January 31st, 2012

MEDIAS ES N-05D: NEC’s New Android Phone Is 6.7mm Thin, Connects To Casio’s G-SHOCK GB-6900

media front feat

NEC did it again: about 11 months after unveiling the world’s slimmest smartphone at that time, the company is ready to release another super-thin Android phone with a set of impressive specs (via Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo). Dubbed MEDIAS ES N-05D [JP], the handset will hit Japanese stores in February or March this year.

NEC rolled out quite a few Medias-branded Android phones in recent months, but this model is just 6.7mm thin and has the best specs. → Read More

January 27th, 2012

Disney, Q-pot Choco, Honey Bee: Japan Gets 3 Extra-Cute Android Phones

qpot sharp 2

Android adoption is growing rapidly in Japan, with local handset manufacturers doing everything they can in order to meet the demands of customers in all segments of the population. One particularly attractive target group seems to be women, given how many Japanese companies say they design Android phones specifically for female users.

Here are three recent examples. → Read More

January 13th, 2012

Fujitsu Japan Rolls Out 2 “Girls-Only” Cell Phones

fujitsu featured

Do women need special cell phones? Certain companies, such as Deutsche Telekom or Samsung, seem to think so. Now Fujitsu Japan is ready to roll out [JP] not one but two handsets specifically designed “for girls”, a feature phone and an Android model.

The Android phone, the so-called F-03D Girls’, has been developed in cooperation with popular teenage fashion magazine Popteen. → Read More

December 27th, 2011

5 Japanese Tech Companies (And Samsung) Set Up LTE Mobile Chip Venture

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Big news from Asia’s mobile market today: Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo (55 million customers, over US$50 billion in sales per year) is teaming up with five other tech powerhouses to develop chips for next-generation mobile devices. Docomo’s partners are NEC, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd., Panasonic, and Samsung.

The goal is to use synergies in the six companies’ expertise in developing small and eco-efficient chips to supply to mobile device manufacturers in Japan, Korea, and other places. Docomo says the main focus will be on “products for LTE and LTE-Advanced mobile communication standards”. → Read More

December 22nd, 2011

Japan’s Top 3 Mobile Carriers Agree To Support Global NFC Standard

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Japan, one of the most advanced mobile nations in the world, doesn’t want to be a “cell phone Galapagos” anymore, at least when it comes to payments over NFC. Paying with cell phones is already ubiquitous in Japan, but now the country’s top three telcos (NTT Docomo, KDDI au, and SoftBank Mobile) are trying to switch from the Nippon-only Osaifu Keitai system to the Type A and Type B NFC standards used globally.

The problem for the carriers is that Osaifu Keitai (“Portable Wallet”), which is based on Sony’s FeliCa RFID smart card technology, isn’t compatible to the Type A and B NFC standards. Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank have set up the so-called Japan Mobile NFC Consortium to coordinate the domestic adoption of those standards with “service suppliers and handset manufacturers”. → Read More

December 15th, 2011

LG’s Optimus LTE Android Phone Goes On Sale In Japan

LG_Optimus_LTE_Launch_in_Japan_5001

Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has introduced LG’s awesome Optimus Android phone in Japan yesterday. It’s compatible to Docomo’s 4G service Xi and follows the launch of the handset in Korea and North America.

The Docomo version comes equipped with NFC and a digital TV tuner for Japanese users wanting to watch 1seg channels on the 4.5-inch, 1280×720 IPS display. LG did not build in an infrared connection, however (which many Japanese mobile subscribers got used to on their feature phones). → Read More

December 2nd, 2011

NEC MEDIAS PP: Waterproof Android Phone With 4-Inch OLED Screen, 1700mAh Battery, Wireless Charging Support

nec medias

Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo has announced [JP] it will start offering the Medias PP N-01D on December 9, the latest Android phone in NEC’s Medias smartphone series. And if NEC ever gets its act together regarding its internationalization plans, this pretty cool device might hit the US and other markets soon, too.

NEC is especially proud of the 1,700mmAH battery that’s built into the phone and promises about 630 hours of standby and 380 hours of talk time. → Read More

November 9th, 2011

Video: NTT Docomo Shows Japanese/English Real-Time Translation Service For Mobile Phones

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Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has developed a real-time Japanese <-> English translation service for mobile phones, the first of its kind. The way it works is that you speak something into the device and wait to hear a voice interpretation of what you just said in another language.

As you can see in the videos embedded below, the service, which uses the cloud for the heavy lifting, isn’t quite “real-time” but pretty close. NTT Docomo says the service can be used for communicating over the phone but also face-to-face. → Read More

October 17th, 2011

5 Product Innovations From CEATEC 2011 In Japan (Video Gallery)

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Truth be told, I wasn’t very impressed with what electronics makers showed at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition – especially because a lot of the new products were “leaked” to the Japanese press before the event started.

However, here are a total of five of the coolest innovations Japanese companies showed at CEATEC 2011 in video form, delivered from our friends at Diginfo TV (YouTube channel). All the videos were shot directly on location and are in English. → Read More

September 30th, 2011

Orange To Bring Sharp 3D Android Phone To Asia And Europe

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Is this finally the beginning of Japanese Android phones being made available outside their home market? Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo yesterday announced it has inked a deal with French telco Orange to bring a Sharp Android handset to Asia and Europe.

The handset in question is a pretty nice one, the AQUOS PHONE SH80F (pictured), that Sharp introduced (together with Docomo) in Japan back in May. → Read More

September 22nd, 2011

NTT Docomo’s Cases Make Smartphones Measure Radiation, Body Fat, Alcohol

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Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo unveiled a few pretty interesting smartphone add-ons today. Perhaps most notable are a set of special cases the company developed to not provide extra protection but to add unique functions to the handsets they are used with.

