KDDI au is not only Japan’s second biggest cell phone carrier but also famous for its KDDI Design Project. And while their exhibition in the KDDI Design Studio in Tokyo was disappointing, the company made a strong showing at this year’s CEATEC.

See the coolest cell phone designs below. KDDI has been running this design project for years now and actually started mass-producing some models, for example the so-called INFOBAR.

The pictures below show design prototypes KDDI manufactured in cooperation with Yamaha:

Japan’s biggest cell phone carrier NTT Docomo had one of the coolest booths at this year’s CEATEC (which ended last Saturday), showcasing a lot of spectacular new stuff.

These are their cell phone concepts, some of which even might make it to the mass market one day. Watch a video of their microprojector cell-phone hybrid here and a see this post for more information on their cell phone/car key prototype made for Nissan (both are not pictured here).

Asked if and and when the device will be commercialized I received the usual answer: “Maybe in a few years, maybe never.”

Murata’s Little Seiko was not only the coolest robot of this year’s CEATEC (that ended Saturday) but one of the biggest fan favorites overall. But as the CEATEC is a Japanese exhibition, there was a number of other companies that showcased robots.
http://blip.tv/play/ih_RsyuJ5FQ

The video above shows Fujitsu’s Enon robot in action. Enon is a service robot that serves multiple purposes: surveillance, transportation, customer interaction, information terminal etc. It’s really cool.

I took the video below at Business Design Laboratory’s booth. Their Mechadroid Type C3 is meant to one day replace human receptionists and features face recognition technology and a touch panel display that enables people to request information.

Mechadroid Type C3 doesn’t have legs but he can talk.

I know it’s very esoteric and all, but I (and tons of other CEATEC 2008 attendees) really loved Panasonic’s super-futuristic LiveWall prototype.

What you can see in the videos below is a wall-sized screen (LifeWall) that detects users anywhere they go in the room it’s installed in through face recognition. AT CES, Panasonic called this concept “You-know-me-TV” and “Stay-with-me-TV”, respectively, which sounds kind of creepy.

Users operate the LifeWall by arm motions, much like Tom Cruise in Minority Report’s famous “cyber-display” scene.

LifeWall is good for:
- making video-calls (the people you speak to are displayed life-sized)

- viewing, zooming, dragging and dropping pictures

- accessing the Internet

- playing video games (the system recognizes your body movements)

- using it as a huge virtual “wallpaper”

- enhancing home security (you can install cameras anywhere in the house and link them to LifeWall)

Panasonic’s answer to my question when LifeWall will be commercialized: “Maybe in 5 years, maybe never.”

http://blip.tv/play/ih_Q7xeJ5FQ
Video 1: Basic controls and functions

Video 2: Viewing and choosing pictures

Video 3: Web access and video call (this is just awesome)

http://blip.tv/play/ih_Q7ViJ5FQ
The second video shows a 40-inch Bravia full HD TV that is just 9.9mm at its thinnest part (they made it flip so it looks good on video). That’s it from Sony at CEATEC this year. But the OLED screen is really cool.

The video also shows the scope of the exhibition. There are quite a lot of booths of this size in the CEATEC halls (one of them is rented out by Microsoft).

Japan’s NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) is also present at CEATEC 2008 and two of their robots caught my eye, apparently integral elements of their “CareBots Project”.

The one you see on the left in the picture above is called Infanoid and is a humanoid that is supposed to resemble a 3-4 year old child (seriously). Infanoid features a number of sensors, 29 actuators and has CCD cameras in both of his eyes.

The small yellow thing on the right is a robotic biddy called Keepon. Keepon is not only cute but geared towards children, it actually serves a purpose as an advanced electronic toy. It can move in different ways, also has CCD cameras in its eyes and the nose is not a nose but a microphone.

Too bad I didn’t make a video.

The device superimposes an almost screen-size image of itself on the TV. Users can choose and press buttons by keeping their eyes on the TV, following a “virtual thumb” on the screen.

Cool (yet potentially useless?) stuff, but the Panasonic staff didn’t say if the remote is ever going to be mass produced.

