Author: Stuart Dredge
Korea/Japan Week: The new big mobile thing in South Korea is… removable fascias?
Don’t snort with laughter. In the West, fascias might be old news – remember the days when any market stall worth its salt was selling covers for your Nokia phone? But it seems fascias are enjoying a new lease of life in South Korea.
At least, that’s the impression I got from Samsung’s Anycall store in Seoul, where the SPH-6600 was on show with its ten optional fascias (three come with the handset, and seven more can be bought separately. Apparently it’s really popular, too.
Korea/Japan Week: Mobile users "hate" video telephony
Video-calling hasn’t taken off in the West yet, which I’d put mostly down to the fact that once you openly start using it, your boss and/or partner will assume they can videocall you at any time and see exactly what you’re doing, where you’re doing it, and who you’re doing it with.
It’s a slippery slope for anyone pulling a sickie, having an affair, or just going about their business in a private way. And y’know what? South Korea may be one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world, but people there don’t want it either. This is despite the fact that operators and handset manufacturers are keen to tout it as a hot new service.
Korea/Japan Week: 10 cool things from Samsung's Anycall Studio store
So, I’m here in Seoul being shown a taster of South Korea’s most cutting-edge mobile technology. This morning, that included a wander around Samsung’s Anycall Studio store, which acts as a showcase for the company’s handsets.
Besides the neat touchscreen phone-recommender, there was plenty of other fun stuff to see. I’ve picked out ten highlights from the store, so read on below. Starting with…
1. Picture-in-Picture dual-DMB TV Phone (above). The SCH-B710, to give the handset its full name, is the first Korean phone to come with a pair of digital TV tuners in – one S-DMB (satellite) and one T-DMB (terrestrial). What’s more, you can watch both simultaneously using its picture-in-picture mode, allowing you to watch a film and a football match at the same time.
Korea/Japan Week: Samsung's touchscreen mobile phone recommender
How do you decide what new phone to buy? Well, it depends on whether you drink wine or beer. Whether you put your trousers or shirt on first in the morning. Whether you like handbags or console gaming.
A nifty touchscreen gadget in Samsung's Anycall Studio store in Seoul uses these questions to decide what phone you should buy. See how I fared in the video below (yes, I accidentally said I was a woman). It's hard to see this sort of tech appearing in Carphone Warehouse any time soon, but you never know…
Sharp and Yahoo team up for HDTV web browsing
Imagine looking at websites in glorious high-resolution on your flat-screen telly? Sharp is doing its best to make sure you don’t have to imagine, with a new service called Yahoo! HD for AQUOS’, which was unveiled at the CEATEC Japan 2007 show this week.
Basically, the service upscales content from Yahoo’s Japanese portal to make the most of a 1920 x 1080 resolution LCD TV. Among the features being shown off by Sharp are mapping and picture books, with a keen focus on content that would be likely to “stimulate conversation” among the several people likely to be sitting in front of a TV.
Fancy a fridge with built-in Espresso Maker?
Of course you do, you 21st-century caffeine addict. The Whirlpool 20RI D4 Espresso is due to go on sale early next year, and offers generous fridge and freezer capacity, along with an espresso coffee machine embedded in the door.
Well, it’s more useful than wireless internet access, anyway.
Opinion: Why isn't Apple letting us share music too?
Stuart Dredge writes…
I’m genuinely excited about Microsoft’s plans for the Zune Social community, allowing Zune owners to subscribe to each other’s dynamic playlists, and embed their latest listening in their blog or social networking profile.
It’s certainly more interesting than the Zune-to-Zune Wi-Fi track sharing that debuted in the first Zune, anyway. Zune Social would actually make me buy a Zune, if Microsoft was selling it officially over here in the UK. Note to Bill: sort this out soon, please.
With the caveat that I’m not a Jobs-hating Microsoft fanboy (or, indeed, a Gates-stomping Apple nut), Zune Social has made me wonder why Apple hasn’t done more in the area of music sharing – or at least communities around the music stored in our iPods and iTunes applications.
YouTube Video Of The Day: Japanese TV table-cloth challenge
Yet another reason to envy Japanese couch potatoes. This show has a multi-level table-cloth pulling competition, with graduating difficulty. Your favourite contestant will be the gurning topless man, for sure. Someone sign this format up for British telly, quick!
Top 10 Web 2.0 strategies for the UK general election
Assuming Gordon Brown has the stomach for a fight, we could have a general election next month here in the UK. Normally, this would be cause for advertising agencies to lick their lips at the prospect of lucrative billboard and TV ads for the various parties.
But we’re living in a Web 2.0 world now. Just look at the US for proof, where campaigning is well underway for next year’s presidential election. The various candidates have their own blogs, they’re using YouTube, they’re holding debates using MySpace… It’s a thoroughly modern way of campaigning.
O2 offering (limited) free access to MySpace mobile site
O2 has announced that it won’t be levying data charges on its customers for accessing MySpace’s mobile site during November and December. After that, they’ll pay the normal off-portal data charges according to their tariff, but unlike on Vodafone, they won’t have to pay a monthly subscription for access to the site itself.
