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Japan belongs to Apple: iPhone claims top 10 spots in total smartphone sales in November
- Philip Kendall
Nov 13, 2013 - Tweet
In news that Android fanboys will likely want to spit at, Japan’s top 10 smartphone sales chart currently reads 100-percent iPhone, it has been revealed.
Now carried by all three of the country’s biggest mobile providers, Apple’s iPhone has become immensely popular in Japan in recent years and is seemingly the must-have mobile this November.
- Japan
- (iPhone • smartphone • tech • trend)
84-year-old senior citizen learns to do some amazing things with his new smartphone
- Andrew Miller
Oct 16, 2013
For many senior citizens, getting to grips with smartphone technology can sometimes prove problematic. For a start, the small on-screen text is often difficult to read and the multitude of features and functions can lead to mistakes during operation. However, one elderly man turned this rule on its head when his phone was suddenly upgraded from a basic no-frills smartphone to a fully-featured smartphone at his local phone shop. But instead of being overwhelmed by the functions, he took on the challenge of getting to grips with the additional features and, within a matter of months, had learned some amazing things.
Latest chitchat technology pairs your smartphone with your home phone for ultra-convenient use
- Joan Coello
Oct 6, 2013
Panasonic announces the release of a digital cordless phone, VE-GDW03DL, which allows the use of a smartphone as a sub-handset over a wireless internet connection. The domestic chat device is set to hit stores on 14 November, and has an open price tag.
- Japan
- (gadgets • smartphone • technology)
“You’re taking peeping photos, aren’t you?” Smartphone extortion scam hits hard in Shinjuku
- Rachel Tackett
Sep 19, 2013
Many would agree that smartphones are the easiest and most convenient way to stay entertained no matter where you go, provided there’s reception. Although, they do distract us from what’s happening in the immediate vicinity. Texting and checking apps while walking through the streets of a busy city can lead to collisions with people or signposts, or even traffic if one isn’t careful! Now, a recent string of scams in Tokyo shows that the distractedness we experience when on our phones also make us a target. Read More
First ever taxis installed with lost property detectors to go into operation this year
- Andrew Miller
Sep 11, 2013
How many times have you come home in a taxi after a great night out, only to later realise that you’ve left your phone, bag or wallet in there when you jumped out? When you’re running low on fumes, or perhaps a leaking a few of your own after a heavy drinking session, checking for forgotten items is usually the last thing on your mind, but it can really put a dampener on an evening when we realise we’re missing something valuable.
Thankfully, help is at hand! Japan’s Kokusai Motors announced on September 9 that it is currently researching and developing a lost property detector system for use inside taxis as part of a joint venture with IDEA CROSS INC. The system is scheduled to enter trial stages this month and is expected to go into widespread use sometime this year.
- Japan
- (Kokusai Motors • lost property • smartphone • taxi • technology)
China’s latest smartphone pushes the boundaries of innovation with its direct plug-in connectivity
- Andrew Miller
Sep 10, 2013
Smartphones on the market today allow users to do all sorts of things that would have otherwise been unimaginable even a decade ago. You can listen to music while surfing the net or writing an email, watch movies, get live weather reports, and let’s not forget the phone’s original purpose of talking to people.
The bane of the average smartphone user’s life, however, is their device’s short battery life. And anyone looking to save their beloved device from a sudden black screen of death has to either cut down on the heavy-duty apps or carry a charging cable or battery charging unit with them. But what if we told you that you could cut out the middle man and attach your phone directly to the power outlet whenever and wherever you were?
- China
- (battery • gadgets • plug-in connector • smartphone • tech)
Give your smartphone a dose of Hatsune Miku with this unfeasibly large negi case
- Philip Kendall
Aug 31, 2013
Fans of Hatsune Miku who picked up one of Sony’s Miku-themed Xperia A smartphones will no doubt be delighted to hear that they now have the chance to make their mobile that little bit more digital diva. Produced by the creators of genius accessories such as the egg-on-toast cover and ramen bowl stand, Hamee, and sold via Japanese online accessory store Strapya, this onion-equipped smartphone case is sure to make your feelings about the Vocaloid Queen plain for all to see.
- Japan
- (accessories • mobile • negi • onion • smartphone • tech • weird • wtf)
This smartphone stand looks like ramen, but costs a lot more than a real bowl of noodles
- Michelle Lynn Dinh
Aug 30, 2013
Hamee has done it again! First, they managed to create an egg on toast smartphone case that’s so realistic you might accidentally take a bite. Now the quirky company has just released a bowl of ramen that will hold your iPhone for you.
- Japan
- (food sample • ramen • smartphone • weird)
North Korea’s “home-grown” smartphone may not be quite what it seems
- Philip Kendall
Aug 16, 2013
Always keen to impress an image of strength and prosperity upon his countrymen and the international media in general, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was photographed operating a newly made smartphone at a factory in the notoriously guarded country earlier this week, with the Korean Central News Agency claiming the device to be entirely the country’s own work. But experts elsewhere suggest that this technological achievement may not be quite what it seems.
- North Korea
- (news • smartphone • tech)
Members of the public injured at LG’s G2 smartphone giveaway event
- Andrew Miller
Aug 15, 2013
Korean electronics giant LG has had to cut its G2 smartphone publicity event short after many members of the public were injured. The company hosted a giveaway of coupons that could be exchanged for free LG G2 smartphones and was expected to be held at other arenas across Korea. However, LG didn’t anticipate just how much of a reaction the free phone campaign would create as a man, intent on getting his own free phone, discharged a firearm into the crowd.
