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Dispatch from the road: the future holds flip phones
So, CNET has this standing feature on the 10 hottest Asian phones. Our readers love it, and I came to Japan just waiting to see feature-filled, insanely awesome phones that are unavailable in the States. And since I've been here in Japan, I have indeed seen some hot phones--most notably the Sony Ericsson Premini II and Premini S, which are so cute and tiny that I am absolutely determined to find a way to buy one and transmogrify it into some sort of GSM- or CDMA-compatible device. My husband says it'll take a soldering iron, a spare CDMA chip I have lying around, and an advanced degree in electrical engineering. I have a barrel of sake (well, a mini barrel) for the first person who can prove him wrong. But back to the business at hand: I've seen only one person using a Premini, and nearly every single other person I've seen using a cell phone (and believe me, that's nearly everyone here) is either texting madly, playing games, or taking pictures with a big-screen, big form-factor clamshell-style flip phone.
Flip is hip
The flip phone is king in Tokyo. Everyone has one, and it seems to be the center of both the communications and the entertainment universe. For one thing, despite the American stereotype of the shutterbug Japanese tourist, no one is carrying cameras anymore. I've seen plenty of Japanese tourists in Tokyo and its environs, and while I'm wielding, alternately, my Nikon D70, Sony TRV-33 video camera, or Minolta Dimage, as the situation demands, my Japanese counterparts are calmly holding up their phones, capturing images of sacred temples for a lifetime--or maybe to use as their wallpaper backgrounds. And why not? The phones they're using sport 2-, 3-, and 4-megapixel (or better) cameras. Every convenience store here features a kiosk that lets you insert an SD card and get instant prints of your digital images. Despite the preponderance of camera stores in Tokyo, I daresay the actual camera is a dying breed for the average Japanese.
More text, less talk
Now, on to texting. Text messaging seems to be the primary mode of communication here, and in fact, it seems that the rules of politeness dictate that you shouldn't actually talk on your phone. The few times I've seen people speaking into their handsets, they've done so furtively, with their hands over their mouths, and usually standing, say, just outside a train car, finishing their conversation before they hop on. No establishments are shy about banning cell phone chatting. We even rode a bus from the airport to our hotel that offered an announcement in English that talking on cell phones "annoys the neighbors."
Unlike in the United States, the no-phone signs here assume enough consumer knowledge to ask users to put their phones in silent mode. Movie theaters and other establishments in the States simply ask you to turn your phone off, ignoring vibrate mode altogether--although that's probably the safest approach, since a fair number of Americans aren't familiar with silent modes of anything, really. You'll hardly ever hear a cell phone ring--interestingly, I'm writing this aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto, and a phone that belongs to the man in the next seat over just rang, to the audible horror of those around him, as this trip began with a request to put phones on silent mode. Despite his breach of etiquette, though, the man next to me did not answer his phone--he merely silenced it quickly and put it away.
Bigger is better
Next point of observation: size. I thought cell phones here would be extremely tiny, but in fact, size doesn't seem to matter. The ubiquitous flip phones are actually pretty big--I assume to accommodate their large screens and to make the keypads large enough for simple and fast texting. When the phones are flipped open and in use, they seem gigantic--the mouthpieces are actually next to the mouth! Most of the popular models are about the size of my Treo--with the lids closed. Apparently, size has taken a backseat to multimedia functionality, and another stereotype--the one about the supertiny electronics--bites the dust.
Charming phones
Finally, though, the coup de grace of Japanese cell phone use: the dangling charm. Everyone--and I mean everyone, from the girliest schoolgirl to the grimmest businessman--attaches some sort of cute, dangling charm to the corner of his or her phone. In fact, even the one guy I saw using a Premini had loaded up his phone with twice its weight in charms. Some even attach a keychain lanyard and wear the phone and the keys around their necks for the ultimate in hands-free carrying. I witnessed a fender-bender in the mountain town of Nikko, outside Tokyo, which involved two men dressed in very well-pressed suits who got out of their cars, yelled at each other a bit, stood around imposingly, then pulled out flip phones festooned with cute and sparkly charms and called their respective insurance companies. It took some of the drama out of the situation.
On that note, actually, the phones here also come in every color imaginable--in fact, most electronics are available in pink, red, orange, and blue, on top of the standard silver. Most people do seem to carry silver or black phones, but I saw a businessman using a plastic pink model one day, although he'd added a sober touch with a simple string charm. The phones are available everywhere, too. Obviously, there's row after row in the Akihabara district, but you can buy a prepaid phone and phone card at a convenience store. Since cell phones are the ultimate convenience here, I guess that makes sense.
The absence of handhelds
So, what haven't I seen? Handhelds. I don't bring this up just to bolster my claim that handhelds are on the way out, but I haven't seen a single PDA or PDA smart phone during the entire trip--and I've been taking a lot of trains at rush hour. We're using our Treos to look up subway maps and the memos that contain our daily itineraries (more on that in a future column, perhaps), and I've noticed a few people looking askance at our gadgets. I suppose they're probably just so 2002. I haven't seen many laptops, either, although I suspect they're more common. No, here in gadget-crazy Japan, one gadget has conquered the land, and it's sporting a dangling Hello Kitty doll, to boot.
