    Of course like any wireless system, bandwidth is shared. If the technology ever takes off then you will be competing for space!

  • Typically poor reporting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JusTyler ( 707210 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:49PM (#8762995) Homepage
    Shame on CBS Marketwatch and MobileTracker. This is in the article linked to by the MobileTracker post above.. and was even quoted BY MobileTracker and not corrected! From CBS:

    It's all about speed. Fourth-generation services would allow for data transfer speeds of up to 20 megabytes per second for uplinks and 100 megabytes per second for downlinks -- up to 260 times faster than DoCoMo's popular 3G services, which allow for downlinks of 384 kilobytes per second.

    If you're going to put someone on the technology beat, please put someone in who understands the difference between bits and bytes ;-)
    • Ok, so it's megabytes eh? Does this mean 8 parallel data streams to each phone - love to see the skew control on that - or that the actual fundamental data rate is a serial stream at around 800 megabits per second - or do we just shrug and continue to make calls on our good ole (non 3G, non 2.5G) GSM phones that happen to do the job (ie: work as a phone) adequately.
    • They also acknowledged that 4G is based on IPv6.

      Perhaps IPv6 includes a section on how you should module it over the airwaves and multiplex different signals. But i doubt it.

  • 100mbits - death by billing (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DiGrassi ( 674218 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:50PM (#8763009)
    At current charging rates you can probably spend a months wages in about 3 minutes on a 100mbit cellphone data connection.... sigh. Oh no, I just worked it out, it's actually just over a minute.

  • Directional Stereo (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:52PM (#8763029)
    This would be really nice if you are in a crowded place looking for someone.

    Essentially you can hear where the other person is, and walk towards them. (in the bg it does all kinds of GPS magic, sound transformations, etc).

    That's pretty cool, and goes where technology should go - its user interface is natural again, and we can use the built in "direction finder" that works in our head on a subconcious level.

    Keep it up!
  • It affects your senses!

    Time for a mithril helmet.

  • speed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Haydn Fenton ( 752330 ) <no.spam.for.haydn@gmail.com> on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:54PM (#8763040)
    Erm... what's the use of a 100mbit/sec connection with a mobile phone.
    Mobile phones can barely hold 100mbits at all, let alone be able to write 100mbits/sec to its hard drive (or SIM card, whatever it uses).
    Lets just say you were to use your phone for internet access (via GPRS or something), the majority of mobile providers' internet costs are huge (as you would expect since most of them charge by the kilobyte) so it can't really be used for that.
    I suppose it might make video messaging more clear, however, not having a video phone and not knowing the current quality, I can't see much of an improvement.
    At current, I really can't see much use for it, but I'm sure technology will catch up and before long we'll be needing much higher speeds for something.

    • video conference (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cloudless.net ( 629916 )
      You need quite a lot of bandwidth for high-quality video conference. I don't understand why you think it is necessary for the phone to download the content to a local storage when there is a high-speed connection. By the way, the connection can be used for watching TV programs too. Future LCD will have very high resolutions, and it will require higher bandwidth to transfer the images.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:08PM (#8763144)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • dunno, well, watch high quality streams?

      the thing is, it's a largely just a 'for the future' thing now.

      were you asking 10 years ago why you would possibly want 1gbit/s lan at home?

    • Re:speed (Score:4, Funny)

      by GoofyBoy ( 44399 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:24PM (#8763235) Journal
      > Erm... what's the use of a 100mbit/sec connection with a mobile phone.

      As with all new technologies, ask yourself one question;

      How can technology X improve the creation, distribution, storage or viewing of pr0n?

      Once you have answered this, the other applications (DNA research, selling books, sub-atomic simulations to prove multi-parallel universe theories) are trivial.
    • the majority of mobile providers' internet costs are huge (as you would expect since most of them charge by the kilobyte) so it can't really be used for that.

      Not in Japan.

    • Re:speed (Score:2, Interesting)

      by caino59 ( 313096 )
      Erm... what's the use of a 100mbit/sec connection with a mobile phone.

