PHS is in a bit of a pickle right now -- the niche wireless standard has no path for technological growth, has just a handful of supporting carriers around the world, and frankly, was never intended for wide-area deployment to boot. That leaves Japan's PHS-powered network, Willcom, in the lurch, which explains why they've recently hooked up with HSPA giant NTT DoCoMo to launch modern data devices. Mooching off someone else's network isn't a long-term strategy for survival, though, so what's next? Reports are flying in Japan today that rival SoftBank may look at scooping up Willcom's assets in exchange for its debtors waiving some percentage of its $1 billion in IOUs; what SoftBank would ultimately do with that extra spectrum is unclear, but presumably they'd continue to run PHS for some predetermined period of time before transitioning it to HSPA or LTE. Of course, Willcom has a rep for releasing wild devices that avoid the beaten path set by its larger rivals, so here's a preliminary word to the wise, SoftBank: if you make this happen, keep the product people on board.

Hey there sailor, we imagine you've been doing your fair share of button mashing what with a certain new bit of software out and about, but how would you like a whole new control paradigm? Taking up Steve Jobs' war on buttons, a group of grad students at Japan's Keio University have put together a comprehensive robot control interface that relies solely on finger swipes, taps, and presses. By employing the iPhone's built-in accelerometer and multitouch screen, the robot can replicate a humanistic walking motion, perform sidesteps and, when called upon, kick a football with gusto and presumed passion. Your destination is just past the break, where the video demo awaits.

[Via HDBlog.it]

When two of Japan's largest mobile carriers conspire to release nearly 40 phones in the span of 24 hours, editors covering the story are sure to lose hair and a solid year of lifespan -- but for consumers in the local market, it's nothing but good news. Here are some of the highlights from NTT DoCoMo:

• Fujtsu F-02B: Described as a "jewelry quality" phone with a snap-on perfume holder for "an air of elegance."
• LG L-03B: Has support for Korean, Japanese, and English for frequent travelers (in other words, English speakers, if you find yourself on this archipelago and you don't speak a lick of the local tongue, seek out this phone).
• Sharp SH-04B: Designed to look like a melting chocolate bar by food-themed wardrobe accessory maker Q-Pot -- for some reason we don't fully comprehend.
• Fujitsu F-04B: Realizing the concept shown off at CEATEC last year, this one features a removable keyboard that operates via Bluetooth and a 12.1 megapixel camera.
• Panasonic P-01B: This flip looks like pretty much every other in the lineup, but its got a secret -- the keypad doubles as a touchpad. Clever.
• Samsung SC-01B: Samsung's Windows Mobile 6.5-powered entry here appears to be a remix of the B7330 sold globally, which makes it about 1,000 times weaker than every other phone in the lineup.

And from Softbank:

• Sharp AQUOS Mobile FULLTOUCH 941SH: All we need to say about this one is "4-inch 1024 x 480 display," which, as you might be able to imagine, is a world's first.
• Sharp AQUOS Mobile 943SH: Dual one-seg tuners let you watch one program and record another, and a mention of transferring Blu-ray content has us thinking that Managed Copy is along for the ride.
• Toshiba dynapocket X02T: Remember how NTT DoCoMo had previously gotten the TG01 as the T01A? Yeah, well, now it's Softbank's turn -- and this time, it's called the X02A. Not much more to it than that.
• Samsung X01SC: This looks to be a localized version of AT&T's Samsung Jack, of all phones, meaning that it's a Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard phone (no touchscreen) with a QVGA display and portrait QWERTY keyboard.
• Sharp 942SH KT: No lineup would be complete without the obligatory Hello Kitty marketing tie-in, and the 942SH KT does the honors this time around with a black shell featuring stylized pink text and graphics.
• Samsung OMNIA VISION 940SC: Samsung's now-famous OMNIA brand comes to Softbank on the wings of a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, one-seg tuner, and kickstand for desktop viewing.
• Sharp Jelly Beans 840SH: We don't think you'd want to try eating it, but the 840SH comes in seven colors -- hence the name, we think.
• Android: The simply-named Android runs -- you guessed it -- Android with a 3.7 inch AMOLED display and 1GHz Snapdragon processor; unfortunately, it won't be available until next Spring and the manufacturer isn't being revealed right now.

