[OT] J-capable phones with KDDI America

[Nora Stevens Heath]

Hi, everyone--

I apologize for the off-topicness of this post, although I suppose it
ties into staying in touch with one's clients.

While shopping in a local Japanese-import store, I saw a big display for
KDDI America's cellphones and plans. The point was their range of
Japanese-capable phones, ostensibly for Japanese workers (and their
families) posted overseas. Not only can the phones handle Japanese
input and display, but calls to Japan simply come out of one's monthly
minutes without incurring charges at international rates. Contracts
come in 3-month, 1-year, and 2-year lengths.

Does anyone have any experience with these? I don't ask much from my
cellphone, but for it to be able to handle Japanese would be a real boon,
even if it only meant I could read and reply to client E-mails in Gmail.
With other J-capable devices like the T-Mobile Sidekick and AT&T's
iPhone, I don't know if it's worth switching carriers (I'm with AT&T now).

I welcome your opinions, whether onlist or off-. Thanks in advance.

Nora

--
Nora Stevens Heath <no...@fumizuki.com>
J-E translations: http://www.fumizuki.com/

[Minoru Mochizuki]

I don't know if this will help you or confuse you, I use an NTT-supported
cell phone, with which I can send or receive messages written in Japanese. I
used it to communicate with my family members while I was travelling through
Australia and China. I could send to or receive from Japan messages written
in Japanese in the middle of their continents such as Alice Springs and
Xi'an. You can read or write in English using the same cell phone, send or
receive pictures.

It is not anything new with Japanese cell phones. In contrast, several years
ago, I believed in T-mobile's ads and bought their cell phone and carried it
on my trip to South America. The result was disastrous. Even in places like
Sao Paulo Airport, I could not send or call overseas due to, possibly, out
of range. It is possibly due to the advancement of technology, particularly
in terms of networks.

In the meanwhile, the Japanese cell phone technology is so unique that it is
different from all other systems in the world so that it is called the
Galapagos industry masochistically by Japanese.

Minoru Mochizuki

[JimBreen]

On Nov 23, 12:42 pm, "Minoru Mochizuki" <minm...@rhythm.ocn.ne.jp>
wrote:

> I don't know if this will help you or confuse you, I use an NTT-supported
> cell phone, with which I can send or receive messages written in Japanese. I
> used it to communicate with my family members while I was travelling through
> Australia and China. I could send to or receive from Japan messages written
> in Japanese in the middle of their continents such as Alice Springs and
> Xi'an. You can read or write in English using the same cell phone, send or
> receive pictures.

Yes, a number of keitai now have GSM capability, which means
they can work in Australia, Europe, etc.

> It is not anything new with Japanese cell phones. In contrast, several years
> ago, I believed in T-mobile's ads and bought their cell phone and carried it
> on my trip to South America. The result was disastrous. Even in places like
> Sao Paulo Airport, I could not send or call overseas due to, possibly, out
> of range. It is possibly due to the advancement of technology, particularly
> in terms of networks.

I wonder what they were claiming? Perhaps their compatibility
was only with the US systems. Having agreements with the
local telcos is also a must for a mobile phone to work in
another country.

> In the meanwhile, the Japanese cell phone technology is so unique that it is
> different from all other systems in the world so that it is called the
> Galapagos industry masochistically by Japanese.

Very true. The recent Japanese 3G systems are much closer to the
international standards. Two years ago I bumped into a
former student at Narita - he was working for Ericsson, and
was in Japan to commission some 3G systems. That wouldn't
have happened in the past.

A common industry view is that the Japanese
cellular phone technology is very strong on features,
but not great on the underlying radio systems -
the cells tend to smaller, the bandwidth used per
call higher, etc. etc. when compared with the
European/US systems.

Jim

[Nora Stevens Heath]

Minoru Mochizuki wrote:

> I don't know if this will help you or confuse you, I use an NTT-
> supported cell phone, with which I can send or receive messages written
> in Japanese.

Certainly I'm more than satisfied, if not outright impressed, by the
Japanese cellphones I've used while traveling in Japan--that's pretty
much what I want in my everyday life back home. If they can be used
overseas as well, even better...except that the severe restrictions on
non-residents signing up for mobile service prevent me from obtaining my
own phone to keep and bring home for use in the States.

I suppose it's possible to purchase a 3G-capable phone in Japan without
a contract, but it must be very expensive. I know that's the case here,
where phones may come free with a two-year contract, but cost hundreds
of dollars otherwise.

[Shinya Suzuki]

Minoru Mochizuki wrote:
> In the meanwhile, the Japanese cell phone technology is so unique that it is
> different from all other systems in the world so that it is called the
> Galapagos industry masochistically by Japanese.

Or rather the industry has been suffering from "Galapagos syndrome."

http://www.blerp.com/d/18423
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_syndrome

Shinya Suzuki, a ガラケー user

[Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven]

Nora,

-On [20091123 04:25], Nora Stevens Heath (fumi...@gmail.com) wrote:
>I suppose it's possible to purchase a 3G-capable phone in Japan without
>a contract, but it must be very expensive. I know that's the case here,
>where phones may come free with a two-year contract, but cost hundreds
>of dollars otherwise.

