I'm not sure this phone will ever makes it to the US, but this Swedish offering has a better chance of showing up on this side of the ocean than most of the amazing Japanese phones out there. The Neonode N1m is extremely cool: thumb-driven touch screen as the primary interface, expandable storage through SD cards, megapixel camera, MP3 player, USB port, and open to developers. The only downsides I can see are that it looks a little bulky and it lacks a miniature keyboard for easy texting. Keep your fingers crossed but don't hold your breath (you will look silly enough without passing out).
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Neonode N1M
posted by BaskingShark @ 6:11 PMpermalink
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2 Comments:
So why is it that these cool Japanese phones you mention are not showing up in the U.S.?
I saw a presentation a couple of years ago by the head of mobile development for Macromedia. He said that the U.S. was consistently about 2 years behind Japan when it came to cell phones. When you think about how fast the technology in mobile devices changes, that it a huge gap.
As to why, there are many reasons, some more concrete than others. One is simply that the cellular infrastructure in the U.S. has been splintered among many different standards and lags well behind much of Asia and Europe in speed and capability. The fairly recent adoption of the GSM system (as close to a world standard as there is) by some of the major American carriers has finally allowed phones made in Japan to work in the U.S. without being completely redesigned. However, data speeds are still nothing close to what much of the rest of the world has come to expect.
Perhaps the primary reason is cultural: in Japan the cell phone has become an essential social tool, while most Americans see the device as important but basically a utilitarian object. [See this article from the Washington Post for more on keitai culture.] To manufactures, that lack of emotional involvement translates into a weak market for the latest and greatest devices. It is possible that the current infatuation with the RAZR phone from Motorola signals a change in the way some in the U.S. view their phones, but it is more likely that people just got tired of carrying around big, awkward phones. Will those now buying the RAZR upgrade in 3 months when the next version comes out with iTunes capabilities or when the SLVR starts to ship? Motorola is betting they will; personally, I'm not so sure. Only when we start considering the phone we carry to be as important to our personalities as the shoes we wear will we begin to get the coolest in mobile technology.
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