Japanese Mobile Phone Culture - Features

Features

Japan is leading in mobile phone technology. The first camera phone J-Phone (Stylized as 写メール, which stands for Photo-Mail) starts marketing during November 2000, not only includes a camera, and also includes the function to send photo via messaging or E-mail, which made the phone extremely popular at the time. Technologies like 3G Mobile Broadband are also marketed in Japan before any other country.

Following are the main features of a mobile in Japan:

• E-mail
• Configurable Databases
• Phone and address books
• Alarm clocks and stopwatches
• Live Video feed via Piconet
• Mobile games, such as role-playing games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy series
• Daytimers
• Varying degrees of image enhancement capabilities, such as the option to create borders, to create animations, and more.
• Instant messengers
• Calculator, calendar, schedule note and memo pad
• Playback of downloaded music
• Recording and playback of voices, music, images and pictures
• Portable music player (MP3 player etc.)
• Portable video player (MP4 player etc.)
• Viewing online Flash video (YouTube, Nico Nico Douga etc.)
• Video calling
• Navigation by GPS
• Viewing and listening to TV (1seg) and radio (FM/AM)
• Viewing video on demand contents (use packet data transfer for video streaming to watch, contents available from video on demand service provider, contents available with pay per contents/limited period etc.) (for watching, use the cell phone's video viewer or download and use contents provider's video viewer application for cell phone.)
• TV phone
• Crime prevention buzzer (with automatic reporting system to the police)
• Pedometer
• 'Read aloud' system
• Touch-pad system
• A fingerprint/face recognition system for the protection of personal data
• Mobile centrex service with wireless LAN

In recent years, some cellular phones even have the capability of being used as debit or credit cards and can be swiped through most checkout lines to buy products as varied as mascara and jet planes, as more and more companies offer catalogs for cell phones. These functionalities include:

• E-money service and various certification functions through Untouched IC card (FeliCa etc.)
• Various services with NTT DoCoMo’s ‘Osaifu-Keitai (mobile phone with wallet function)’
• E-money service e.g. ‘Edy’
• Function as ‘Mobile Suica,’ which can be used for a season ticket and a train ticket
• Cmode: vending machines which can be used with QR Code and ‘Osaifu-Keitai’ of a mobile phone
• I concierge : NTT DoCoMo's service. (Teaching information about traffic,food,shopping etc.)by GPS

Some newer models allow the user to watch movies and/or television. Most phones can be connected to the Internet through services such as i-mode. Japan was also the first to launch 3G services on a large scale. Users can browse text-only Internet sites, and many Japanese sites have sub-sites designed especially for cellular phone users. One of the most popular services allows users to check train schedules and plan trips on public transit.

Some mobile phones are waterproof, even in the high-specifications segment.