SG Broadband Community

Anyone seen anything like this? Casio w41ca through the company AU in japan, I thinks its unreal...

-3G connection, super fast for a cell phone
-Full internet browser, no text-only or WAP type stuff, I post on speedguide with it.
-Long vertical screen perfect for scrolling, triple the size of a lot of cell screens
-Mp3 Player (well, a proprietary format, but basically doubles up for ipod duties)
-1GB of storage through the SD card alone
-2 Megapixel camera/video recorder, a bit more than 2MP actually...
-Reads microsoft office documents (word, excel, etc, probably adobe as well)
-pop 3 email, sends and recieves attachments up to 500KB, so you can send and get all those phtos and documents
-Wired up to my laptop through the charger, so its easy to transfer data back and forth and write emails on the computer.
-GPS
-probably a lot of other stuff I haven't figured out yet


unlimited net, text messages, email and sending/receiving files for about 50 a month. And since I've been with the same provider for almost two years I got points toward my next phone with them, and it only cost about 100 bucks. With all the money I'll save on this plan though itll pay for itself in just a couple months.

Anyone seen anything like this back home? I know a lot of good stuff is coming out all over the world, but to me I think this takes the cake, at least so far.

Um...but can you actually make a phone call with it?

Very impressive indeed.

Sweet phone Jayyy. As a gadget freak myself, I'm envious. We have some capable hybrids as well here in the states, the TREO line comes to mind as well as some others. Windows Mobile is the OS of choice even though I like the Palm Os better...but it's dying quickly. I'll have to PM you my cell number so we can exchange photos, videos, and other things.

we are so far behind in Cell Technology. You guys over there get stuff way before we do. Will that thing work in the USA?


Pie

UOD wrote:Sweet phone Jayyy. As a gadget freak myself, I'm envious. We have some capable hybrids as well here in the states, the TREO line comes to mind as well as some others. Windows Mobile is the OS of choice even though I like the Palm Os better...but it's dying quickly. I'll have to PM you my cell number so we can exchange photos, videos, and other things.

Thanks The main prob with japan is they're microsoft-resistant, which basically makes them PC-resistant too. It could be a while before there are OSs fully compatible with stuff like MS office because theyre resistant to American companies being involved in their business.

pieman wrote:we are so far behind in Cell Technology. You guys over there get stuff way before we do. Will that thing work in the USA?

nah...japan has its own network that isn't compatible with anywhere else. On the brightside since everyhing is proprietary, the systems are really well organized from top-to-bottom, all the providers sort of rolled out 3G years ago, now they're working on super-high speed cell networks. Thats one advantage of big-government in japan...huge infrastructure developmengt

a company called softbank, which is japanese but for reasons I don't totally understand part of yahoo, just bought the european company vodaphone. What they're talking about now is cell phones that make net-based calls....so you can call anywhere in the world on your cell for a simple flat rate


japanese tech companies are kind of like apple...its a stuborn, small little world and insulated from the mainstream, and nothing they do is very open and configurable, but in return you get these amazing, fully-realized-out-of-nowhere products that no-one in the PC-world would have even dreamt of.

Jayyy, you guys already have real video phones...where you can see who you are talking to right?

and for the MS thing...yep. that's why we don't have these phones here. It's because they want to tie everything into the PC which is dominated by MS...and for anything to change or be adopted by MS takes a LONG LONG time. too long imho.

jayyy wrote:Thanks The main prob with japan is they're microsoft-resistant, which basically makes them PC-resistant too. It could be a while before there are OSs fully compatible with stuff like MS office because theyre resistant to American companies being involved in their business.



nah...japan has its own network that isn't compatible with anywhere else. On the brightside since everyhing is proprietary, the systems are really well organized from top-to-bottom, all the providers sort of rolled out 3G years ago, now they're working on super-high speed cell networks. Thats one advantage of big-government in japan...huge infrastructure developmengt

a company called softbank, which is japanese but for reasons I don't totally understand part of yahoo, just bought the european company vodaphone. What they're talking about now is cell phones that make net-based calls....so you can call anywhere in the world on your cell for a simple flat rate


japanese tech companies are kind of like apple...its a stuborn, small little world and insulated from the mainstream, and nothing they do is very open and configurable, but in return you get these amazing, fully-realized-out-of-nowhere products that no-one in the PC-world would have even dreamt of.

wow

awesome phone. I was wondering about your phone the other night when you said you were posting on it. so was zooner.

some pretty interesting info...

So are there any plans on expanding speedguides site or Fourms to include Cellphones?

I mean there has to be some tweaks you can do to cells (that can be posted). I hacked my Cell, to take off 7 meg worth of crap I don't use, and have no regrets or issues with it since.

Far-N-Wide wrote:So are there any plans on expanding speedguides site or Fourms to include Cellphones?

I mean there has to be some tweaks you can do to cells (that can be posted). I hacked my Cell, to take off 7 meg worth of crap I don't use, and have no regrets or issues with it since.

Its probably legal but the software to do it with is usually like "Engineers" versions and meant for the Mfgr's isn't it? Maybe someone here knows the dealio.


Pie

thepieman wrote:Its probably legal but the software to do it with is usually like "Engineers" versions and meant for the Mfgr's isn't it? Maybe someone here knows the dealio.


Pie

I believe it depends on what you're hacking out. I saw some stuff on one the underground sites for "unlocking" cell phones- seems it's illegal, and it was being argued that what difference should it make, you own the phone, so why should the carrier mind if you want to switch it to another carrier. I have to agree with that too.

I believe you're right Pie, the sw for that is usually intended for the mfgr's...

