The Google Japanese Input Puchi Puchi Version isn't going to get mass produced, but you could get your hands into an Arduino board...
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Moto recovering in Brazil, US, growing in India, focusing on APAC
Just when Motorola gets tapped for wear, the post-Moto Z improvement trend is reported to be continuing and with it, a new focus on Japan and Australia.
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For some reason, VAIO’s first (and only) Windows phone is now an Android
Former Sony offshoot VAIO isn't entirely giving up on smartphones, following last year's beautiful Biz with an identically sleek Android-based Phone A.
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KGI’s Kuo insists on stablized April 21 Galaxy S8 launch date
Recent word claimed without reason that the Galaxy S8 wouldn't get a global release for another week. Not so, says this analyst who's been around the block.
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Huawei Nova lite launches in Japan for MVNO market
The phone, to be known as the Huwaei P8 lite (2017) in some markets, features decent specs for a supposedly decent price. What more to ask for?
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NuAns NEO Reloaded made official, will ship in May
It used to be a Windows phone, now it's an Android device. And it has plenty of customizability to offer to customers as pre-orders go up.
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Construction on Sharp US plant may begin by July, if it happens at all
The company, which provides a substantial amount of displays to Apple for its iPhone, may opt not to build a factory in Trump's America....
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Kyocera rafre washable smartphone is back, now also resistant to foaming body soap
Kyocera has a second-generation washable smartphone slated for a Japanese launch in March, with both hand and body soap resistance in tow.
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No New Year’s fukubukoro from Apple in Japan this year?
The new year in Japan usually means 108 tolls of the bells at Buddhist monasteries and plenty of fukubukuro to go around? What are fukubukuro (福袋), you ask? Well, they’re bags that shops fill up with assorted goodies and then sell at random to consumers for a fixed price. Think of them as retailers giving out crackers in Britain or, to a lesser extent, hongbao in China.
Apple has done this a few times on January 2, sometimes landing customers with iPads, PowerBeats speakers, Macbooks and other such big ticket items for a relatively chump fee of ¥36,000 or $300.
This year, though, Apple Japan’s site makes no mentions of fukubukuro in its shop page teaser for a New Year’s sale. But the discounts are happening anyways on January 2.
Be there or be square?
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Japan Display may put flexible LCD up against AMOLED for foldables
The battle for display dominance continues. Even as LCD technology is being passed over for AMOLED for its literal apparent quality, those liquid crystals can still be a pretty darn colorful product. The argument for their versatility has long been pushed by Japan’s Sharp for the longest time.
However, it could be Japan Display Inc. that will take things to the next level. It has gone against the AMOLED grain — especially as flexible panels are expected to become the rage for Samsung’s patented, but unrealized foldable phones — for flexible, narrow-bezel (perhaps sub-millimeter) TFT-LCD panels. According to Japanese media, first offerings should come next year with volume production within the next three.
While the production cost gap between AMOLED and LCD is beginning to favor the former, we’re not sure if flexible panels bear the same difference. Brightness and service life for AMOLED still also lags behind LCD.
That’s not to say that JDI is all about LCD: it is also one of the rumored competitors that’s vying for Apple’s orders to supply AMOLED panels for the 2018 iPhone. The 2017 crown will almost definitely head to Samsung, the only company with anything near proper capacity for now to fit some units of the speculative iPhone 8. But many foundries, including ones with Foxconn-backed Sharp, are said to be coming online the year after next.
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Android Pay in Japan, hints of Canada release
Japan is already crowded with mobile payments everywhere. Cards and phones are tapping everywhere across the nation and Apple Pay is trying to be a part of the ecosystem.
So is Android Pay now. It is officially supported by Rakuten Edy eMoney and can be used at fifteen chain outlets including McDonald’s, FamilyMart, Lawson, Circle K and Domino’s. Tap and pay is supported as well as loyalty cards to build up points for programs.
It’s available for Android 4.4 devices in Japan and first-time users get a ¥400 gift. FeliCa, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitubishi, Visa and Mastercard will likely partner with Android Pay starting next year.
Meantime, Canada is getting an unofficial taste of Android Pay. Google has not announced support for the north just yet, stating that:
We’re excited to bring Android Pay to Canadians, however it is currently not available in Canada.
In that respect, it lags behind Samsung and Apple’s efforts there.
Nevertheless, Redditors have reported being able to get the Android Pay .APK and pair a Scotiabank SCENE/Infinite/Momentum/debit Visa card for use. Some took advantage of the compatibility for a short time before the cards stopped working all of a sudden.