Both companies are also adding wireless digital photo frames to the lineup, and in Softbank's case, a pair of data modems with support for 7.2Mbps on the downlink. We'll admit -- we didn't think we'd live to see the day when Canada had three live networks with data rates trouncing Japan's.

Read - Softbank Winter '09 / Spring '10 collection
Read - NTT DoCoMo's new series

While Fujitsu's design entrants already boggled our minds here at CEATEC, KDDI au is looking to take things one step further by actually shipping a pair of decidedly futuristic handsets in Japan. Just months after the iida sub-brand was formally launched, the Ply and Prismoid are making their debuts on the show floor. The latter sports a 2.7-inch primary display, a 0.6-inch OLED sub-display, a microSD expansion slot and a design to die for; the former packs a 3.2 megapixel camera, 1seg TV tuner and a 3-inch panel. Have a look at the gallery below (and video past the break) if you're yearning to see just how lovely a dumbphone can be, and trust us when we say you've only yourself to blame if you carelessly let this opportunity pass you by.

We'll spare you the obvious cheap jokes, but grabbing hold of NTT DoCoMo's Touch Wood concepts at CEATEC was a true, honest-to-goodness pleasure. Engineered in cooperation with Sharp and Olympus, the kidney bean-esque touchscreen phone was accompanied by a TV tuning smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Both units were in the early prototype stage, with the bean shaped fellow being a mere mock-up that failed to do anything when pressed. The other guy is based around the SH-04A, and while the wood trim could've certainly encompassed more of the chassis than it did, we dig the direction DoCoMo is headed here. Have a look at Ma Earth's favorite phone (next to the Reclaim, of course) in the gallery below (and video after the break, if you're feeling extra saucy).

Being a Japanese carrier and all, it's no shock to see KDDI with a large presence at CEATEC. What was surprising, however, was the cute little device you see pictured above. Showcased in an "early prototype" form, the recently introduced Polaris Robot looks eerily similar to Sony's befuddling Rolly. Thankfully for KDDI (and all of humanity, really), this creature actually has a purpose. Packed with speakers, an array of wireless sensors and the ability to send video signals to your TV sans cables, the concept docking station is meant to stylishly hold your KDDI handset (lots of 'em will be compatible in due time) and beam a blown-up version of your phone's UI onto your television or LCD monitor. The good news here is that the system actually displays a far more intuitive menu layout on the screen than what's available on your dumbphone, enabling users to flip through schedules, photos, videos and playlists with ease. Technological details -- as well as information surrounding price and release -- were scant, but you can whet your appetite by peeking the video just past the break.

Pinky and the Brain were consulted, and you can rest assured they were both highly supportive of Clearwire's latest initiative. Announced today in cooperation with Russia's Yota and Japan's UQ Communications, Clearwire has banged out a memorandum of understanding with the aforesaid WiMAX carriers that "identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realization of establishing WiMAX roaming between the [two]." With translators in tow, the trio are hoping to define and institute the necessary processes that'll ensure devices from each carrier works on the other's network, and while American's probably couldn't care less about these two operators in particular, it's the thought that counts. Just imagine -- 4G global roaming at a decent price point. That, friends, is the future.

This phone began life as a member of Japanese carrier KDDI au's ongoing Design Project series, a line of concepts geared at envisioning tomorrow's phones -- and a pretty impressive number of those concepts ultimately go on to become production phones. In checking out the Ply concept last year, we said "the phone itself is pretty stunningly beautiful, so we'd love to see it on the streets of Tokyo even if it meant nixing the printer," and indeed, that's what they've done; the original idea was for each "layer" of the phone to represent some wild function like printing or pico-projecting, but now, the layer tabs are nothing more than stylized buttons accessing totally pedestrian features like keylock and camera. Here's our take: when your phone looks this much like five pieces of wood sandwiched together, that's a totally acceptable sacrifice to make. It'll be available in three colors later this month as a member of KDDI's iida designer series, which means that if you're outside Japan, your odds of getting in on it are precisely zero.

