NTT DOCOMO and AT&T Inc. extend 3G Network throughout Hawaii

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What was announced in 2007 is now finished. NTT DoCoMo and AT&T announced today that the extension of a third-generation (3G) mobile network to all principal islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii has been completed.

Using AT&T's 3G network, which is based on W-CDMA technology, DOCOMO customers now have access to data and voice roaming services in the main populated areas of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Kauai.

NTT DOCOMO began providing 3G roaming services on Oahu in October 2007 and then extended the services to other islands including Hawaii and Maui islands as the network was expanded. Read more

Posted on Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT Com Testing Mobile Fragrance Communication Service

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There are certainly some strange mobile services in the Asian market and this has to be one of the weirdest. NTT Com announced today that it intends to run a pilot test of a mobile fragrance communication service. This is a mobile version of its existing service for downloading visual content to view along with associated scents.

The original service launched in 2005 and it is now used by companies to allow enhancement of indoor spaces. The new service allows mobile users to download Fragrance Playlists or files of recipes for fragrances with GIF animations and MIDI content. The fragrance Playlists are downloaded from an i-mode website offered by NTT DoCoMo using a phones infrared port. Read more

Posted on Mon, 7 Apr 2008 12:19:56 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Nintendo, NTT join hands to promote Wii Web Access

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd and telecoms operator NTT's regional units said they would cooperate in Japan to promote the broadband Internet access of Nintendo's hot-selling Wii game console. Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo aims to make Phone Swiping obsolete

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TOKYO (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc , Japan's largest mobile phone operator, hopes to one day sell a handset that lets you make electronic payments while it stays in your pocket. Read more

Posted on Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:27:06 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo launches 704i Mobile Phone Series

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Japanese NTT DoCoMo launches a new generation of mobile phones in Japan.

As always the new phones come from different manufacturers and share a common number. The new 704i series features 8 new rather stylish mobile phones from companies like Panasonic, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and LG.

The LG L704i Chocolate phone supports HSDPA and the D704i and SH704i feature digital TV reception. Read more

Posted on Wed, 4 Jul 2007 04:20:23 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT DoCoMo HSDPA Enabled N902iX HIGH-SPEED

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NTT introduces the N902iX as first HSDPA mobile phone in Japan.

With HSDPA enables downlinks at up to 3.6Mbps, or 10 times faster than current FOMA handsets.
HSDPA is currently heavily advertised in Europe for 3G notebook cards. Insiders though say that the coverage is actually still spotty in most countries, contrary to provider statements. There are no handsets yet available for HSDPA in Europe.

With 106x51×25mm the N902iX is pretty big. It features a 2.5 inch screen with QVGA resolution, mp3 player and more. Read more

Posted on Fri, 12 May 2006 02:05:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Panasonic P506iCII Mobile Payment Phone for NTT DoCoMo

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The new Panasonic P506iCII features a 2MP digital camera and a built-in flash. The P506iCII features as its predecessor P506iC the Sony Felica Chip for payments.

Other features of the new NTT DoCoMo phone include a 2.4 inch QVGA resolution screen,
The folding phone measures 111×50×26mm and weighs 128g. Read more

Posted on Mon, 3 Apr 2006 02:09:05 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo FOMA SO902i 3.2MP Camera Phone

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NTT DoCoMo 3G network FOMA gets a new Sony handset with 3.2MP digital camera dubbed SO902i.

After Sony Ericsson just announced the Cyber-shot K800 3.2MP camera phone we do not have to envy Japanese consumers over this particular phone.
The FOMA SO902i features a 1.9 inch screen with QVGA resolution, Memory stick Pro Duo slot, 2nd camera with 0.1MP and a 140min. talk time. Read more

Posted on Thu, 2 Mar 2006 09:57:41 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo Postpones Nokia NM850iG FOMA 3G Phone

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As reported DoCoMo announced the Nokia NM850iG on February 15th. Now they issued a press-release that says that the launch planned for February 24th is canceled.

Quote from the press-release: "DoCoMo is confirming the handset's quality and will launch the handset as soon as all confirmations are completed."

