With the iPhone being so popular, we would expect that many carriers around the world are scrambling for the privilege to offer it as part of its portfolio which would undoubtedly attract many customers to their networks. While it did […]
Like It , +1 , Tweet It , Pin It Original content from Ubergizmo. 
     |
Finally “SmartTV dstick 01″ will be available for purchase at docomo stores across Japan from July 1. It was introduced at the NTT docomo’s 2013 Spring new product press conference that was held last January, and it has been sold only in NTT docomo’s online store since March 1.
You can check the article about the press conference here.
Plug “SmartTV dstick 01″ into your TV to give direct access to the rich dmarket contents for smartphones and then at home you can enjoy movies, TV shows, music, karaoke, animations etc coming from dmarket.
It sells for ¥8,925 at present, but the price will be changed on July 1. Its new price will be ¥6,930.
NTT docomo is releasing a compact triangle-shaped wireless smartphone charger “Wireless Charger 03″ on June 27.
To charge your smartphone with “Wireless Charger 03″, simply leave it on the charger. When the light on the side of the charger turns red, that indicates your smartphone is charged up.
3 silicon covers in different colors (gray, pink and brown) come with “Wireless Charger 03″ so that you can change the cover according to the mood of the day.
Compatible models:
Optimus it L-05E
ELUGA P P-03E
AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-06E
AQUOS PHONE si SH-07E
ARROWS Kiss F-03D
F-03D Girls’
ARROWS Kiss F-03E
F-09D ANTEPRIMA
MEDIAS X N-04E
ELUGA V P-06D
AQUOS PHONE slider SH-02D
Q-pot.Phone SH-04D
AQUOS PHONE EX SH-04E
AQUOS PHONE st SH-07D
AQUOS PHONE f SH-13C
ARROWS X F-10D
MEDIAS PP N-01D
ELUGA X P-02E
AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-09D
SH-05D
Price: About ¥2,500
Size: 80×85×16mm
Weight: 75g
Samsung’s GALAXY S4 that NTT docomo started to sell in Japan on May 23 will now be available in the “Blue Arctic” model on June 16.
“Blue Arctic” is a beautiful deep blue color that is not included among Samsung’s GALAXY S4 global models.
We wrote about GALAXY S4 in the articles about “NTT docomo’s 2013 summer model press release” and “GALAXY S4 WORLD TOUR 2013 TOKYO“.
While riding her bike on Sunday, May 19th, at approximately 3:30pm, highly accomplished and well-regarded robotics researcher Dr. Kanako Miura was struck by a large truck near Charlesgate Park in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Miura, 36, died at the scene. Official reports conclude that it was simply a terrible accident on a busy road.
• • •
A guest of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Miura arrived last October for what was planned to be year of research at the world-class MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). She had been invited to share her pioneering work on improving the understanding of human bipedal locomotion and applying that practical knowledge to advanced humanoids, i.e., Dr. Miura made robots that walk like us.
“She was really part of the fabric of our group. She was not just a visitor in our group, she became a close friend and a member of our family. The energy she brought to her work was contagious, and her enthusiasm was easy to see. She loved giving tours, and showing off the lab, and she had an unfailing optimism in the future and importance of humanoid robots.”
-Professor Russ Tedrake, Director; Center for Robotics, CSAIL
Dr. Miura held a B.E. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.E. and Ph.D. in Information Science from prestigious Tohoku University. She also earned an additional Ph.D. in Electronics and Automation from equally renowned Université Louis-Pasteur in 2004. Such certifications alone evidence a formidable intellect; factoring in the linguistic challenges between Japanese, French, and English – well, that pushes the dial up a bit further.
The considerable expertise Dr. Miura brought to MIT arose from post-doctoral research at Tohoku University, a subsequent research position with communications giant NTT Docomo, and her eventual ascent to senior researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in the Intelligent Systems Research Institute’s Humanoid Robotics Department.