      Mobile phones can barely hold 100mbits at all, let alone be able to write 100mbits/sec to its hard drive (or SIM card, whatever it uses)


      how about when you hook it up to a laptop for internet access?
    • what's the use of a 100mbit/sec connection with a mobile phone
      Here's one: with a digital camera no more need for lots of memory cards. Just use some wireless to transfer each image as it is taken to the cell phone in you rpocket which then transfers it to the image server in your home/company/newspaper.

      Reporters and sports photographers are gonna love it.

  • Japanese are psycho about thier phones. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki.cox@net> on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:54PM (#8763042)
    Japan needs to stop advancing portable phone tech. I'm still using a 3 year old one from Nokia! It's bad enough they consider year-old phones to be so worthless they price them nearly 1 en or so.(that's what I hear, but I'm not sure if it's that literal.)
  • download speeds are 100 megabits per second!
    Can a mobile phone really handle data that fast?
    • No, but your laptop connected to it will be able to. But dont forget, that will most probably be a shared bandwidth between anyone in the area that feels like downloading at the same time as well.

  • Cool, but unnecessary (Score:4, Insightful)

    by chachob ( 746500 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:55PM (#8763050)
    this seems like a pretty neat idea, but honestly, companies are dreaming up the wildest [slashdot.org] ideas these days. sometimes i think they are trying to "innovate" for publicity. i really could not think of a reason why i would want to buy a "phone" like this. telephones are just ways to converse, not to share the senses or whatever this is trying to achieve.

  • 100mbits per second? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by platypus ( 18156 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:57PM (#8763067) Homepage
    Hmm, can someone who knows this stuff comment on how these guys want to get to these unbelievable throughput numbers?
    I vaguely remember there's something like Shannon's law, and a crude calculation should be able to show that wireless (4G) 100mbits per user is quite a feat in high populated places. Wouldn't they at least need a ridicoulous small meshed antenna infrastructure? How about energy consumption of mobiles with these high frequencies?
    What I'm looking for is some principal, simple calculations casting some doubt on the thought that wireless throughput is as scalable as processor power.

    • Shannon's Law etc. will mean squat when the marketing guys ride in to town on this one. Stand by for lots of asterisks in the text referring to notes in small print that you just can't seem to find.
    • posting here after very long time. at first glance ... we seem to be coming to the stage in teleco where the bandwidth (except at the air interface) is going to be dirt cheap. its a paradigm shift. ie just like lighting up more dark fibers or upgrading equipment capacities at hub links from stm 4 to stm 64 or moving to dwdm. we're upgrading our networks here in india from 2.5G to 3G GSM. and ... man u cant beleive the kind of up dimensioning thats required in the transmission access network. not just that .
    • Shannon's law: A statement defining the theoretical maximum rate at which error-free digits can be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited channel in the presence of noise, usually expressed in the form C = W log2(1 + S /N ), where C is the channel capacity in bits per second, W is the bandwidth in hertz, and S /N is the signal-to-noise ratio. Note: Error-correction codes can improve the communications performance relative to uncoded transmission, but no practical error correction coding system exists that can

  • Lick Larry on Line Eleven (Score:5, Funny)

    by malia8888 ( 646496 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @03:58PM (#8763073)
    From the article: "We are working on the five senses. Smell and taste will probably be the most difficult," said Toshio Miki, managing director

    I have to use my cellphone for business. The idea of having to taste or smell MY clients....YUCK.. Perish the thought.....

  • Predictions (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cloudless.net ( 629916 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:02PM (#8763102) Homepage
    Future mobile phones will have privacy modes. The least intrusive mode would be text-based SMS. While the "full" mode would make use of all 5 senses.

    I personally would use SMS and voice mail most often, even when phones develop to be very advanced. I think video phones are already too annoying to myself and others, I wouldn't want anything worse.

  • Finding you in a crowd (Score:5, Insightful)

    by demachina ( 71715 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:10PM (#8763161)
    I read with interest one goal was to help you find a friend in a crowded place using your phones.

