Cowboys’s Adventure in China

As their annual visiting, cyberspace Cowboys went to Shenzen and Hong Kong looking for something interesting. 

Mr Yamane, a specialist of mobile phones, guided them. He showed and is showing really interesting things there. 

The first thing cowboys saw was a felt case for iPhone looks like iPhone. Other members got it the day before their arrival. How well made it is! We were really impressed that details of iPhone design was well realized on the felt, such as Bluetooth. 

It is a fake and smaller iPhone.

After such a surprize, they arrived Shenzen. Contrary to their concern that travellers may be victims to robbers, the place was so calm and not danger for traveller so much. The prices are not high, there are less beggars. Situation of Shenzen are surely changing.

OPhone is one of things cowboys wanted to get during this travel. Mr Yamane took them to the shop and they could get it easily, though he said OPhone is really popular in China and he concerned that it might be sol out. 

Customers are buyers from  all over the world. So many professionals gather there. The place is so flank and there are no dress code, people casually came there as if they come to groceries for vegetable or fruits. The place is such electric device market.  

We thought that inside of shops are similar to a radio department store in Akihabara, Japah. Shops gather closely. Many small shops are in one big building. They eat on the counter of the electronic shops.  They don’t waste their time, they do other things in their free time.

 Many shops are  being specialized, for instance, this shop specializes in stylus pens.

Here is a mock-up specialized shop, iPhone cases shops,etc.

iPhone cases are so popular there and really fashionable. They found many cases which we may not find in Japan, also its quality is good and the price is cheap. About 250 yen (2.8 USD) per one! They found a building where all shops of a floor sell the cases.  

Next, look. What do you think are they?

 They are all mobile phones!

These are fake “iPhone”s!! But they work as mobile phones properly… :-O 

Cowboys were trully satisfied with visiting there. When they returned to Hong Kong, cowboys asked unlimited mobile connection. Mr Yamane told them to buy the device of Android and SIM cards and took them to a high-tech devices market.

They got HTC TATOO, the latest HTC device. HTC TATTOO was a device for Android which equipped with unique ODP, HTC SENSE. 

This is a SIMs shop.  The number lined on the table is phone numbers of the SIMs.  The price goes high if the number is a pun or a lucky number. They got a pay&go SIM for 3 days unlimited internet access, supporting HSDPA. costed 65 HK$. It would be much cheaper than LAN connection in hotels.

Mr Yamane said that, a Tiwanee chip maker, called MTK, has the biggest share in China. So more OS for devices in China become the OS which MTK distributes for free. The shipment of MTK based device is 100 millions per year! Incredible! Because chip-set Android is yet expensive so there are less kinds of it than other ones. However, more Android devices, like OPhone, will be developed in the future tanks to its free OS.

Though some expected, we actually realized the merit of Android in China and Hong Kong. Because, only in Japan there is no pay&go unlimited access SIM. In America or Europe, pay&go unlimited SIM is already available.  Everytime we go abroad on business, we should concern how much will international access cost by using our Japanese mobiles. But with such unlimited SIMs, using Androids would be much more convenient and cheaper. So global executive would prefer Android.

Also, we realized another thing. In this trip, Keith spend time watching Twitter and Hatena blogs with Japanese DoCoMo’s device. If compared with it, the Android device, HTC TATTOO, is really useful and has good UI though still less than iPhone. 

When we uploaded photos took with TATTOO, we were surprized with its high speed though its resolution is low. 

However, some features of Japanese mobile are still better. One is “decoration mail.” Android lacks the feature  to decorate its text or e-mail and that makes Android a bit unattractive. We hope an app to write decoration mail will be released soon.

The Android Market in HTC TATTOO was automatically upgraded and surprisingly it is far better than Google’s Android Market. But, there are no apps like Simeji or Twitdroid, so we suppose the Market might be developed only in China.  Such development would be popular in the world, rather, we hope that because of its convenience. 

Some apps like Simeji can be downloaded and be installed directly from maker’s page.  (We tried to install Simeji in OPhone, but failed… OPhone is not Android itself but Android based OS, that would be the reason of the fail.)