If you've paid any attention whatsoever to the goings-on in the American cellphone market, you'd know that ponying up the dough to start an MVNO here is probably not your best shot at striking it rich. One after another has fallen flat, even ones that had millions (and millions) in marketing dollars behind 'em. That said, Japan's own NTT DoCoMo is mulling the possibility of fully entering the US cell market next year, offering up smartphones and "other high-performance handsets with its i-mode mobile internet service." We're told that the operator may start as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), leasing capacity from T-Mobile USA or AT&T until it decides on its next move. Call us crazy, but we're guessing it just might have a shot here on US soil if it snags the iPhone, enables all those 3G services that have been running for years on other platforms and only charges one (as opposed to three or four) human limbs for a monthly plan.

[Thanks, shinbunboi]

The big rumor out of Japan today has NEC locked in heated negotiations with existing joint venture Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications to add itself into the mix -- a JV that's currently a 51 / 49 percent ownership split between Casio and Hitachi, respectively -- with NEC wanting to pick up a total of 50 percent of the combined operation. Japan's one of the more competitive, low-margin mobile markets in the world (just ask Mitsubishi) so it makes sense that a lot of these guys would be looking to consolidate and work on their sourcing scales of economy; if it happens, the rumor has the deal targeted for an April 2010 close that would make the combined operation the second-largest in the market at 20 percent share behind Sharp at 23 percent. Does this mean they'll be more friendly toward the crazy idea of wide-scale North American launches, by chance? Please?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Softbank's own 1seg tuner / battery charger was a novel idea, but leave it to trained assassins at I-O Data to really expound upon the concept and concoct something nearly worthy of relocating to Tokyo for. The new GV-SC310 SEG Clip is a relatively vanilla USB 1seg TV tuner that plugs into one's PC in order to pull down some of Japan's finest OTA programming. Once captured, users with an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPod touch can download a TVPlayer app (shown after the break) that enables them to wirelessly watch whatever content they've stored. Think of it as TiVo for your iPhone, but only for those lucky enough to live in the Land of the Rising Sun. Not too shabby for ¥6,615 ($68), huh?

[Via Akihabara News]

Read - I-O Data press release
Read - Hands-on

How many Japanese carriers would have guessed already have 100 percent HSPA+ coverage? 3? 5? 17? Believe it or not, the answer was a big, fat goose egg until up-and-comer eMobile stepped up to the plate and upgraded its back end in recent days. Customers with properly-equipped hardware are now cruising along at up to 21Mbps (well, theoretically, anyhow), which should be more than enough to take 'em into the LTE-based next phase of their plans for world domination. It's said that since garnering its spectrum license back in 2005, eMobile has already managed to capture some 15 percent of Japan's HSPA market -- an impressive stat, considering they've got to go head-to-head with giants NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank Mobile -- and HSPA+ certainly won't hurt their cause.

If you're more concerned about your ability to record stunning high-definition video on the road than you are about your ability to comfortably and conveniently say the name of your phone, look no further than the latest model in Hitachi's Wooo series over in Japan. Announced earlier in the year, the Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo stands starkly as one of the longest, most unfortunate model names in phone history, but we suspect that the presence of 30fps 720p recording will quickly allay any disappointment you may have with branding. Anyhow, it's finally available now on KDDI au, the country's big CDMA provider -- so go on, show us what sort of Oscar-caliber stuff you can cook up.

China's ZTE is still sticking to the low end in North America, but in its home country, the manufacturer is a huge player. Evidence of that lies strewn about ZTE's booth at Wireless Japan this week, where it's showing a pair of WinMo devices plus a Linux-based model that look ripe to compete with some of the best in the world. First up, the RAISE and XIANG do WinMo and HSPA for China Unicom's Wo network, rocking 5 and 3.2 megapixel cameras, respectively. The D820 reps the open-source world (though we're not sure what kind of Linux distro is running on it -- it's not Android, if we had to guess) and runs CDMA with WiFi, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. We're not sure if ZTE is using phones like these as warmups for more global launches, but given what we're seeing here -- and the low price points they're likely looking to hit -- we're all for it.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]