While at AIST, Dr. Miura worked on the world-famous HRP-4C Future Dream robot (nicknamed “Miim,” from the Japanese). You might not know the name, but chances are you’ve seen photos or video of the agile and strikingly human robot:
HRP-4C has also “met” with the highest levels of foreign government:
With the above robot as the platform and Dr. Miura as the lead researcher, the AIST team made several valuable and distinct contributions to mobility and agility in humanoid robotics. The video below, for example, demonstrates the “slip turn” motion. “Slip turn” is very human-like movement that allows a biped to rapidly change direction with minimal change in body orientation. How is this an advancement? Well, think about the baby steps a robot like ASIMO has to take when changing direction, as opposed to this:
Another project led by Dr. Miura was the development of a more human-like gait for bipedal robots. When we walk, movement in the pelvis precipitates and works in conjunction with movement in the knees. A natural human step ends with the back foot balancing and pushing off the toe, and this leads to the standard leg-swing motion of the human stride. Here’s that recreated in robot form – and again, sorry ASIMO, but your flat-footed shuffling must yield:
Dr. Miura also led a project that would allow a robot to mimic human movement based on motion capture technology.
After contributing so much to her field, in addition to eventually being courted for the year of study and collaboration at MIT, she was also recognized here at home with the 2010 AIST President Award:
Such is the noble reality of robotics research. No single person can crank out a perfect human facsimile, and there are no Tony Starks – there are researchers like Dr. Miura, diligently working through small but profound iterations and laying the foundation for generations of robotics research to follow.
Unfortunately, no one at Akihabara News or Anthrobotic.com knew or had ever met Dr. Miura. However, through the words of Professor Tedrake and other public and private discussions, it is easy to appreciate that she was not only a brilliant and motivated scholar, but also a warm and engaging person. How we wish to have had the pleasure of interacting with such a comprehensive intellect.
Though something small, we hope it a fitting memorial to share her work here. That awareness of her contributions might inspire others toward learning about robotics, engineering, or science of any kind, is a fitting legacy.
Seems safe to assume she’d agree.
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Sources: Boston Police Twitter; Boston Police Department; Universal Hub; Boston.com; MIT News; CSAIL Computer Science and AI Laboratory News; IsolateCyclist Blog; Fenway-Kenmore Patch; Worldjournal.com (Chinese); IT Media (Japanese/日本語)
Photos: LinkedIn; AIST; The White House
Samsung’s “GALAXY S4 SC-04E” was highly featured at NTT Docomo’s 2013 summer lineup roll-out.
It’s 8 mm thick – 1 mm thinner than its previous model. In its slim body, it’s got a large capacity 2600mAh battery and the world’s first 5 inch full HD organic EL display. 1.9GHz Quad Core CPU and 2GB RAM are built-in giving it serious processing ability and quick response.
The camera is 13.2 million pixel. Several interesting functions are included in the “GALAXY S4 SC-04E”: “Sound and Shot” that records sounds while taking a photo, “Keshigomu (Eraser) Mode” that allows you to erase anything you don’t want to include in a photo (like people in the background), and “Dual Camera” where you can use the outside camera and inside camera at the same time.
Other interesting functions include “S Gesture” that enables you to control the phone by moving a hand above the screen and “Smart Pause” that detects when your way of looking at the screen changes and pauses the video that you are watching.
Regarding colors, “black mist”, “white forest” and “blue arctic” are available. Blue arctic is a special color that was not included in the GALAXY S4 global model that was revealed in March.
Release date: May 23 (black mist and white forest), mid-June (blue arctic)
Size: 137 x 70 x 8mm
Weight: 134g
Display: Approx. 5 inch, 1080×1920 dot, full HD, organic EL display, 16.77 million pixel
External memory: microSD (2GB), microSDHC (32GB), microSDXC (64GB)
CPU: APQ8064T (1.9GHz Quad Core)
OS: Android 4.2
“XPERIA A SO-04E” is a smartphone designed with round edges to fit in your palm well with an approx. 4.6 inch (720×1280 dot) LCD. It’s Docomo’s version of XPERIA’s global model “Sony XPERIA ZR”.
If you say XPERIA, you might remember its highly-functional camera. Sony’s CMOS image sensor “Exmor RS for mobile” is featured with “XPERIA A SO-04E” and that makes it strong against backlight. When it’s in sleep mode, it will shift to camera mode instantly by pressing a small bottom on the side so it is harder to miss the moment than with other smartphones when you want to take a photo. This is functionality that we’ve only seen with XPERIA.
It is waterproof and dustproof, and it’s compatible with NFC, infrared data communication, Bluetooth, and wallet phone function.
