Hasta La Gadget!

So there are ways to wrap up trips and there are ways to wrap… up… trips. After four weeks of Engadget souls roaming the trains of Tokyo for TGS and CEATEC, we finally closed things out with a massive reader meetup with Engadget Japan. About 500 rabid (but very friendly) Engadget Japan fans lined up in Roppongi to meet the editors and see some mind-boggling, sometimes hysterical, and always interesting presentations. Thanks to Maywa Denki for his artistic impressions of Engadget readers (and the amazing Otamatone musical…thing). Also big ups to Samo Dengi (composer of music for Tekken), Cerevo, Acer, Microsoft, and Sony. But most of all, thanks to our amazing readers world-round, and thank you Japan! We are humbled, honored, and oh, so tired. See you next year! Rainen mata oaishimashooo! Video of the event after the break (taken on a 3G Android device, btw!).

Continue reading Engadget Japan meetup wrap-up and farewell Japan!

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget Japan meetup wrap-up and farewell Japan! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CEATEC is a breeding ground for new innovations, and Hitachi made sure to get its name on the A-list with a simple face-recognizing television that seeks to save power whenever you glance away. Essentially, the prototype plasma on display packs an inbuilt camera that notices when your face is peering at it, and whenever you glance away, a power-saving mode goes into action. Unfortunately, that means that the panel goes black, and while we understand the point here, we can envision such a feature causing all sorts of rage around the house, particularly if you’ve got a handful of viewers trying to keep watch from a few feet further away than yourself. Hit the read link to have a look at how things work in practice — here’s hoping you can opt for the sound to stay on throughout the blackout, at least.

Continue reading Hitachi’s face-recognizing display turns off, saves power when you look away (video)

Filed under: Displays

Hitachi’s face-recognizing display turns off, saves power when you look away (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that new and improved reference MID that Elektrobit (better known as EB) announced back at IDF? Yeah, that very device was on hand at Intel’s booth at CEATEC, though not a soul was allowed to touch it. The unit was neatly planted beneath freshly Windexed glass alongside three others, two of which certainly put an impressive label on Wistron. We did learn that the EB slate would boast a 3.97-inch capacitive touchscreen with an 800 x 480 resolution, though further details on the lot were scant. Have a peek below to see if EB’s take on the niche MID might actually cause you to take notice.

Filed under: Handhelds

Elektrobit and Wistron MIDs pop up under lock and key at CEATEC: hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Concept devices go where most product designers fear to tread. They are dream gadgets that hint at possibilities beyond what current technology can support — or what current fashion can accept.

And that’s just why we like them. They may be fantasies, but concept designs point at a future that today’s designers aspire towards.

Some interesting new concept phones made an appearance this week at CEATEC, the Japanese equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Show. These included a chameleon-like phone that could change its skin depending on its surroundings, a phone whose casing is made of wood and a phone with a flexible screen that can assume different configurations (shown above).

A major source of the concept phones this year has been Fujitsu, which ran a mobile-phone–design contest. But other companies such as NTT DoCoMo and KDDI also offered their futuristic phone ideas.

Of course, these phones aren’t real. Some of them aren’t even in the prototype stage.  Yet they are interesting because they provide a glimpse of what lies ahead — even if it’s still only on paper.

Chamelephone

Designer Hiroyuki Tabuchi created this concept with the idea that the mobile phone’s body can mimic and take on the texture of the surface that it is placed on. It’s a neat idea, but there’s no word on how that might be possible. Current material science doesn’t support this, so it would have to be done with some kind of display technology, like e-ink or OLED. As pretty as the concepts look, we won’t count on seeing these phones for a few years — at least.

All right, so you’ve all seen the news and the footage of the gesture-controlled TV and the muRata robot. Yes? Well, the thousands who descended on CEATEC 2009 did indeed crowd around the big stages to see a very tiny white robotic cyclist, or lined up patiently to see the 3D TVs (including one which did not require using special glasses).

However, we were also impressed by some other devices that may have escaped the TV cameras. Our favorites were a bunch of neat mobile developments from Fujitsu and Zenrin みんなのナビ (”everyone’s navigation”), that is used on the Sony PSP. Zenrin’s navi utilizes the uber-popular PSP console and adds the GPS devices we love to use on our phones and in our cars. Perfect for those gaming salarymen you always see zipping through station thoroughfares glued to their Playstations.

The photo transfer system developed by ALPS also seemed very practical. It was a two-way transfer system that allowed photos taken with your mobile to be sent to your PC, TV or other device simply by touching the panel of their product. And, vice versa, data could be transferred from the same devices back to the mobile.

The human-shaped ultra thin digital signage from 3M also might just change the face of in-store displays. And, with all the potential for 2D females, it might satisfy all those geeks’ fantasies as well.

A recurring feature in the products on display was interactivity, especially through touch or movement. There were gesture-controlled screens, alongside an arsenal of mobiles with touch interfaces. Schools may see electronic blackboards soon and our homes will feel sci-fi with all those 3D TVs (for those with enough money). Many major brands like Sony and Panasonic also proudly advertised green and low-emission domestic products.

Of course, we continue to give a more detailed analysis of the technology and product trends evident at CEATEC in our Mobile Trendpool.