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Pomera DM100 from Japan and iPhone make an odd couple

Already have an iPhone? Pick up the tiny Pomera DM100 for text input and drop that expensive, bulky MacBook.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
An iPhone and King Jim's Pomera DM100 is all you may ever need.
An iPhone and King Jim's Pomera DM100 is all you may ever need. Pomera

Japan has a knack for marketing odd products. Many of them thrive, however. Enter King Jim's Pomera DM100.

When I lived in Tokyo, I spent way too much time in the Akihabara electronics district. That's where stores hawked, for example, pint-sized laptops made for the Japanese market by IBM Japan. To me, those Big Blue portables seemed impractical but always found plenty of buyers.

In that vein, the Pomera DM100 has apparently struck a chord of sorts in Japan. Enough to be deemed worthy of a lengthy review in Japan's leading business daily, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

So, why would an august publication like Nikkei write up a device with a 5.7-inch monochrome screen, no Wi-Fi, and no broadband?

Well, because it's a very fast way to take notes, let's say, in a meeting. Not convinced yet? It turns on instantly. Not yet? Has a rated 30 hours of battery life and weighs only 399 grams. Still not interested? It sends text instantly to an iPhone or iPad via QR code using a Bluetooth connection. And it's priced over $350. OK, so I lost you there.

But if you want to go minimalist and chuck that bulky MacBook, it's an option--in Japan, at least. If you need more convincing see this video review or a more in-depth video review here.