HTC TATTOO was so popular in Hong Kong. It is about 2900HK$, cheaper than HTC HERO for 900HK$. Also, the features are almost the same. These points might catch the attention of people. 

We are really looking forward the futures of Hong Kong, China, and Android. After several years, if MTK device sold in Shenzen changed into Android devices, we would use them anywhere by developing Japanese mode. Furthermore, when we suddenly become need mobile phones in foreign country, we will definitely buy Android mobile and install Simeji in it so that we can use it in Japanese. 

Android is certainly a potential device!

For further information of mobiles in Hong Kong, let’s visit Mr Yamane’s page!

For more pictures in Shenzen, please visit Shin Ishimaru’s blog😀

Our Crazy? Experiments

I really appreciate CrunchGear‘s and other articles introducing our ARider project! They are both famous media in US so I’m really excited by that!!

One of Zeptotools member, shi3z (follow him “shi3z” on twitter!), uses the ARider devices everyday to move anywhere in the centre of Tokyo. Downtown of Tokyo is  not so big geographically, but it has over 10 millions  population in just about 10 miles diameter. Its population rate is less than half of NewYork’s, but the number of population in the cnter of Tokyo is 5 times of NY.

So, to move around the downtown by bicycle is easier than expected. Bicycles take us to all the places of business partners. 

Some people worry about using the device when it rains, that is also our fear. To avoid getting iPhone wet, we usually bring it in our pockets.

Furthermore, using an originally “renovated” connector for iPhone, iPhone and a HMD can be directly connected.

This solves the problem of getting cables entangled 😉

At first, we tried to see the map on the HMD, but seeing it during the ride is dangerous. So, we made just arrows to a goal and time displayed on the HMD. Currently blue arrow points the direction to Roppongi, green one does the direction to Akihabara, and red ponts the north. In addition to that, each length from current location is shown too. Such a simple display is much easier and safer to see during the ride.

However, using GPS long time needs much energy and the battery of iPhone becomes empty faster. We cannot solve tha problem up to now…

Furthermore, white screen of iPhone is difficult to see when it’s dark. But the problem is easy to solve. Just change the setting of the screen into black one at “setting” > “general” > “accessibility” on your iPhone! 

Our another play… no, “experiment” with HMD is as follows. The image captured by the superior digital SLR camera, EOS 5D MarkⅡ, is output on HMD like this.

If someone takes images from your back with the camera and you see it on the HMD, you may feel as if you were a FPS player! The imae on the HMD is truly “real”, isn’t it?

You can do it without your friends too if you have the camera attached to a tripod and bringing it on your back.

 

 Do you think we are crazy?

Maybe, you are right.

However, we believe such craziness is necessary for innovation!

Believeing such thing, we continue to play… explore the possibility of iPhone and HMD!

Will iPhone Blend?

Hi everyone,

Do you remember that, last summer, we were really looking for the release of a mobile device at the street of Omotesando. We have being in the long queue and waited for the day of release for 4 days in front of the shop. Then, you know, “Mr Kondo” became the first user in Japan. Yes, it was iPhone.

11th of July, it was the first release of iPhone in Japan, so we were really excited by having our own iPhones.  At the same day, of course in United States, it was released. However, in the queue of there, there was a person who got iPhone not only as his mobile but also as an object of his experiment. Hamlet says, ” To be or not to be, that is the question.” But a man in the clip say “Will it blend? that is the question.”

Oh, no! We might be faint at the sight of it if we’ve seen it on the day we got iPhone. But… it is funny…!!! The mixer blend everything, from McDonald’s meal to diamonds! Also, as you’ve seen, iPhone! How strong the edge is! I want it to make my morning mix juice. Ha-ha.

But, finally, can I say, “will iPhone apps blend?”

That is the question!

Bye-bye 😉

WWDC, iPhone 3G S, and Zeptotools

WWDC is now being held in San Francisco. As one of developers of iPhone/iPod touch Apps, of course, we are attending the conference and heard the keynote. We are very excited.

On the first day, we stood in the line of attendees from early morning. Though we tried going there as early as possible, there had been already some other attendees when we arrived at Moscone Center!

