Why do I always carry this with pistol and flashlight me? In case I ever need it for the zombie invasion. You mean you don’t have one?
This is part two of a multi-part series on the quirks and differences of cell phones in Japan. Click here for part one.
So part one was about how the cell phone plans differ. One the whole Japan seems to have a better system than some Western countries since you can save bucket loads of money if you keep the same phone for more than two years (or for one year for those who are on a shorter plan). However, talking about cell phone plans is probably boring unless if you’re an accountant or maybe a real hardcore price comparer(erer). For everyone else, that last one might have been slightly boring; we’re moving on so you have no need to worry about that. Wake up and grab your big foamy hand, it’s time to talk about hardware.
Oh… you’re so big, and pink, and … sparkly.
This article on Japanese cell phones from the dead baby loving communists gives some good insight on the evolution of phones over here, but I’m still going to give you a general overview. Remember back in the day when cell phones were huge? Remember the colossal car phone in the movie “The Chase“? Of course phones were big everywhere back then. Cell phones were generally big boring monochrome (like real life in the 50′s) tools until the beginning of the millenium when scientists decided to make mobile phones cool. This was pretty much how things were in many countries; and, yes, Japan is included. There were some small differences, which band was used (e.g. CDMA in the US, PHS in Japan, and 2G/3G in Europe), but for the most part the differences were minor.
Starting from the time when 24 was cool, many western companies began making phones smaller and sleeker (the RAZR being the prime example). Although much culture is exported from the West to be imported to the East, cell phones usually aren’t included in the list of goods. WIth that, Japanese and Korean companies did different things that fit their market better: an excellent predictive text system, Internet capability, a faster network, barcode scanning, big cameras, etc. The list of features started to grow quite long and this prevented Asian manufacturers from making their phones as small as phones like those in the West. Everyone seemed to be contented with the size and very happy with the new features so no one seemed to care. This commercial/cultural separation led to a growing divide, not in technology, but in preferences and available choices.
I can’t wait for someone to steal my money without the exquisite touch of human contact!
This phone is a good example of how things are different; it has a TV tuner, a huge camera, and a rotating LCD screen. All three of these features are rare/unpopular in more Western countries, but very popular here. Another good example is this one by AU. A recent and very popular new feature, おサイフケイタイ（phone wallet), is paying for things with your phone. On many new models people can use their phones to buy things from convenience stores and vending machines; this feature also lets the phone double as a train pass (take a look at these videos to see how it works).
And although these features (or at least some of them) are valuable to people in Asia, they hold little to no value in many western countries; there are not advertisements that also include a phone-readable barcode, the payment systems aren’t set up in Europe or the Americas, and no good place to watch TV in the States or Canada. This is a time when having many features actually causes a problem, even though all of the features work fine and have a useful function. The decision of whether or not a Western style phone is better than an Eastern style phone, while still dependent on the preferences of the person in question, is very reliant on the environment that the phone is in. Even if you could use a Japanese phone in the States you probably wouldn’t have a big reason to buy one and ship it from overseas, there’s no killer app that Westernized phones don’t have that an Asian phone would have.
Are Japanese phones superiour to phones from other countries? In a way, yes, but not really. It all depends on where you are.
Before you go (and even though you might not understand), watch this. It will enlighten you about … something.