[delete] had a server too busy problem, this was a dup post.

UOD wrote:Jayyy, you guys already have real video phones...where you can see who you are talking to right?

yeah, thats starting to border on standard w the other two companies. my company specializes in new services, so its most popular w younger people. text messaging is big, and people use their phones for most interactive needs. the dating services are usually all accesible by cellphone. cameras are now completely standard, so its easy to post pics.

docomo, the company thats made videophone standard, is bigger w older people and wealthier people. the hardware is actually a lot less powerful under the hood, but they come out w lots of little innovations that people like. you can set your screen so that anyone trying to peek at what you're doing just sees a mess of lasers, only viewable if you look at it directly.

plus your cell works as a debit card. you can set the password to auto and swipe it to buy everything from a vending machine pop to a subway ticket.

GPS feature seems cool, how expensive per month is all that?

about 50 a month, unlimited use on net text msg and email...GPS is extra, but probably just nickels and dimes. same w video phone.

back in 99 or 2000 when the net first came to cell phones here it cost an arm and a leg. when i first came here in 2001 i knew people w 200 dollar monthly bills mostly just off of net related bills, same as people w blackberrys back home now.

then 2 years ago my provider came out w a flat unlimited rate of 38 a month, and rates just plummeted. i pay more cuz i have a full browser that lets me do nearly everything, but its still pretty affordable.

jayyy wrote:


Anyone seen anything like this? Casio w41ca through the company AU in japan, I thinks its unreal...

-3G connection, super fast for a cell phone
-Full internet browser, no text-only or WAP type stuff, I post on speedguide with it.
-Long vertical screen perfect for scrolling, triple the size of a lot of cell screens
-Mp3 Player (well, a proprietary format, but basically doubles up for ipod duties)
-1GB of storage through the SD card alone
-2 Megapixel camera/video recorder, a bit more than 2MP actually...
-Reads microsoft office documents (word, excel, etc, probably adobe as well)
-pop 3 email, sends and recieves attachments up to 500KB, so you can send and get all those phtos and documents
-Wired up to my laptop through the charger, so its easy to transfer data back and forth and write emails on the computer.
-GPS
-probably a lot of other stuff I haven't figured out yet


unlimited net, text messages, email and sending/receiving files for about 50 a month. And since I've been with the same provider for almost two years I got points toward my next phone with them, and it only cost about 100 bucks. With all the money I'll save on this plan though itll pay for itself in just a couple months.

Anyone seen anything like this back home? I know a lot of good stuff is coming out all over the world, but to me I think this takes the cake, at least so far.

Very nice.

Sim Card or GPRS option?

Awesome, Jay! I haven't recieved any pics from you in quite some time, when are you going to send updates? I hope that all is going well for you!

Ken wrote:Awesome, Jay! I haven't recieved any pics from you in quite some time, when are you going to send updates? I hope that all is going well for you!

hey man, hows it going? things are good, I didnt have the net at home before but i can check in more with this phone. pm me your email...i've got a lot of updates to send you between this camera phone and the last one

hey as admin you can see all my info, right? what does it list my browser as?

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:Sim Card or GPRS option?

I don't know much about sim, but i dont think so...the cellphones are proprietary with the connection providers, so traditionally they havent used or needed sim cards. come to think of it, i dont think you're even allowed to sell your cellphone to another user of the same service.

Thinking about this....for 50 bucks for internet and phone service and cell phone service with internet just about anywhere, IS a deal.

Pretty nifty!

downhill wrote:Thinking about this....for 50 bucks for internet and phone service and cell phone service with internet just about anywhere, IS a deal.

Pretty nifty!

actually the 50 is just for net, text message and email stuff, talking is pay as you go, or another plan.

i do everything except business thru text messaging tho, nearly everyone does. incoming calls are free. my oubound calls are usually under an hour a month

okay, I know this thread is stone-age dead, but I found out a bunch of new stuff about this phone I wanted to get down for the record-

I can use it in North America. It works almost anywhere in the world, and within asia I can get net and email access. so i can take it with me and use it normally if I go to thailand, for example.

-it has an english mode, up til now everything was in japanese.

-i can use it as a debit card- if i'm at a train station or convenience store i just hold it up to the scanner and the charges appear on my next phone bill.

-the video camera doubles as a barcode scanner. if i photograph one it links me to a website with product info and store locations thru gps.

-i can transfer data to other cell phones of the same type nearby via some kind of laser.

this net browser is actually opera. they claim to have a browser downloadable for nearly every cell on the market, including really lame weak wap enabled types, here at http://www.opera.com. you guys probably all new that, but I've been gone for a while so it was news to me...

I have opera on my treo 650. Only prolem is it likes to crash and restart my pda. So I just eudora and blazer for net and versa mail for email. My daughter likes the opera so she can check her myspace when we are out somewhere. It usually only crashes when I use it for work based webbing.

Good to see you around her also jayyy, hope your taking good care of yourself over there!!!

ace wrote:I have opera on my treo 650. Only prolem is it likes to crash and restart my pda. So I just eudora and blazer for net and versa mail for email. My daughter likes the opera so she can check her myspace when we are out somewhere. It usually only crashes when I use it for work based webbing.

Good to see you around her also jayyy, hope your taking good care of yourself over there!!!

Thanks, its good to be back Its taken a while to get everything together but stuff is good out here...

My opera browsers been smooth as ice since I got it, but then again it was designed specifically for this phone. Its kind of cool second-party aps can be downloaded at all...japanese phones aren't as configurable as that, it was an advance that they even started including american software like this pre-installed on phones.