These jackets essentially turn smartphones into dosimeters, and there are three of them: one to measure radiation, another that keeps track of the user’s body fat and muscle bulk, and a third model that measures the alcohol content in the user’s body (plus bad breath). → Read More

September 8th, 2011

Fujitsu’s Waterproof LTE F-01D Android Tablet To Land In Japan Next Month

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Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo is stepping up its efforts to bring Xi, its LTE service, to the masses: today, the company announced two tablets that are compatible with the standard for the Japanese market, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a new device from Fujitsu, the so-called ARROWS Tab LTE F-01D.

Both tablets will be released next month, come with Android Honeycomb, and have the Japanese versions of Hulu and Qik pre-installed. While the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is largely the same that’s sold elsewhere (just with LTE support), the Fujitsu tablet is more interesting. → Read More

May 30th, 2011

Video: NTT Docomo's Mobile, Simultaneous Translation System

The idea of translating spoken language from cell phone to cell phone isn’t exactly new, but the mobile simultaneous translation system NTT Docomo is currently working on looks really impressive. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier says it uses the “best technologies” for voice recognition, machine translation, and voice synthesis out there for its solution. → Read More

May 16th, 2011

NTT Docomo's Feature Phone Line-Up For Summer 2011

We covered NTT Docomo‘s smartphone line-up for this summer here, but Japan’s leading mobile carrier also revealed 11 new feature phones today. And here are all of them listed up. → Read More

May 16th, 2011

NTT Docomo's Smartphone Line-Up For Summer 2011

Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has announced its summer line-up of cell phones today, and we have squeezed all their nine new smartphones (plus Fujitsu’s Windows 7/Symbian hybrid) into this article for your reading pleasure (click here for a list of all new feature phones). → Read More

May 16th, 2011

LOOX F-07C: Fujitsu's Symbian/Windows 7 Dual Boot Cell Phone Unveiled

It turns out the leak we blogged last month is true: Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo today officially introduced the Fujitsu LOOX F-07C as part of its summer line-up, and the device actually does dual-boot to Symbian and Windows 7 OS (not Windows Phone). Hardware-wise, the LOOX is pretty interesting, too. → Read More

May 13th, 2011

NTT Docomo Partners With Twitter For New Location-Based Service In Japan

Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo today announced it will develop with Twitter a set of new mobile services for its domestic customer base of 58 million. Under the deal, Docomo plans to integrate a “touch and follow” app into NFC-equipped feature phones, allowing two users to start following each other just by placing their handsets together.

Read the rest on TechCrunch. → Read More

April 12th, 2011

Is Fujitsu Prepping A Symbian/Windows 7 Dual Boot Cell Phone?

Take this with a grain of salt: Japanese tech blog Juggly is reporting [JP] that Fujitsu is working on a cell phone with both the Symbian and Windows 7 OS (not Windows Phone) on board. According to the article, the handset will be released by Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo as part of its summer line up. → Read More

March 28th, 2011

Japan's Docomo To Sell LG's Optimus Pad This Thursday For $980

Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo today announced [press release in English] that LG’s 3D-capable Optimus Pad will go on sale in the country as early as this Thursday. That means that the Android 3.0 device will hit stores in Japan earlier than in the US – where it’s expected to become available on April 20. → Read More

February 24th, 2011

NEC Medias: Docomo To Offer The World's Thinnest Smartphone In 3 Weeks (Update: Video)

On Monday, we’ve just shown you some leaked pictures, but we can now confirm the world’s thinnest smartphone, NEC Casio Mobile’s MEDIAS N-04C, is real. And provider NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, doesn’t want to lose time in bringing it to market: it will hit stores over here as early as March 15. → Read More

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nScaled Inc — Received $7M in Series A funding from Almaz Capital and Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
2.21.2012
Tugg — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
2.21.2012
LiteTouch — Acquired by Savant Systems.
2.21.2012
AVG Technologies — Went public with stock symbol NYSE:AVG.
2.2.2012
LiteTouch — Acquired by Savant Systems.
2.21.2012
Circle of Moms — Acquired by Sugar.
2.21.2012
Hyperpublic — Acquired by Groupon.
2.21.2012
ttMobiles — Acquired by Tangoe.
2.21.2012
Traffix Systems — Acquired by F5 Networks.
2.20.2012
nScaled Inc — Received $7M in Series A funding from Almaz Capital and Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
2.21.2012
Collegium Pharmaceutical — Received $22.5M in Unattributed funding
2.15.2012
Wheelz — Received $13.7M in Series A funding from Zipcar and Fontinalis Partners
2.22.2012
Fanzy — Received $500k in Seed funding from Georges Chryssostallis, Gary Stiffelman, and Roland Swenson
2.22.2012
Jayride.com — Received $400k in Seed funding from Andrey Shirben
2.21.2012
2.21.2012
Almaz Capital — Invested in nScaled Inc.
2.21.2012
Zipcar — Invested in Wheelz.
2.22.2012
Fontinalis Partners — Invested in Wheelz.
2.22.2012
Gary Stiffelman — Invested in Fanzy.
2.22.2012
AVG Technologies — Went public with stock symbol NYSE:AVG.
2.2.2012
Brightcove — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:BCOV.
2.17.2012
Jive Software — Went public with stock symbol NASDAQ:JIVE.
2.3.2012
Tugg — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
Collegium Pharmaceutical — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
Jayride.com — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
Imperative Energy — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
Savant Systems — Company added to CrunchBase
2.22.2012
Reeli (iPhone App) — Product added to CrunchBase
2.21.2012
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