Looks like Nokia did not live up to the expectations of DoCoMo at this point.
I find it interesting that DoCoMo is going to offer this Nokia phone on its 3G Foma network. Style-wise it is very different from the usually very stylish Foma handsets. Read more

Posted on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:21:57 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo FOMA P901iTV Digital TV Mobile Phone

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NTT DoCoMo announces today the 3G FOMA P901iTV, DoCoMo's first mobile handset to receive terrestrial digital broadcasting signals, in addition to conventional analog signals.

Japanese broadcasters will start mobile digital broadcasting in April 2006. In anticipation for the availability of digital terrestrial TV, NTT developed the P901iTV phone.
The P901iTV's main display will be a 2.5 inch, wide LCD screen. More than 2.5 hours of continuous viewing will be possible for digital TV programs. The TV function will be activated by twisting the screen. An antenna-embedded earphone will enhance TV signal reception. Read more

Posted on Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:32:23 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT 3D SpaceBrowser

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Japanese NTT is works on a 3D information browser that is scheduled to be released in October.

The NTT SpaceBrowser shows web pages arranged in 3D. This is not a new concept, and I am still not convinced it makes sense to navigate information in 3D without having solved the 3D navigation user interface in general. The SpaceBrowser is nice to look at, but in my opinion just a toy.
Companies like TheBrain are offering graphical information navigation since years and they stick with 2D so far.
More photos on AkihabaraNews and more details on the NTT SpaceBrowser site(Japanese). Read more

Posted on Fri, 12 Aug 2005 09:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT DoCoMo Micro Fuel Cell for Mobile Phones

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NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the company together with Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has developed a new and improved prototype methanol fuel cell for 3G FOMA handsets.

The new prototype enables eight hours of continuous talk time, three times the capacity of the existing prototype, while weighing the same, 190g.
DoCoMo improved the capacity by increasing the methanol concentration from 30% to over 99% and developing a method of recycling the generated water.
More details in this press-release.

Read more

Posted on Wed, 6 Jul 2005 08:07:42 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo Tests 4G Network Achieving 1Gbps Speeds

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I still do not have a 3G phone (because of the stupid pricing plans in Germany) and NTT DoCoMo already fools around with 4G networks.

NTT DoCoMo announced that they reached 1Gbps real-time packet transmission in the downlink at the moving speed of about 20km/h in a field experiment on fourth-generation (4G) radio access.
If you want to blow your mind read the sentence below taken from the press-release explaining the technology.

Read more

Posted on Sun, 26 Jun 2005 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT Fuel Cell for Mobile Phones

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NTT announces a new compact high power fuel cell prototype development.

The micro polymer-electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) uses hydrogen gas as a fuel and is apparently small enough to directly fit in a mobile phone. The new micro polymer-electrolyte based fuel cell competes with the current direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) development.

NTT says DMFCs have two issues: They generate CO2 and it is difficult to miniturize the fuel cell, while still generate enough power for running a mobile phone.
The PEFCs do not generate CO2 and the current PEFC prototype has a compact size (external dimensions: 42*80*13 mm; weight: 104 g), which makes it suitable for directly fitting into a mobile phone, and enables a talk time of nine hours.
More details in NTT press-release.

Read more

Posted on Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:06:57 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT RedTacton Human Area Network

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NTT announces Human Area Networking technology Research Project called RedTacton, that safely turns the surface of the human body into a data transmission path at speeds up to 10 Mbps between any two points on the body.

Using a novel electro-optic sensor, NTT has already developed a small PCMCIA card-sized prototype RedTacton transceiver. Instead of relying on electromagnetic waves or light waves to carry data, RedTacton uses weak electric fields on the surface of the body as a transmission medium.

Interesting stuff. NTT has setup a whole site for RedTacton with lots of diagrams and content. More details also in this press-release. First seen on Akihabara News.

Find Books on wearable computers

Read more

Posted on Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:46:17 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT DoCoMo premini-II Tiny Mobile Phone

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NTT DoCoMo introduces a new version of its super tiny mobile phone premini called naturally the premini-II.