Guess patience will have to pay out for Canadians.
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SoftBank’s big spend in US makes Trump happy: $50 billion, 50,000 new jobs
After a meeting with President-Elect Donald Trump at his namesake tower in New York, Masayoshi Son announced that the company he leads, Japan-based SoftBank, will invest $50 billion into the US economy and put in 50,000 jobs.
The CEO plans to infuse money from the SoftBank Vision Fund — a reserve co-opted between Son, the Saudi Arabian government and other partners — into startups. A source to the Wall Street Journal said that acquisitions valued at up to $30 billion may also be in the works.
The fund is also being put to use in large-scale tech projects in South Korea and India. Son has visited with both countries’ leaders to discuss his plans.
SoftBank acquired Sprint in 2013 and currently has an 80 percent stake in the Kansas-based carrier. Son was intent on merging Sprint with T-Mobile, but failed to do so. With a new president coming into power and shifts in administration, the executive may be playing to see if a regulation-light FCC may allow another merger attempt.
Trump was, of course, very excited about the investment and tweeted that “Masa” would have never had made the investment if it weren’t for his election.
Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
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Eye-tracking VR headset Fove 0 pre-orders activated
Those who desire to immerse themselves in virtual reality space end up only bearing witness to what goes on around them when they’re just sitting there. It usually takes a button, a controller, a quasi-visible physical detachment from the environment to interact and engage with the world they’re in.
But what if you could exert your presence in your environment just by looking? Staring? Gazing into the characters you’re talking to? It’s a concept posed by Fove as it kicks up pre-orders for its new, stereo eye-tracking virtual reality headset, the Fove 0.
The Japanese-American startup was co-founded by a former game producer at Sony and a VR developer who worked together from a collaboration lab at the University of Tokyo. The lab allowed for them to reach hardware manufacturers for partnerships to grab low-latency pupil sensors, infrared position trackers and proper helmet components.
On the device, which masses up to 540 grams, the OLED display has resolution of 2560 x 1440 and runs at 70fps natively with a 100° field of view. The headset requires I/O of an HDMI 1.4 port, a USB 3.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports. A bare spec computer needs to run with an Intel Core i5-4590 coupled to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or an AMD R9 290 with 8GB of RAM and run Windows 8.1 or later in its 64-bit form.
The software behind it, though, is what really takes the cake. The eye-tracking allows users to point out and select interface elements without the need for tactile hardware. The headset also takes advantage of foveated processing to maximize efficiency in graphics rendering based on where the user is looking at.
The Fove 0 supports games on Unity, Unreal and Xenko engines from the SteamVR and OSVR platforms.
Pre-orders for the device are on for $599 or $549 if reserved before November 9. Shipping begins early next year. There was a Kickstarter campaign before general availability, though, so those who backed the project will hope to get their perks by the end of the year.
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Sony Mobile earnings tumble 34 percent, but cost-cutting means black ink
Sony ends its second fiscal quarter of 2016 on the down side with gross revenue sinking just under 11 percent and operating income down a whopping 48 percent. While a constant currency chart shows that sales were essentially flat year-on-year, the impact of Brexit has meant a very strong Yen — one US Dollar could get you up to ¥120 before, but only ¥104 now.
Even so, the poorest performing unit of the company was in Semiconductors and Components. It wasn’t “performing” poorly per se as it was battered by earthquakes rocking the company’s factories in Kumamoto, Japan. Accounting issues compound its numbers as Sony is offloading its batteries business.
Focusing on Mobile Communications, revenue dropped 34 percent in constant currency (39.6 percent in real terms) to ¥169 billion. There was operating income as opposed to a loss of ¥20.6 billion a year before. While ¥3.7 billion isn’t much to brag about, but it’s an impressive mix of cost-cutting and hedging money on foreign exchanges.
But that’s not to ignore that the Xperia X series phones haven’t been doing the jobs they’re supposed to be doing — making the company money. This is in spite of the company’s revised mission for mobile.
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Apple Pay makes official Japan debut with Suica support for public transport use
While the “Land of the Rising Sun” is often at the forefront of innovation across multiple tech industry segments, occasionally getting dibs on dreamy variants of popular smartphones, the world’s fastest-growing mobile payment service needed quite a bit of time to reach Japanese shores.Originally launched way back in October 2014 stateside, then finally expanded to the UK in summer 2015, and further brought to countries like Canada,
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