- Korea
- (G2 • LG • publicity event • smartphone)
All of Japan instantly alerted to earthquake that kind of happened but not really
- Master Blaster
Aug 9, 2013
I was busy working at my desk on August 8, 2013 at approximately 4:55pm when I felt a great disturbance in the Force. It was as if millions of mobile phones cried out at once.
And sure enough when I checked my own phone there was a message from the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) which read “Receiving Earthquake Warning. Be cautious for violent shaking.”
Awwww, man.
Japanese company develops new lithium-ion battery that promises amazing capacities
- Andrew Miller
Aug 5, 2013
I’m sure I’m not alone in loving my smartphone but always wishing the battery would last a little longer. For many of us, not knowing whether our mobile phone’s battery will make it through the day can be a real problem. While mobile technology has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years, improvements in the batteries that power them have been rather more sluggish.
Thankfully, all this could be about to change. Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd recently announced that it has developed a new material for use in lithium-ion batteries that boasts capacities roughly 10 times the current standard, and is about to shake up the entire industry.
Survey suggests that most Japanese smartphone users couldn’t care less about mobile sites
- Andrew Miller
Aug 3, 2013
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that smartphones and mobile technology in general have changed our lives in ways that we might never have imagined even 10 years ago. Communication between people on either side of the globe has become almost instant, with a wealth of information quite literally at our fingertips, and we now have more processing power in our back pockets than the PCs that took up most of our desks in the late 90s.
But is it possible that we are becoming a little too obsessed with making our data-loving life as streamlined as possible? What we’re talking about here are the mobile versions of websites that users are often redirected to when trying to visit a website on their smartphones. Often, these smartphone-friendly sites help us navigate more easily and avoid having to pinch to zoom or pan around the screen to read their contents. But due to their simplicity, many mobile versions lack many of the features of their PC-version brethren and we spend time trying to find what we really want.
A survey conducted by Kenrei Takuchi, CEO and Management Consultant for Iroha Ltd, suggests that a significant number of smartphone users in Japan have a fond dislike of the mobile versions of popular websites and wish they’d disappear back up into the sky where they came from.
- Japan
- (PC • questionnaire • smartphone • social trends)
They’re back! Newly designed iPhone underpants now come with censored home buttons
- Michelle Lynn Dinh
Jul 25, 2013
Looking for a fresh pair of undies for your smartphone? We thought so! Bandai has just announced a new line up of their hugely popular SmartPants brand smartphone underwear. This time, SmartPants2 come in eight new designs, a pixelized home button sticker, and a exceptionally weird promotional video.
Vampire smartphones! ‘Resqcable’ renders your phone undead
- Preston Phro
Jun 11, 2013
As smartphones have become more popular and advanced, their battery lives have grown shorter and shorter and shorter.
As someone who uses a smartphone so much it’s probably causing me physical harm, I find mine needs charging sometimes twice a day. But when you’re out and about, it’s often hard to get enough time to sit down and plug it your phone in. And what if your external battery pack just died, but you desperately need to upload a photo of your lunch to Facebook? What happens then!?
Well, you could whip out your handy Resqcable power leacher!
- Japan
- (battery • smartphone • technology)
Cat smartphone stand hopes to become newest Internet meme in Japan
- Michelle Lynn Dinh
May 27, 2013
Just when we thought the clever smartphone stand market was tapped out, here comes this little cat stand. Created by Kitan Club, a Japanese capsule toy company, the stand features a cat that looks as if he’s trying to hold back an attacker, with a gaping mouth that seems to scream, “You shall not pass!” (or the cat language equivalent). The stand also features a suction cup to help hold up the smartphone.
But you don’t have to limit this little guy to smartphones, he can help hold back a variety of intruders as demonstrated by Kitan Club.
- Japan
- (cat • cute • smartphone)
My Smell-o-phone! Japanese Company Set to Make Your Smartphone Stink
- Cara Clegg
May 20, 2013
Remember Google Nose? No, we don’t either, because it was just an April Fool’s joke. But, naturally, a Japanese company has taken the idea way too seriously, and is set to release a bizarre new plug-in device for your smartphone. Read More
- Japan
- (iPhone • smartphone • smell te • tech)
Japanese Women Short On Cash Uses Smartphone Games to Lure Men Into Paying for Food Expenses
- Andrew Miller
Apr 28, 2013
The number of Japanese women who are struggling with food and living expenses is reported to be on the rise. While most women try to increase their earnings by taking on an extra part time job or even changing occupations completely, there are others who resort to some rather unscrupulous methods. One such method is to use interactive smartphone games to trick men into buying them dinner to reduce the burden of their food costs.
All the men out there, brace yourselves as what is about to unfold will leave you squirming!
Under Its au Brand, Japanese Cellular Service Provider KDDI Unveils World’s Largest and Highest Resolution Smartphone
- John Stuart Translations
Apr 1, 2013
When he realized he’d primarily been using his smartphone in bed, Nemool Smith, an au product designer and chief hardware architect, wanted a more comfortable and rewarding user experience. Coming up blank in an online search for solutions, Nemool got an idea and decided to approach his bosses at KDDI and get their permission to design a radically new hardware platform he was sure would revolutionize the way people used their phones. The result has set the tech world abuzz, and has the potential to vault KDDI to the top of the global smartphone market.
Introducing the new au zzzPhoneBed by KDDI
- Japan
- (apps • AU • cool • KDDI • mobile phone • smartphone • tech • weird)
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