Hasta La Gadget!

Just as the air begins to chill, NTT DoCoMo has announced its forthcoming lineup for release in November and December, including nine smartphones, four feature phones and a tablet. As the Japanese populace would no doubt demand, all of the bigger smartphones — from the 4.7-inch Arrows V F-04E through to the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II — come with 1,280 x 720 displays, a healthy degree of water- and dust-proofing, plus decent quad-core credentials. The new Aquos Phone Zeta SH-02E stands out for its low-power 4.9-inch IGZO panel and 16-megapixel camera, while the Arrows Tab F-05E 10-inch tablet packs a 1,980 x 1,200 display and what sounds like the latest 1.7GHz iteration of Tegra 3 (as seen in the HTC One X+). It’s also interesting to a see a Korean-style variant of the Galaxy S III (the Alpha SC-03E) packing a souped-up 1.6GHz Exynos chip and 2GB RAM. In related news, NTT has also announced that it’s partnering with Mastercard PayPass and will offer the contactless payment system for Japanese customers travelling abroad by fall next year — and indeed all the new smartphones are NFC-equipped. Click the first source link below for the full run-down.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

NTT DoCoMo unveils winter lineup, pushes big displays, LTE, quad-cores and NFC payments originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG revealed Japan’s NTT DoCoMo would be the first carrier to offer its Optimus G (which it’s been proud enough to announce more than once) and now we have an exact date. Pre-orders for the L-01E start tomorrow ahead of it going on sale October 19th, bringing its quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU, 4.7-inch True HD IPS LCD, 13MP camera, Android 4.0 packaged with the waterproofing, DMB tuning and FeLiCa wallet support local buyers will expect. While we wait for release details in the US on AT&T and Sprint (or another leak of that supposed LG Nexus phone) you can check out the red and black variants rolling out across the Pacific.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

NTT DoCoMo opens Japanese pre-orders for the LG Optimus G L-01E tomorrow, sales start October 19th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CEATEC, Japan’s largest annual electronics show, is winding down here on the outskirts of Tokyo. We’ve spent the past two days scouring the halls of the Makuhari Messe, digging up no shortage of concept cars, eye-tracking technologies and even the odd Windows 8 device. The star of the show may have been Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, with its gaze-controlled prototypes and real-time translation app, but there were plenty of other gadgets on hand to peak our interest — even if many of them won’t make it to market anytime soon. Have a look for yourself by browsing our complete CEATEC 2012 coverage past the break.

Continue reading CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore

Filed under: Announcements, Misc, Robots, Transportation

CEATEC 2012 wrap-up: concept cars, eye-tracking tech and motion sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last year at CEATEC, we saw NTT DoCoMo demo its translation app, which made life easier by translating a Japanese menu into English text. This time around the carrier is showing off the new Hanashite Hon’yaku service for Android devices, which can translate spoken Japanese to English and vice versa (it supports a total of 10 languages, including French, German and Korean). In addition to providing an on-screen translation, the system reads out your speaking partner’s words in your language.To use the service, you need an Android-enabled (2.2 and higher) device running on either the carrier’s spumode or moperaU plan. Provided you fit those requirements, you’ll simply have to dial the other party, speak into the phone and wait for it to play back your words in a foreign tongue.

Of course, you can also use the service in person, which is exactly what we did at DoCoMo’s booth. When we gave it a test run with some simple questions (“Where are you from?”, “What time is it?”), the app had no trouble spitting back those phrases in Japanese so the DoCoMo rep could respond. When he answered in Japanese, the translation to English was equally seamless, taking just a second or two to communicate that he is from Japan. Though the app is free, you’ll have to pay call and data charges (using the service for face-to-face conversation only entails a data fee). The cross-cultural barriers will break down starting November 1st, but you can get a glimpse of the service in action just after the break.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video)

Filed under: Software

NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a sort of reverse-Project Glass, one of DoCoMo’s latest prototypes flips its cameras back at the wearer. This hands-free videophone headset ties together seven separate cameras, each recording 720p video from wide-angle lenses. Aside from the single camera pointing behind the user (and beaming the background image), the rest of them point at the users’ face, recording different quadrants. These are then composited together, creating a three-dimensional avatar of the user that’s then broadcasted to the other caller. The model then nods, blinks, and moves — all based on the camera footage — all in real-time.

In its current guise, the bottom half of the face is still composed from high resolution stills captured beforehand, but the program is able to animate the mouth based on the words and tones that the built-in mic picks up. NTT DoCoMo had some lighter, slight less clunky, future prototypes on show, and suggested that the headset could have medical applications, embedding further sensors that could gauge blood pressure, pulse and temperature and possibly broadcast this data during a call to your future physician. Work is currently underway to utilize smaller, higher quality sensors. We take a closer look at CEATEC after the break.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo hands-free videophone prototype replaces that off-center webcam stare with your digital doppelganger (video)

Filed under: Cameras, Peripherals, Wearables, Alt

NTT DoCoMo hands-free videophone prototype replaces that off-center webcam stare with your digital doppelganger (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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