You would be glad at the new features of iPhone, such as copy and past from app to app. For us, interesting new points are voice control and built-in digital compass. I often roughly estimate the direction by seeing the direction of the sun. But from iPhone 3G S, such primitive way you (I) do not have to use anymore. You (I) will be able to read maps smarter with the compass 😉

Regarding Apps, Push Notification Service would push the usability and possibility of Zeptotools up.  iPhone is changing people’s life style, and we hope Zeptotools will change people’s work style too, for more easire and comfortable way.

Before we developed ZeptoPad and Zeptoline, we had to sit in front of PC or on the chair to write documents or draw images with PC or by handwriting.But now, using ZeptoPad and ZeptoLiner, we can write draft of documents and share image sketches wherever and whenever.

Up to now, Apps’ new notification was shown only when we checked it. However, Push Notification Service will notify you of something new in the Apps automatically. In addition, iPhone’s alarm sounds are changeable in each App. So, we think that the system will provide something new work style as well as some tricks!

Considering such things, we are planning to develop something new app using the system. Of course, we are upgrading ZeptoPad and ZeptoLiner to be more tactful tools. I’m really looking forward to the future of iPhone, Apps and Zeptotools.

Hope the future will be more exciting and wonderful for you.

See you on next post or at WWDC!

iPhone OS 3.0 and After

Apple disclosed the features of coming iPhone OS 3.0.

Among about 1000 new APIs introduced by them, the followings seem to be related to end users.

1. Stereo Bluetooth A2D2 audio (accessing your music from applications)
2. Landscape Keyboard in Mail
3. Copy & Paste
4. Spotlight (Searching across entire information)
5. 3G Tethering

The following features are related to developers like us.

1. Subscription to Apps
2. Purchase for additional content for apps
3. Peer-to-peer WiFi Bluetooth connectivity
4. Push Notification

(for further information, see Gizmode)

iPhone, as a mobile device, is to “check mate” other mobile devices, at least Japanese ones.

This version up will make iPhone superior to Japanese mobile phones except the system of Felica. However, it can be said that a better feature than Felica will be added to iPhone before so long.

On the AppStore, it will be possible to purchase new contents thorough software itself (the same way is adopted in the latest Japanese i-Appli). That means it also becomes possible to sell games by stages or  comics by chapters. Users will be able to download a software itself free or charge. If they would like more, they would purchase its additional contents.

Checkmate, yes, that is the checkmate.

I heard that 30 million iPhones had been sold.  Even the latest device as the main stream of Japanese mobile game contents  have not. Now, subscription system is applied to AppStore. There is no reason to reject developing contents for iPhone.

Even my least estimate, iPhone will increase its lead over the Google’s Android Market or Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Market. It would be difficult for Google and Microsoft to apply the subscription model to their market. At least 6 months, or a year at the most, iPhone keep the advantage over them. A year after, iPhone will be increase its lead more.

iPhone is being developed really systematically. Like a divine creation. We, as developers on the earth, such a development cannot explain well.

Junk Apps only for a moment pleasure will disappear. Instead, more sophisticated one which is valuable to pay continually will make constant profit.  In other words, creators of contents should not sell junk softwares, but plan credible business model and manage their products. That has functioned as a prime rule in Japanese mobile market.

So far, even not good but popular applications have made profits by millions yens per week. However, from now,  only good application will make its profits by billions yens per year because of the subscription model.

I suppose iPhone App developers around the world think the same things as us during these a few days. What can we create with this new features? How about this? Is that better?

iPhone OS 3.0 has far better features than I expected. More interesting and exciting applications will be developed by many developers. iPhone market must become more competitive.

Our competition around the world has just started!

ZeptoPad2.0 Sneak preview

I am sorry about ZeptoPad2.0 is not release right now because Apple issue.

But I guess it will be available in a few days.

We made a new video of ZeptoPad2.0 because I bought EOS5D MarkII. It is really nice camera.

All actors are employee of UEI.

Please wait a moment to release.
And same time, we provide free-trial version.

Following video is next demo of ZeptoPad2.0 and video projector.
Draw on the tree and ground.