The admittedly powerful TG01 has been carrying the flagship banner for awhile at Toshiba's smartphone division, but if a brief look at CEATEC gives us any indication of what's to come, we'd say you can look forward to hearing an awful lot more from Tosh in this here sector. Behind a small glass case, a smattering of smartphone prototypes were quietly sitting pretty in effort to be photographed. Naturally, we took 'em all up on the offer, snapping the K01, K02 and L01 and hosting them in the gallery below. We're told that the lot is actually nearing production, with the K01 packing a 4.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, the K02 a 3.5-inch resistive panel (with an 800 x 480 resolution) and the L01 a 7-inch screen within a MID-like form factor. Each of the three are to be powered by Windows Mobile 6.5, though we wouldn't argue if WinMo 7 ended up being the OS of choice. Video's after the break.

[Via Electronista]

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.

Fujitsu has been wowing us with cellphone concepts for quite some time, but this year's round at CEATEC is undoubtedly a show-stopping bunch. Some of the hottest ideas to come from the outfit's most recent mobile phone design contest were on display here in Japan, and we went end to end capturing the lot. The clear pebble mock-up (shown above) was easily the crown jewel (in our mind, anyway), with a small black blob able to morph into different screens (media panels, a keypad, web browser, etc.) depending on which corner you drag said blob into. There was also a design reminiscent of paper mache, not to mention one with a circular vibe that just has to be a long lost cousin to Motorola's AURA. Have a gander at the masterpieces in the gallery below, but don't bet on these hitting your favorite carrier anytime soon.

We're still not entirely sold on the intersection of gadgets and wood. Nevertheless, companies keep pumping out the concepts in response to our greener times. Here's NTT DOCOMO's effort using surplus wood leftover from Pacific culling operations. The Touch Wood prototype was developed in tandem with Sharp and Olympus and is based on the SH-04A slider. A Touch Wood mockup (pictured above) resembling a more feminine bean was also announced. In either case, the Touch Wood body is made of cypress without adding any artificial coloring or paint. And by using Olympus' 3D compression molding technique, they've manage to maintain the kind of durability, and resistance to water, insects, and mildew that you'd expect from, well, a tree. The handsets will be on exhibit in October at the ITU Telecom World and CEATEC Japan shows... touch wood. SH-04A prototype pictured after the break.

[Thanks, Stop Spamming]

Eager to live in the fantastical future it has prophesied, NTT DoCoMo went to CEATEC and demoed an upcoming addition to its Pocket U service: MH2H (Mobile Home to Home), which gives you the ability use your cellphone to stream content from your computer at home to a friend's TV. The phone connects to your friend's WiFi network and sends his or her DLNA-compliant receiver the IP address of your also-DLNA-compliant server, then tells said server to accept the connection and start streaming any videos, songs, or photos you feel like sharing. When you leave, the connection ends and every one goes back to partying on their own isolated media islands like it's 2006.

[Image courtesy of Tech-On!]

Remember that scene in 'The Dark Knight' where (spoiler alert!) Batman uses the city's cell-phones to look through walls and find the bad guys? Totally awesome, right!? A group of scientists at KDDI apparently thought so too, creating a prototype they say could do something similar. Using geomagnetic sensors, accelerometers, and GPS, the device is able to determine its position and render its surroundings on the screen in OpenGL, including areas that are currently out of sight. We're guessing you must have already scanned those areas with the phone and that it can't actually see through walls, but we'd be happy to be proven wrong -- whenever they actually have something to show us. Like the group's funky concept phones we brought to you earlier, this one doesn't actually work. Yet.

Toshiba continues to tease us with its prototype liquid fuel cell-powered gadgets: last year it was a Gigabeat media player, and at this year's CEATEC you can check out a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that's been crammed inside a cell phone, lending it a robust six hours of talk time (compared to the paltry three or four hours of a traditional battery). Toshiba won't reveal the capacity of the DMFC, but they have said that a 50ml cartridge is good for about 15 refills. No release date yet, but the phone "might" be available "as early as next year." In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a woman holding a flip phone with "DMFC" clearly visible on the display.

We got all down and dirty with DoCoMo and Fujitsu's prototype "Separated phone" today at CEATEC, and we can confirm that the device does, in fact do what they say it does. As reported earlier, the device uses Bluetooth to communicate between the phone's two magnetized halves, enabling configurations in everything from standard clamshell to gaming landscape formats. Perhaps the most compelling configuration is one that allows the phone to be held to the ear while one accesses data on the another half, complete with neck cramps. The touchscreen, Symbian S60-based UI was easy enough to use (albeit in Japanese) and features a hearty media playback element, but we were unable to squeeze any commitment to a launch date, price, or probability of seeing the unit on the market. That all said, the demo units were very much operational as you can see for yourself in the video after the break.

When the coup de grace of your CEATEC showing is a concept phone designed to look like a frickin' satellite, you know you've got some winners on your hands. KDDI's known for trotting out some really cool concepts in the past, and its latest batch is no exception -- check 'em out over on Engadget.

DoCoMo and Fujitsu are showing off some interesting phone tech in Japan at this year's CEATEC, particularly a concept device which can be split into two pieces. The gadget features a separate screen and keyboard segment, and the pieces can be configured in a standard flip-phone-like arrangement, or snapped together to form an X1 or Touch Pro-esque landscape QWERTY variation. The two halves are held together by magnets and communicate via Bluetooth. Of course, right now this is very much in the concept phase, and honestly -- aren't we trying to minimize the amount of electronic components we're carting around? Still, it's a fairly slick design, and certainly a new way of thinking about phones. Take another look after the break, and hit the read link for a slew of pics.

Sure, you can grab your Nike+iPod Sport Kit and try to work off a few calories, but will that contraption become your drill sergeant when you decide to call it quits five minutes in? For those that need constant motivation, NTT DoCoMo has you covered -- if you understand Japanese, that is. Reportedly, the firm was showing off a D903i equipped with software that can not only "check for bad breath," but it can also check your body fat and keep tabs on your heart rate. Granted, we can't confirm that the translations shown above are entirely accurate, but this type of honesty would never fly in the US, anyway.

[Via GearFuse]