The Ketai

So, in a previous post, I mentioned my new cell phone, the NTT-Docomo N-01A. While it's already a year old in Japan, expect to see it hit American markets sometime in the year 3000, i.e. never. Why? I don't know the specifics, maybe it's because Japan's mobile phone market is leaps and bounds beyond the current demands of American users, or maybe most Americans, myself included, just wouldn't know what to do with the damn thing. I can't hardly get over the fact that it has 3 operating faces, touch, 90 degrees, and 180 degrees. I fully expect the next Terminator model to be based on one of these things.

Pictured above: The T-10,000,000

Need to check your email on the go? Not a problem. Want to listen to music on the go? Why not. Manage your bank account on the train? Sure thing. Lost? Just use the GPS. Need the weather report or a train schedule? Absolutely. You may be saying, "But Andrew, my current phone does all of those things." Oh really? Can you type in Kanji? If you're bored on the train, can you watch TV on it? If you need a price check at the super market, can you scan the bar code? Can you swipe it as a credit card, or lock it with facial recognition keys? Does it have Japanese to English and English to Japanese dictionaries? Can it scan signs in one language and instantly translate them into another?

No? I didn't think so. That might be half of the features of this thing. Like I said, I've no idea what I'm doing with it.