3. KDDI W44S (Sony Ericsson)

The W44S, like Sharp's 911SH, features LCD technology from its manufacturer's most famous range of displays - in this case, a 3" Sony Bravia screen that runs at a resolution of 240 x 432 pixels. Although such networks are not yet in place in many parts of the world, the W44S takes full advantage of all available digital services in Japan: it has a multi-purpose "au Media Tuner" that comprises a One-Seg tuner for digital terrestrial TV, a digital radio receiver, access to the "LISMO" service, more than 5,000 downloadable Java games and navigation software.

Sony Ericsson's W44S uses a dual-hinged mechanism to facilitate multiple screen positions and rotations; although Nokia has already introduced this design concept to the West by way of its N93 phone, the W44S provides a more solid example. Dual-hinged phones are expected to become more common as mobile TV increases in popularity.

Future Talking

Although 4G mobile phone technology is not expected to become a commercial reality for anywhere between three and nine years, it seems likely that Japan, along with South Korea and China, will be at the forefront of that movement. Particularly, within the Japanese market, NTT DoCoMo is pushing the 4G envelope, having already demonstrated a vision of what it sees as a 4G future: 3D translucent imagery, viewed through a headset (reminiscent of Virtual Reality experiments), and with download speeds of 1 GB per second.

In the near future, while 3G technology remains the de facto standard of Japan's cell phone industry, we can look forward to its further development with the Apple-Softbank crossover: the iPhone. According to reports, Softbank has been selected by Apple to act as the producer of its first range of iTunes-compatible cell phones, reputedly due for launch in Japan during the first six months of 2007. And with KDDI's MUSIC-HDD line already providing 4 GB phone-players, Softbank has no time to lose.

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