docomo

You've probably never heard of Tizen, but the companies behind it are some of the most recognizable brands in the tech industry.

Tizen draws its heritage from the likes of Nokia and Intel through their aborted MeeGo initiative, as well as Samsung Electronics, Verizon Wireless, and Vodaphone through the LiMo Foundation. Now it's under the direct control of Samsung and Intel, two companies steering the development of an operating system that claims to be more open and customizable than Android.

Tizen has come about in some ways as a reaction to the growing dominance and influence of Google'… Read more

Samsung Electronics will be the first to sell a smartphone running on the Tizen operating system through Japanese carrier NTT Docomo and other partners next year, according to Japan's Daily Yomiuri.

Samsung, NTT Docomo, and their partners hope to build a platform that will rival the major operating systems from Apple and Google. Other carriers interested in Tizen include the U.K.'s Vodaphone and France Telecom, according to the report.

CNET has contacted Samsung for comment, and we'll update the story when the company responds.

Tizen is a Linux-based operating system that emerged from the death of … Read more

NTT DoCoMo has always showcased interesting concepts at trade shows. For example, we saw a breathalyzer in a smartphone and an ultra-high-speed charging jacket at Mobile World Congress earlier this year.

This time, at Ceatec in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has come up with a concept handset that can be operated with one hand simply by gripping it in various ways.

The Grip UI, which is really a combination of hardware (pressure sensors on the back and both sides of the phone) and software, can be applied to activate shortcuts for opening apps or unlocking the phone. … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--We're always intrigued by NTT Docomo's booth at trade shows, and this year's MWC is no different.

The company demonstrated a smartphone case with an embedded sensor for hygiene purposes. Similar to the ultra high-speed charging jacket, the device snaps onto the smartphone's chassis, much like a backup battery. However, there's a sensor, microchip, and NFC module embedded in this "jacket."

The most interesting capability of this sensor jacket has to be ranking your alcohol inebriation on a scale of one to five, one being the lowest.… Read more

Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo announced today it will launch two 10.1-inch tablets running Android 3.2 in October for its new LTE phone service.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE SC-01D and Fujitsu's Arrows Tab LTE F-01D will be the first tablets on the Xi (pronounced "Crossy") service and will come with a three-month free subscription to Hulu, which announced it is expanding to Japan this year.

The Samsung tab weighs 1.2 pounds and is an optimized version of the Galaxy 10.1 for DoCoMo's LTE service, poised to take on competition from … Read more

Japanese phone giant NTT Docomo has announced the launch of Sony Ericsson's Xperia Ray smartphone, available later this month.

The Android 2.3 Gingerbread device was originally announced at CommunicAsia 2011 in Singapore. Powered by a 1GHz CPU, it has an aluminum body that's only 2 inches wide. It weighs 3.5 ounces.

It has a 3.3-inch, 854x480-pixel display as well as an 8.1-megapixel camera with a Sony Exmor R CMOS sensor, as well as face-detection, 16x digital zoom, and autofocus features.

Other features include xLOUD sound technology for enhanced audio quality, and POBox Touch 4.3, a predictive text-input system that facilitates typing in English as well as Japanese.

Available in pink, white, and gold, the Xperia Ray hits Docomo shops in Japan on August 27, with orders accepted from August 12. … Read more

I am not sure I would ever want a cell phone with a wooden case.

But if anything could ever persuade me to consider it, it has to be this wildly inventive (and therefore Japanese) ad for the Touchwood SH-08C by NTT Docomo.

In order to show the sheer magic of wood, the ad's creators, a company called Drill Inc., decided to go to a wood. This is what we in advertising call "lateral thinking."

However, in between the trees they then built the largest, Rube Goldberg-est wooden xylophone ever.

Then they rolled a little wooden ball … Read more

Japanese are using social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi as cell phone networks are jammed following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northern Japan on Friday, killing at least 300 and leaving nearly 500 missing.

Carriers were limiting voice calls on congested networks, with NTT DoCoMo restricting up to 80 percent of voice calls, especially in Tokyo and in northeast Japan, where 30-foot tsunami waves caused extensive damage. (See video below.) But service was nil or patchy throughout the country.

Carriers Softbank and Au were also affected, with Tokyo residents unable to send text messages to friends and loved ones. Friends have reported that they were able to contact family members on DoCoMo, but not others.

Twitter, Facebook, and Japanese social-media site Mixi were helping fill the communication gap though, as online networks held firm. However, Internet service was on-again, off-again in Tokyo.

Friends in Tokyo reported walking miles to get home from the Marunouchi district of the capital's downtown as subway services were suspended. Streets in the capital remained gridlocked, with highways shut down, early Saturday.

"The streets were so full of people walking, and it was so crowded it was like being in a morning rush-hour commuter train," said Toshie Niida, who works at a cable broadcaster in central Tokyo, in a Facebook chat. "It took me more than an hour to walk home." … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--One of the best things (and sometimes the most torturing) about Mobile World Congress is checking out handsets from around the world. I think it's fair to say that the U.S. is a bit behind the times when it comes to the mobile space, so it's always great to have an opportunity to see what other kinds of technology are out there.

Over the past couple of years, NTT DoCoMo, one of Japan's largest mobile operators, has provided some unique and most entertaining phones, and it didn't disappoint this year. DoCoMo outdid itself this … Read more