Gadget makers here are going in two directions at once as they design mobile phones: handsets that do everything, and phones that do just one thing really well. The newest Japanese phones on display at the big CEATEC tech trade show reveal handset manufacturers' dual strategy. For instance, Sharp is exhibiting the Aquos Shot camera phone, with a 10 megapixel camera and a host of high-end features for the serious photographer. Why carry a separate digital camera? But elsewhere on the show floor, manufacturers' booths are teeming with phones so smart they ought to have Ph.D. degrees. CEATEC offers gadget geeks the chance to peek at the most cutting-edge phone designs.
Green is the color of choice this year in Japan, and several manufacturers are pitching phone models with eco-friendly aspects. NTT DoCoMo , the biggest Japanese carrier with fully half of the mobile market, is showing a prototype phone from Sharp, the Touch Wood, that features a wooden shell carved from the hinoki tree, a Japanese cypress. Phones are in vogue at CEATEC. In Fujitsu's design awards showcase, the washable Soap model, is aimed at children. DoCoMo, which essentially invented the mobile Internet with i-Mode a decade ago, continues to offer more ways to use a phone. It already sells a system that lets you turn on the lights and air DoCoMo was also exhibiting prototype earbuds that sense head movement, allowing the user to control a phone -- for instance, skipping an MP3 track or lowering the volume. The next mobile-handset trend by DoCoMois is likely to be customized handsets.
