Technabob » docomo

Q-Pot Chocolate Bar Smartphone for Candy-Coated Calling

Range — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:00:00 +0000

The Japanese do come up with some strange technology. The Chocolate Q-Pot Phone, which was designed by Tadaaki Wakamatsu and NTT DoCoMo, is going to be released in Japan as a special Valentine’s Day smartphone. Does that mean you’ll only use it on that particular day? Nope, the Q-Pot Phone is designed help you get your chocolate fix whenever you answer your phone.

It’s official name is the SH-04D and it’s part of the DoCoMo ‘With’ series of collaborative phone designs. It runs a custom Android 2.3 interface, pre-loaded with a chocolate-themed game and wallpapers. It even comes with a “Chocobed” recharging station, that’s been designed to look like a chocolate box. How cute.

The actual phone is produced by Sharp and only 30,000 units will be made. This phone will sell for ¥40,000 (~$521 USD). Now that’s expensive chocolate!

[via designboom]

Japanese Gardeners Rejoice With Docomo’S New Sensor Stick

Range — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:56:36 +0000

Are you a Japanese vegan gardener? Well good for you, because DoCoMo has just released the perfect new device for you.

So, this thing is actually called a Garden Sensor. It will ensure that your veggies will turn out perfect. It’s a tiny sensor stick that you can insert into the soil, right next to your precious veggies. It has the ability to measure moisture levels, as well as sunlight.This data is then sent wirelessly to DoCoMo, where their gardening experts will give you expert advice on how to get the best out of your garden. They will communicate with you via email, phone, or text messages. The diagram below makes it all look much more complicated than it is. Perhaps that’s because it’s in Japanese.

These sensors, which are priced between $20 to $30, will be deployed on a test basis in Japan in 2011.

[Impress Watch (JP) via DVice]

Darth Vader is Your Boss

Range — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:24:55 +0000

Darth Vader is invading the streets of Tokyo, Japan, thanks to the mobile phone giant Docomo. I don’t know how much they had to pay George Lucas for the rights, but you can bet that they didn’t come cheap.

Darth is part of an interactive campaign that allows you to go to a special website. You enter your name in a text box and then you’ll see a video of Darth Vader stalking the streets of Tokyo in order to find you. He stops in the middle of the famous Shibuya crossing, and looks up at your own name displayed on the area’s gigantic video screen. There’s a close-up of Vader, who responds in Japanese that you are not his boss! I couldn’t exactly figure out how to make it work, but maybe you guys can.

I don’t think that Vader ever spoke Japanese, or used the word “boss,” but what do I know? Personally, I think Vader should have said one of his more well known-responses, like: “Luke, I am your father. Search your feelings, you know it to be true!”

[via Shibuya246 via DVice]

Does Your Phone Smell?

Technabob — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:42:17 +0000

In their never-ending quest to create solutions to a problems that don’t exist, NTT Docomo and Sony Ericsson have developed a new line of scented cell phones. Yeah, you heard that right.

The SO703i Sony Bravia Aroma Phone will offer a variety of interchangeable aroma “sheets” that will keep your phone smelling fresh as the day you bought it. We can only hope they don’t base their scent selection on the old Odorama scratch-and-sniff cards from John Water’s classic Polyester, which included such lovely aromas as gasoline, pizza, glue, grass, and poo.

[via Gizmodo]