I didn't have any problems using my HTC Hero (using Google's Android) while
in Japan on my recent trip. The market place (where you download free or
for-pay applications) now also includes various input methods for Chinese,
Korean, and Japan. I am not sure what the Asian font coverage is, but so far
I have not had any problems displaying the characters I needed.

http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/overview.html

I've been incredibly happy with it so far, so maybe it's a potential
interesting option for you.

--
Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven <asmodai(-at-)in-nomine.org> / asmodai
イェルーン ラウフロック ヴァン デル ウェルヴェン
http://www.in-nomine.org/ | http://www.rangaku.org/ | GPG: 2EAC625B
Hope springs eternal...

[Ray Roman]

Since you're on AT&T, you should know that their BlackBerry Bold also handles JPN input now. (It did not last year at this time.)

--
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--
Ray Roman J.D.
Japanese to English legal translation
japane...@gmail.com

[Nora Stevens Heath]

Ray Roman wrote:

> Since you're on AT&T, you should know that their BlackBerry Bold also
> handles JPN input now. (It did not last year at this time.)

I did see that during my research yesterday--that's definitely an option.

It turns out that, all else being equal, KDDI's package would save me
about $70 a year. Not very much, but add in Japanese capability and
it's pretty much a done deal. Unfortunately, my contract isn't up until
next September, and breaking it now would cost me just over $100,
negating any new-plan savings. I'll wait 'til September and take it
from there. With new J-capable devices hitting the market all the time,
I may be pleasantly surprised by my options.

(For those who are interested, I discovered that NTT DoCoMo America also
offers a similar service for Japanese expats via T-Mobile.)

Thanks, everyone--

[Warren Smith]

Adding Japanese capability to any Windows Mobile-capable phone is not
difficult. (I have done so for my HTC Diamond phone.) I think I posted the
process by which to do so on this forum before. If not (and if there is
interest), I can do so.

Warren

-----Original Message-----
From: Nora Stevens Heath [mailto:fumi...@gmail.com]

[Ethan Mandel]

A number of my colleagues have used KDDI's phones here in the US and were
not particularly impressed by their quality. Offered phone models are
equivalent to what was considered new in Japan four or five years ago.

As Nora mentioned, Docomo is collaborating to a limited degree with T-Mobile
in the US market. They opened a store inside of the Manhattan Kinokuniya,
which seems to be aimed towards Japanese users who are visiting the US (or
vice versa), although they also sell Japanese-equipped Blackberries.

++++++++++++++++++++++
Ethan Mandel
MSA Partners, LLC
www.msapr.com
++++++++++++++++++++++

-----Original Message-----
From: Nora Stevens Heath [mailto:fumi...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 9:11 AM
To: hon...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [OT] J-capable phones with KDDI America

[Scott Mason]

Hi,

One option for getting a Japanese capable 3G phone cheap is Yahoo
Auction. Last time, I got a new-in-the box N95 (softbank X02NK) at
auction for 35,000. This is a Nokia smartphone that happens to do
Japanese, not a Japanese featurephone.

Scott

[roy.b...@gmail.com]

I have noticed that used computer/electronics stores in places such as
Akihabara in Tokyo, Teramachi in Kyoto or Nipponbashi in Osaka sell
used phones. Since Japanese mobile phone companies generally do not
offer service contracts that don't include a phone (at least compared
with other countries), the used phone market is rather small, but it
does exist.

[Charles Aschmann]

I second this. I have had Japanese on a Windows Mobile cell for years. I
am glad to hear that it is now mainstream with other phones.
Though I am not an advocate, you have the i-phone option since you are
on ATT.

Charles Aschmann

[roy.b...@gmail.com]

The iPhone has impressed me quite a bit with its multilingual
capability. It is possible to add Japanese or whatever to Windows
Mobile, but it still has to be added while my iPhone worked with both
Japanese and Chinese (and of course all those languages I'll never
learn) right out of the box.

How is Android or the new Palm OS for language support? Anyone have
experience yet?

On Nov 25, 10:19 pm, Charles Aschmann <aschm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I second this. I have had Japanese on a Windows Mobile cell for years. I
> am glad to hear that it is now mainstream with other phones.
> Though I am not an advocate, you have the i-phone option since you are
> on ATT.
>

[Ray Roman]

FYI, for the BlackBerry, you need to download the East Asian Language version of device software. When I first purchased the Bold one year ago, there was a major bug: once the EA version was installed, it could _read_ JPN but could not input it. A recent upgrade now works properly. It would be nice if the BlackBerry handled JPN out of the box, though. Hats off to Apple.

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[Oroszlany Balazs]

Hi,

I've heard (from softbank) that their phones are locked, and I
couldn't use them abroad by simply changing the SIM card to a local
one.

Did you have any problem with that?

Balazs