I blogged about this before but now we have much better videos. The professional video above (with more information and English voice-over) is courtesy of DigInfo and kindly provided to CrunchGear first, the shorter one below is made by myself.

http://blip.tv/play/ih_Q1EmJ5FQ

At CEATEC 2008, Fujisoft for the first time presented their “Ulexit” video player for embedded devices. The company will use its technology for “Minna-no (everybody’s) Theater Wii”, a video-on-demand service for the Nintendo Wii.

A Fujisoft representative told me the service goes online in December 2008 in Japan. Asked whether Everybody’s Theater Wii will ever be available outside this country, she said: “We haven’t decided that yet.”, which translates to “no”.

Fujisoft’s Ulexit player supports MPEG2, WMV, MPEG4 and H.264. Japanese Wii owners will be able to watch animes, movies, music programs and documentaries via their console and have to pay up to 400 Wii points for each download.

It’s the third of five days at CEATEC 2008, Asia’s biggest exhibition for consumer electronics (think Asia’s CES), and I must say it’s better than last year.

Here are my impressions of the exhibition:

1)
The level of internationalization at CEATEC stands at an estimated 5%. I am seriously wondering how foreign journalists are able to understand what is actually being showcased. 99% of all text-based information is Japanese-only (brochures, maps, booth displays, etc.).

Most of the staffers at the booths can hardly speak English, which is not really helpful either (I am fortunate to speak Japanese).

2)
The number of real innovations is too low: too many flat screens (yawn), a huge/deserted Blu-ray-only booth (seriously), obvious vaporware, etc. etc. Who cares if a flat screen is now 1.2cm thin instead of 1.3cm?

But this is probably an issue at most tech exhibitions.

3)
Tech powerhouses like Pioneer, Sharp and Hitachi totally disappoint this year. For example, Sony is displaying its 11-inch OLED TV XEL-1 again this year and in almost the same manner as 2007.

4)
Despite of the lack of innovations, Japan shows that it’s still a tech nation to be reckoned with. Some of the tech I saw at CEATEC 2008 is just amazing. Panasonic’s virtual wall for the living room, for example, is fantastic.

I will keep covering the highlights of the event in a series of posts over the next days.

Toshiba is currently showcasing a  prototype of a 16-Gbyte microSDHC memory card at the CEATEC 2008, doubling the maximum capacity of currently available products.

The company said it managed to squeeze a total of 16 8-Gbit NAND and one controller chip into the card. Reportedly, the NAND flash memory chips were cut down in thickness from 70μm to just 18μm.

Via Tech-On

Sony caused a worlwide sensation at last year’s CEATEC by introducing the XEL-1 during the event, its mini OLED TV, which boasts a thickness of just 3 mm (1.4 mm at its thinnest part).

This year, the general public gets to see a OLED display that is just 0.3 mm at its thinnest part (otherwise, the 11-inch screen is technically identical to the XEL-1).

In the US, Sony showcased the ultrathin OLED prototype (under heavier security arrangements) during the D6 conference in May. It was also displayed at the Sony Dealer Convention 2008 [JP], which was held earlier this month in Tokyo.

At CEATEC 2008, Hitachi is displaying a full HD LCD TV whose thinnest part is just 15mm thick. The 37-inch screen is the successor model of a 32-inch TV (thickness: 19mm) the company showcased at last year’s exhibition.

At this point, the new TV with a response time of 6ms and a color reproduction range standing at 152% of the HDTV specifications is just a prototype (as are many CEATEC products). But Hitachi actually plans to commercialize its new TV as early as next year.

At CEATEC 2008, Fujitsu and NTT Docomo are showcasing a concept phone that can be split into two pieces, a screen and a keyboard segment. The so-called Separeeto Keitai, separate handset, is supposed to enable users to make a phone call and write emails at the same time.

The parts are joined by a magnet and connected via Bluetooth. The touchscreen reacts to the way the users are holding it. In vertical position, it shows a numeric keypad. When horizontally attached, the touchscreen will switch to character entry mode or display a “virtual” game pad so that users can write emails or play games.

Via Tech-On

Today marks the first time Murata, the Tokyo-based company behind the robot, demonstrated its newest product to a larger audience (Japanese video news portal DigInfo kindly provided CrunchGear with their video first).