Release date: May 17
Colors: white, black, pink, mint
Dimensions: 131 x 67 x 10.5mm
Weight: 141g
Display: 4.6 inch, 720×1280 dots, HD, TFT display, 16.77 million colors
External memory: microSD (2GB), microSDHC (32GB), microSDXC (64GB)
CPU: APQ8064 (1.5GHz Quad Core)
OS: Android 4.1
Today, NTT Docomo’s 2013 “Summer Collection” new product press conference took place at Bellesalle Shiodome in Tokyo and they revealed 11 models of new smart phones, 1 tablet and 2 new colors of their 2 existing mobile phones.
During today’s press conference, CEO Kaoru Kato emphasized several times that Sony’s “XPERIA A SO-04E” and Samsung’s “GALAXY S4 SC-04E” are the top two devices of the 2013 Summer Collection. Docomo has set a “Special Price” for these 2 models based on users who get 2 year contracts. If you apply to both “Hajimete Smaho Wari (first smartphone discount)” and “Arigatou 10-nen Sumaho Wari (discount for those who has have more than 10 years contract with Docomo)”, an extra 20,000 yen will be discounted, and regarding “XPERIA A SO-04E”, the price will become about 5,000 yen.
I will highlight both the “XPERIA A SO-04E” and “GALAXY S4 SC-04E” in posts to follow.
The number of NTT Docomo smartphone users increased from 10 million users in 2011 up to 18.7 million users in 2012. At today’s press conference, there was no announcement for new mobile phone models (they call their mobile phone “iMode keitai”) giving us the clear impression that the company is focusing primarily on smartphones. To support that, in exchange of new iMode keitai models, they introduced 2 models of smart phones featuring “Docomo Simple UI” that keeps iMode keitai’s usability and allows smartphone “beginners” to make full use of it. They are MEDIAS N-06R and ELUGA P P-03E.
Other features of Docomo’s 2013 Summer New Smart phones and Tablet:
***************************************************************
1) All models have a battery bigger than 2,000mAh that can run the device more than 45 hours.
– 5 of 10 new smart phone models have a battery bigger than 2,500mAh.
– “ARROWS NX F-06E” has a 3,020mAh battery that is the biggest among smartphones. The battery life is more than 60 hours.
2) Some models are compatible with the “Hover” function.
– “Hover” allows you to control a smartphone without touching the screen.
– Compliant models: ELUGA P P-03E, GALAXY S4 SC-04E, AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-06E, ARROWS NX F-06E
3) All the models are compatible with “Moba-cas” that broadcasts NOTTV. New function for Recording NOTTV is added.
4) Some models can receive the high-resolution Full Seg terrestrial digital broadcasting.
– Compliant models: ARROWS NX F-06E, AQUOS PAD SH-08E
5) Xi Network has been expanded and speeded up.
***************************************************************
On hand to give their thoughts about Docomo’s new Summer lineup were famous “talento”:
– Ken Watanabe
– Satomi Ishihara
– Tori Matsuzaka
– Ai Hashimoto
Samsung can add “mist” and “frost” to its color names, but deep down we know the Galaxy S 4 only comes in black or white. That is, unless you’re one of NTT DoCoMo’s customers, who can expect the Korean flagship to arrive in blue arctic as well. A leaked pamphlet reveals that the third shade will be announced when the quad-core handset is announced on May 15th — confirming once and for all that Japanese mobile users get all the fun.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Via: All About Samsung, SammyHub
Source: RBMen (Translated)
We do know that Nokia will most probably reveal their upcoming flagship device, the Nokia Lumia 928, sometime later next week (May 14 is the speculated date by many), but does this mean other handset manufacturers and carriers will just sit down there and do nothing? Not quite, as Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo intends to hold their summer showcase a day after that, where a slew of new products will be announced. It seems most likely that we will see a bunch of spanking new Sony Xperia products being announced for the Japanese market – and hopefully in due time, in the rest of the world, with rival carrier AU by KDDI tipped to also hold a similar event a few days later – on May 20, to be exact.
There were rumors in the past that Sony Mobile is working on a summer release of the Xperia A (SO-04E), where it will launch on DoCoMo with the Xperia UL (SOL22) arriving on AU. After all, May tends to be when new handsets are traditionally announced in the Land of the Rising Sun, with the Xperia GX and Xperia SX being the precedents in the year before. All we can do is sit tight and wait!
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Future iPhones Could Feature Invisible Buttons, Sliders, Gold-plated Blackberry Q10 Will Set You Back Over $2,000, 
| |
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