    It does kind of give you pause though when you juxtapose it with this article about a stolen Siemens SX1 cellphone prototype:

    http://www.mobile9.com/news/2004/04/a_failed_att em pt_to_steal_siemens_sx1_prototype.php

    When the prototype was stolen at a trade show Siemens engineers apparently sent some secret SMS messages to the phone which apparently overrode the GPS tracking switch enabling them to track the phone and catch the thief. They claim these messages were only pssible due to the "special nature" of the prototypes but thats pretty hard to swallow so you have to wonder how many GPS enabled cell phones have back doors to enable GPS tracking without the user's permission.

    In an age where your every move can be tracked by the OnStar system in your car, or secretly enabling GPS tracking in your phone and pretty soon with RFID tags you may as well say hello to Big Brother and look happy when he's watching.
    • It's weird that they would bother with GPS. Cell phones communicate with cell towers (obviously), and communicate in particular with nearby cell towers, and towers these days track the signals from phones so that they can use directional sensing to give better signal. The cell network knows exactly where your phone is at all times (when it's on, at least), and can even send messages directly to it.

      GPS, on the other hand, is a broadcast system from satellites which don't get any feedback from the receiver.
      • I'm guessing it saved them having to impose on Verizon or whomever to track the phone for them.

        I imagine they sent the phone one of these secret messages and it probably started sending its GPS coordinates to an SMS mailbox.

        I guess it is a little pointless to worry about GPS tracking in cell phones when just having one of the things turned on is good enough.
    • > They claim these messages were only pssible due to the "special nature" of the prototypes but thats pretty hard to swallow so you have to wonder how many GPS enabled cell phones have back doors to enable GPS tracking without the user's permission.

      Let's think this through here. Siemens here used special messages to track Siemens' phone.

      Sounds like the phone was stolen ``without the user's permission" and ``the user" was using their own backdoor to retrieve their rightful property.

      Now even though in

  • Sweet. (Score:3, Funny)

    by CosmeticLobotamy ( 155360 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:11PM (#8763167)
    So my phone rings, and then I attach six electrodes to my face, put the handset around both of my ears for directional sound, point the camera at my face, stick the smellers and the tasters in my nose and mouth respectively, hit the "talk" button, and I'm good to go?

    Okay, great, but is it also a walkie-talkie? I'm told life is better when your phone is a walkie-talkie.

  • What is the killer app for this? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by alphakappa ( 687189 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:21PM (#8763218) Homepage
    This is a cool technology, but can someone enlighten us on any progress towards a killer app that can use this kind of bandwidth?

    Talking about pr0n is all ok, but people can still get it on their home PCs and be satisfied about it. For this to be accepted throughout the world, you need a killer app that everyone will drool over. Something that is not very obvious right now. Any suggestions?
    • ehmmm, watch sports during boring meetings? or whatever it is you happen to like watching at times when the only part of your presence that is required happens to be physical, and actually involving yourself in whatever it is that is going on would be considered rude or uncalled for.

      note to trolls...it's too easy, go for a real target...
      • Good idea, but a killer app would have to have the potential to be popular enough to be demanded by users.

        Only then will such a system be adopted in markets where the carriers have already invested substantially in 2G and 3G systems (and hence feel reluctant to shell out more money for a 4G system which may or may not give a sufficient ROI).

        Of course, if one of us knew the killer app, he/she would have the patent application out already :-)
    • a few off the top of the heap here: assume remote as a prefix

      remote emergency medical applications

      geology/exploration

      engineering purposes, perhaps diagnostics and repairs or fabrications/modifications that might eliminate a shop visit
      subset engineering: collaborative efforts where the collaborators needs be in different physical locations

      meterology in real time accumulating many diverse microclimates into a forecast, a "weatherbug" type app where you with your 5 senses phone add to the database, wea
    • Item 1: mobile phone with mindboggling bandwidth capabilities.
      Item 2: iPod
      Item 3: Firewire connection between (1) and (2)
      Item 4: complete and utter contempt for copyright law

      Item 5: Profit!