By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com
Thursday, March 24, 2005
So, CNET has this standing feature on the 10 hottest Asian phones. Our readers love it, and I came to Japan just waiting to see feature-filled, insanely awesome phones that are unavailable in the States. And since I've been here in Japan, I have indeed seen some hot phones--most notably the Sony Ericsson Premini II and Premini S, which are so cute and tiny that I am absolutely determined to find a way to buy one and transmogrify it into some sort of GSM- or CDMA-compatible device. My husband says it'll take a soldering iron, a spare CDMA chip I have lying around, and an advanced degree in electrical engineering. I have a barrel of sake (well, a mini barrel) for the first person who can prove him wrong. But back to the business at hand: I've seen only one person using a Premini, and nearly every single other person I've seen using a cell phone (and believe me, that's nearly everyone here) is either texting madly, playing games, or taking pictures with a big-screen, big form-factor clamshell-style flip phone.Flip is hip
The flip phone is king in Tokyo. Everyone has one, and it seems to be the center of both the communications and the entertainment universe. For one thing, despite the American stereotype of the shutterbug Japanese tourist, no one is carrying cameras anymore. I've seen plenty of Japanese tourists in Tokyo and its environs, and while I'm wielding, alternately, my Nikon D70, Sony TRV-33 video camera, or Minolta Dimage, as the situation demands, my Japanese counterparts are calmly holding up their phones, capturing images of sacred temples for a lifetime--or maybe to use as their wallpaper backgrounds. And why not? The phones they're using sport 2-, 3-, and 4-megapixel (or better) cameras. Every convenience store here features a kiosk that lets you insert an SD card and get instant prints of your digital images. Despite the preponderance of camera stores in Tokyo, I daresay the actual camera is a dying breed for the average Japanese.
What do you think? Am I experiencing the future of American cell phone trends?
Post your comment hereNow, on to texting. Text messaging seems to be the primary mode of communication here, and in fact, it seems that the rules of politeness dictate that you shouldn't actually talk on your phone. The few times I've seen people speaking into their handsets, they've done so furtively, with their hands over their mouths, and usually standing, say, just outside a train car, finishing their conversation before they hop on. No establishments are shy about banning cell phone chatting. We even rode a bus from the airport to our hotel that offered an announcement in English that talking on cell phones "annoys the neighbors."
Unlike in the United States, the no-phone signs here assume enough consumer knowledge to ask users to put their phones in silent mode. Movie theaters and other establishments in the States simply ask you to turn your phone off, ignoring vibrate mode altogether--although that's probably the safest approach, since a fair number of Americans aren't familiar with silent modes of anything, really. You'll hardly ever hear a cell phone ring--interestingly, I'm writing this aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto, and a phone that belongs to the man in the next seat over just rang, to the audible horror of those around him, as this trip began with a request to put phones on silent mode. Despite his breach of etiquette, though, the man next to me did not answer his phone--he merely silenced it quickly and put it away.
Bigger is better
Next point of observation: size. I thought cell phones here would be extremely tiny, but in fact, size doesn't seem to matter. The ubiquitous flip phones are actually pretty big--I assume to accommodate their large screens and to make the keypads large enough for simple and fast texting. When the phones are flipped open and in use, they seem gigantic--the mouthpieces are actually next to the mouth! Most of the popular models are about the size of my Treo--with the lids closed. Apparently, size has taken a backseat to multimedia functionality, and another stereotype--the one about the supertiny electronics--bites the dust.
Charming phones
Finally, though, the coup de grace of Japanese cell phone use: the dangling charm. Everyone--and I mean everyone, from the girliest schoolgirl to the grimmest businessman--attaches some sort of cute, dangling charm to the corner of his or her phone. In fact, even the one guy I saw using a Premini had loaded up his phone with twice its weight in charms. Some even attach a keychain lanyard and wear the phone and the keys around their necks for the ultimate in hands-free carrying. I witnessed a fender-bender in the mountain town of Nikko, outside Tokyo, which involved two men dressed in very well-pressed suits who got out of their cars, yelled at each other a bit, stood around imposingly, then pulled out flip phones festooned with cute and sparkly charms and called their respective insurance companies. It took some of the drama out of the situation.
On that note, actually, the phones here also come in every color imaginable--in fact, most electronics are available in pink, red, orange, and blue, on top of the standard silver. Most people do seem to carry silver or black phones, but I saw a businessman using a plastic pink model one day, although he'd added a sober touch with a simple string charm. The phones are available everywhere, too. Obviously, there's row after row in the Akihabara district, but you can buy a prepaid phone and phone card at a convenience store. Since cell phones are the ultimate convenience here, I guess that makes sense.
The absence of handhelds
So, what haven't I seen? Handhelds. I don't bring this up just to bolster my claim that handhelds are on the way out, but I haven't seen a single PDA or PDA smart phone during the entire trip--and I've been taking a lot of trains at rush hour. We're using our Treos to look up subway maps and the memos that contain our daily itineraries (more on that in a future column, perhaps), and I've noticed a few people looking askance at our gadgets. I suppose they're probably just so 2002. I haven't seen many laptops, either, although I suspect they're more common. No, here in gadget-crazy Japan, one gadget has conquered the land, and it's sporting a dangling Hello Kitty doll, to boot.