The premini-II measures 105mm×46mm×19.4mm. The first premini mobile phone measures 90x39x19mm. So the premini-II grew in size, not so cool. On the other hand the premini-II (Sony Ericsson SO506i) is a mega-pixel camera phone and has a 1.9 inch QVGA (320x240pixel) color screen. It also featurs a Sony memory stick DUO slot. Of course this means the premini-II plays music. Funny enough not MP3 but Sony's ATRAC format. The premini-II comes in three colors.
The new NTT DoCoMo small mobile phone goes on sale in Japan on February 10th.
More details on NTT DoCoMo site. NTT DoCoMo also has launched a special site for the premini phones (Japanese).

See also the Motorola Minimoto, which measures 90×32.4×21.2mm (smaller than the premini-II) and is available in Korea. The minimoto also plays music.

Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 Feb 2005 04:04:16 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NTT DoCoMo aquires Stake in MontaVista Linux Software Company

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We reported about NTT DoCoMo offering Linux powered Mobile phones like the N900iL and the N901iC. Now NTT DoCoMo aquires a piece of Montavista Software Inc. which provides the embedded Linux version for NTT. NTT invests 3 Mio. USD into the 182 employee strong Linux company.

The support of NTT in Linux is interesting and strengthens Linux to compete with Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian.
More details in NTT Press-Release. See also MontaVista's site.

Read more

Posted on Tue, 21 Dec 2004 05:52:12 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT Docomo 3G F901iC Fingerprint Sensor Phone

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NTT Docomo introduces another feature-packed FOMA 3G mobile phone - F901iC.

The F901iC features the FeliCa payment chip, fingerprint authentication sensor, Video recording at speeds up to 30 frames/second, virtual surround sound for ring tones, mini-SD card slot, two color screens and two digital cameras: 2MP and 0.3MP.

The F901iC measures 105 x 51 x 28 mm and weighs 129g.
More details in NTT press-release.


Other Recent FOMA 3G Phone Announcements:
First NTT FOMA 3G Phone for International Roaming
New NTT Foma 3G Phone Line-Up
NTT DoCoMo launches WLAN 3G N900iL Mobile Phone

Read more

Posted on Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:49:33 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

First NTT FOMA 3G Phone for International Roaming

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NTT DoCoMo introduces the N900iG, the first FOMA 3G handset for fully functional mobile communications in approximately 115 countries/regions.

N900iG users who want to use the handset abroad must subscribe to DoCoMo's WORLD WING® 3G roaming service for i-mode® packet communications, videophone, SMS (short messaging service) and voice calls in other countries/regions. The Phone is compatible with both GSM and 3G W-CDMA networks for voice, video calling and SMS in those approximately 115 countries and regions.
The new global 3G phone measures 103 x 50 x 28 mm and weighs 132g. The new NTT Phone features two cameras. One with 1.2MP and one with 0.1MP.

The N900iG will be available from December 25, 2004. Price not set yet. The NTT Docomo Press-Release contains tables with usage rates.

Read more

Posted on Thu, 16 Dec 2004 03:30:12 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Montavista Linux powers 3G NTT DoCoMo Mobile Phones

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MontaVista Software announced that MontaVista Linux is the chosen operating system for three of the new FOMA third-generation (3G) mobile phones from NTT DoCoMo. These MontaVista Linux-based phones include the N900iL and the N901iC, both developed by NEC Corporation and the P901i from Panasonic.

We reported about the N900iL Wi-fi/3G mobile phone in July. Back then we did not know it is powered by Linux, because NTT did not tell.

"NTT DoCoMo has specified Linux as one of two operating system platforms for its next generation phones. And, handset manufacturers, such as NEC and Panasonic, are embracing Linux for phone development because of its flexibility, control and opportunities for innovation", Jim Ready, CEO and president, MontaVista Software.
Well, I say this is a big win for Linux on devices.

Read more

Posted on Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:43:11 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NTT Foma 3G Phone Line-Up

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NTT DoCoMo introduces several new phones on the Japanese market.

The Foma D901i features a slider design and comes in three colors. It measures 106mm×50mm×25mm and weighs 136g. The screen has QVGA resolution. The phone has a SD-mini Card slot.

The other new Foma Phones are: SH901C, F901iC, N901iC and P901i. Take a look at the Japanese NTT DoCoMo 901i site, its crazy yellow.

Read more

Posted on Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:19:31 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr