Japan as a Mobile Society
I am currently travelling in Japan for a month, and since I am formally still a phd student I thought it would be apt to make some observations about one of the most technologically advanced and mobile-device-focused societies on the planet. This will be a series of posts on various relevant issues.
Despite the hype about super-advanced features, wireless dating systems and mobile blogging, japan remains on the cutting edge, but not extremely far in front of new products in the west. The one main exception is that DoCoMo has managed to provide common sense tools (train time tables, movie times, walking directions) in a basic usable format at a reasonable per-use cost.
Japan uses the i-mode system (WCDMA I believe) which is not compatible with most western phones. Even my brand new i-mate k-jam which is quad-band, wi-fi, bluetooth and a variety of other things) won't connect. I understand that GSM coverage is being rolled out over the next few years here, but for the moment, Japan is fairly isolationist when it comes to supporting foreign mobile users on their soil. I have yet to find out how well Japanese mobile phones work for Japanese travelling overseas. Vodaphone does offer coverage between Japan and Australia, and possibly some other places.
When I arrived I tried to get a phone and ended up having to get a Japanese friend to help me sign up for it. It is pre-paid, and includes $30 US credit for around $100 total price. It has been very useful for trying to arrange hotel reservations, but it takes a bit of getting used to per-city dialing prefixes which constantly change as you move.
On the plus side, it is easy to send and receive e-mail on these phones. I have a seperate e-mail address at vodaphone, which anyone can send an e-mail to, and it automatically arrives (push-email with alert, like the blackberry). I've set up all my e-mail to forward a copy (from gmail) to the phone. However, some message come through OK, and others with an error message. As yet to be determined why.
I haven't seen much in the way of video conferencing, even though 3G has had this for ages over here. A japanese friend says "why would you bother?", which is pretty much my perception of it. She also happens to get a constant barrage of text messages throughout the day and night, but only the occasional phone call. (and she's older than the teen bracket).
The phones here are primarily the clamshell flip-top models. They strike me as pretty big and bulky. My PDA is actually thinner than some models I've seen, but possibly wider. The DoCoMo phones do have big screens, frequently covered with cartoon wall-papers. This makes navigation a little better with more screen real-estate. Some of these are in very pretty colours and are obviously fashion phones paraded by some very fashionable young japanese. Thumbboards are not prevalent - which surprises me. These people constantly text and yet I am finding mobile e-mail on the multi-tap numeric keypads painful. Many japanese are fast on the keyboards, but my bet is they would be even faster if they were using a fold-out alphabetic keyboard such as the new nokias or i-mates.
Japan is an extremely polite society with a great deal of norms regarding correct behavior. My guidebook says they apologise even when they are probably not at fault. i.e. they don't piss people off - unlike westerners. In practice, this translates into very polite mobile device usage. The main part of train cars (with seats) do not allow voice calls (texting is OK). In the train you can go to the joining sections near the bathrooms to talk if you need to. Busses are frequently the same policy (wait till you get off.) Phones are supposed to be on silent mode in many places and lots of signage makes this clear in both Japanese and English. I have heard a phone ring in the wrong place (e.g. in the train carraige) only once in 3 weeks. These people KNOW how to use the silent function on their phones. In fact, on my phone, there is an easy short-cut key with the icon of a phone with a heart around it. When you hold it, it says "manner mode enabled". That pretty much summarises how the most advanced mobile culture has chosen to use (and design) their phones.
Just to wet your appetite for the next few travelling posts, they will be on the topic of:
- "light-touch communications" peripheral awareness of email and communication
- Japan as a mobile society
Update:
- Forgot to mention that some of the new ads on TV are advertising mobile payment systems. You have to buy a special new phone, which presumably has an RFID card on it. They were giving the example of waving your phone over a sensor on an ice-cream cart, which then paid for the product. It appears it is rolled out, but havent't seen anyone using it yet.
Despite the hype about super-advanced features, wireless dating systems and mobile blogging, japan remains on the cutting edge, but not extremely far in front of new products in the west. The one main exception is that DoCoMo has managed to provide common sense tools (train time tables, movie times, walking directions) in a basic usable format at a reasonable per-use cost.