  • Newsflash: (Score:3, Funny)

    by immel ( 699491 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:22PM (#8763221)
    This just in: Japanese mobile phone technology is more advanced than that in North America.
    In a related study, scientists find that wearing a blindfold while driving greatly increases the risk of an automobile accident.
    • Japan has an uncomfortably dense population, too. It's not feasible to maintain the kind of services Japan has in the US at the same price point.
      • Japan has an uncomfortably dense population, too
        By "dense" I hope you mean that there are many people per square kilometer?

  • 100Mbps mobile but how much per MB? (Score:3, Informative)

    by throwaway18 ( 521472 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:30PM (#8763264) Journal
    100Mbps down is useless if it is priced at the same cost as sending data over the current UK 3G networks.

    Orange's idea of "as much data as you like" turns out to be 100 megabytes a month.
    Vodafone charges the equivalent of 182 dollars (150 euro) for 500MB per month.
    "Three" is unwilling or unable to even provide a data service over it's 3G network.

  • should I move to Japan? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Devil's BSD ( 562630 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:37PM (#8763305) Homepage
    Reasons to move to Japan:
    • Cell phones
    Reasons not to move to Japan:
    • Cell phones

  • Scary Progress (Score:1, Interesting)

    by chrnb ( 243739 )
    I think this kind of technological evolution is getting pretty scary, just think about how much more powerful the radiation has to be compared to current EU/US mobiles. But as far as i know Japan doesnt have any kind of caution or science studies to investigate if phones are dangerous or not.

  • Brings new meaning to prank calls... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    technology to make mobile phones tie in with your senses

    This would realy bring new meaning to prank calls...

    Whats that aweful smell??? Awwww...Damn Kids sending me dog crap again!

  • brain connection (Score:4, Insightful)

    by chrnb ( 243739 ) <mikkaworks@gmail.com> on Sunday April 04, 2004 @04:57PM (#8763463) Homepage
    On my recent visit to Japan, I tried KDDIs new TU-KA phone with what they call "Sonic speaker", which you hold against your skull, block your ears and it appears as if the sound is comming from inside your head - very spooky. but apparently especially woman love it for making calls while being on noisy streets.
    They are also running some wacky tv-ads for it, showing x-ray skeletons being subjected to radiation waves from phones -even more spooky
    them japs sure love all da tech fings ^_^
  • Wow, that's like 100mb of mosaiced japanese porn a second, right?!
  • This is rather interesting: "One of them would turn the mobile phone into a sort of tracking device to help find a friend in a crowded public place with no landmarks, something for which current phones are of limited use." So, it just broadcasts your GPS position whenever you make a call? Not sure how comfortable people would be with that...

  • wait for it... (Score:3, Funny)

    by ocie ( 6659 ) on Sunday April 04, 2004 @09:42PM (#8765149) Homepage
    Smell-o-phone

    Instead of appologising for a poor signal, people will have to appologise for driving past chemical plants, dairy farms, etc.
  • Quoting the yahoo article ...
    The mobile carrier is also researching the ability to recognise speech simply from the movement of facial muscles without the voicing of any sounds.
    Well I wanna see that on my mobile ... Heck not just on my mobile but on my computer, laptop ...

  • My Japanese Phone (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Aphire ( 768572 )
    I live in Japan as a graphic artist for a military marketing department. My current cell phone (an AU Sony Ericsson) which is about 6 months old, I am going to buy a new one soon, can download movies, watch tv, download real music ring tones, take pictures with the camera, record video with the camera, e-mail video and pictures. Use the internet. Although internet fees and calling fees are pretty heafty. My phone when knew costed about 12,000 yen or about $110 now it is free or costs 2,000 yen or $18. The t
  • ... is that we only hear about these developments when they are nearly ready for consumption. What is going on in the back rooms now, that outstrips these latest gizmos. I get bored waiting 3 or 4 years to find out what was going on in 2004.

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