Japan uses the i-mode system (WCDMA I believe) which is not compatible with most western phones. Even my brand new i-mate k-jam which is quad-band, wi-fi, bluetooth and a variety of other things) won't connect. I understand that GSM coverage is being rolled out over the next few years here, but for the moment, Japan is fairly isolationist when it comes to supporting foreign mobile users on their soil. I have yet to find out how well Japanese mobile phones work for Japanese travelling overseas. Vodaphone does offer coverage between Japan and Australia, and possibly some other places.
When I arrived I tried to get a phone and ended up having to get a Japanese friend to help me sign up for it. It is pre-paid, and includes $30 US credit for around $100 total price. It has been very useful for trying to arrange hotel reservations, but it takes a bit of getting used to per-city dialing prefixes which constantly change as you move.
On the plus side, it is easy to send and receive e-mail on these phones. I have a seperate e-mail address at vodaphone, which anyone can send an e-mail to, and it automatically arrives (push-email with alert, like the blackberry). I've set up all my e-mail to forward a copy (from gmail) to the phone. However, some message come through OK, and others with an error message. As yet to be determined why.
I haven't seen much in the way of video conferencing, even though 3G has had this for ages over here. A japanese friend says "why would you bother?", which is pretty much my perception of it. She also happens to get a constant barrage of text messages throughout the day and night, but only the occasional phone call. (and she's older than the teen bracket).
The phones here are primarily the clamshell flip-top models. They strike me as pretty big and bulky. My PDA is actually thinner than some models I've seen, but possibly wider. The DoCoMo phones do have big screens, frequently covered with cartoon wall-papers. This makes navigation a little better with more screen real-estate. Some of these are in very pretty colours and are obviously fashion phones paraded by some very fashionable young japanese. Thumbboards are not prevalent - which surprises me. These people constantly text and yet I am finding mobile e-mail on the multi-tap numeric keypads painful. Many japanese are fast on the keyboards, but my bet is they would be even faster if they were using a fold-out alphabetic keyboard such as the new nokias or i-mates.
Japan is an extremely polite society with a great deal of norms regarding correct behavior. My guidebook says they apologise even when they are probably not at fault. i.e. they don't piss people off - unlike westerners. In practice, this translates into very polite mobile device usage. The main part of train cars (with seats) do not allow voice calls (texting is OK). In the train you can go to the joining sections near the bathrooms to talk if you need to. Busses are frequently the same policy (wait till you get off.) Phones are supposed to be on silent mode in many places and lots of signage makes this clear in both Japanese and English. I have heard a phone ring in the wrong place (e.g. in the train carraige) only once in 3 weeks. These people KNOW how to use the silent function on their phones. In fact, on my phone, there is an easy short-cut key with the icon of a phone with a heart around it. When you hold it, it says "manner mode enabled". That pretty much summarises how the most advanced mobile culture has chosen to use (and design) their phones.
Just to wet your appetite for the next few travelling posts, they will be on the topic of:
- "light-touch communications" peripheral awareness of email and communication
- Japan as a mobile society
Update:
- Forgot to mention that some of the new ads on TV are advertising mobile payment systems. You have to buy a special new phone, which presumably has an RFID card on it. They were giving the example of waving your phone over a sensor on an ice-cream cart, which then paid for the product. It appears it is rolled out, but havent't seen anyone using it yet.
posted by axup at 12:33 AM
1 Comments:
Sure, Japanese phones maybe a little more bigger than American phones, but overall, they're nowhere near as primitive and bulky as the Blackberry, and nowhere near as bulky as American phones in general.
(I've got relatives living in the US)
Plus, Japanese phones have more functionability.
Multi-megapixel camera (3~4 Megapixels) are normal here in Japan. The colour screens are crisp and clear. Nobody in Japan types on a mobile phone keyboard with two hands, like Americans do on their Blackberries.
If you did that, you would be laughed at; it's considered common sense and the norm to be able to type into your mobile phone with one hand.
Plus, why would the Japanese want to put a big bulky PDA like Blackberry item just to phone?
Most Japanese utilise e-mail a little more than phone calling on their mobile anyways.
Even though I understand that the US is a big country, why are companies even mentioning "coverage" as a major factor?
It's 2006, you know.
In Japan, if you don't know much about phone e-mail and whatnot, you can take off the e-mail and Internet service from the phone and use it like an ordinary phone; my 67 year old grandmother in Japan does that.
Either way, the US is so pathetically far behind in mobiles than in Europe or in Asia.
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