This sounds good in a world ever-more concerned about energy costs and eletronic waste: Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (TMD) and Idemitsu Kosan have announced a new small-molecule organic electroluminescent (EL) display panel that reportedly lasts 30 times as long as current TMD screens while sipping a scant 1/10 the electricity. The 2.2-inch QVGA screen for mobile devices uses 100mW of power and lasts up to 60,000 hours, the best specs recorded yet for the category. TMD provided the TFT substrate design technology and element design technology, while Idemitsu chipped in RGB light-emitting materials. The two companies are now cooperating on commercialization plans.

Info: http://www.tmdisplay.com/tm_dsp/press/2008/08-08-20_e.html (English)

Twice in one month? SoftBank Mobile has again lowered the minimum price of its all-you-can-eat "Packet Flat-rate Full" data plan for the iPhone 3G. The minimum fee for low packet usage, lowered earlier this month from a flat JPY5985 to JPY1695, now drops to JPY1029 per month. If you're a light data sipper, you might pay as little as JPY2324 per month for your combined White Plan, S! Basic Pack, and Packet Flat-rate Full data plan (though once you start playing with web sites and the App Store and other iPhone goodies, you're not likely to stick to that data diet).

The move is SoftBank's response to competitor DoCoMo recently dropping its minimum packet plan fee to JPY1029. Keep duking it out on price, boys; I've got lots of stuff to download!

Press release: http://www.softbankmobile.co.jp/ja/news/press/2008/20080826_01/ (Japanese)
Previous price drop: http://www.tekronomicon.com/stuff/2008/08/iphone_3g_data_plan_just_got_c... (English)

Name: SONY PSP-3000
Category: portable game machine
Price: Not yet announced
Release date in Japan: October, 2008

Here's one for the gamers: Sony Computer Entertainment's announcement of its latest PlayStation Portable game machine, the PSP-3000. First, a really short background on the PSP:

The PlayStation Portable hit shops in Japan at the end of 2004, and North America in March 2005. It's sold over 40 million units worldwide since. The PSP is a slab-shaped game machine with optical drive, a good-sized screen, WiFi, Internet and multimedia capabilities, and the ability to connect with other PSPs and the PlayStation 3 console. It received a "Slim and Light" redesign (PSP-2000) about a year ago, shedding weight and bulk while gaining USB charging, composite TV output, a brighter screen, and 64MB of onboard memory (up from 32MB).

What's new in the PSP-3000? Two things, mainly: a better screen and a microphone.

The new screen offers "the highest-level contrast ratio, response time, and wider color gamut possible on a portable LCD screen", says SCE, as well as anti-glare coating to improve outdoor viewing. The unit's video-out port also receives an uprade, with the ability to output gameplay in interlace format for non-progressive TV screens.

While that all sounds nice, the microphone is what will enable new types of gameplay and usage. Expect to see upcoming games gain voice-based controls and network play chat capabilities. SCE is already promoting Skype capability as a selling point, making the PSP-3000 into an Internet phone.

That still makes for a pretty modest refresh; other than the screen and microphone upgrades, the PSP-3000 is little changed from the current model. Available colors will be Piano Black, Mystic Silver, and Pearl White. SCE promises a worldwide launch in October 2008.

More info: http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/080821ae.html

Mobile industry consultants Eurotechnology Japan KK estimate that between 75,000 and 125,000 iPhone 3Gs were sold in Japan between the device's release on July 11 and the end of the month. The company describes its methodology in an August 8 message:

• SoftBank Mobile subscribers increased by 158,900 during June 2008, but 215,400 during July 2008.
• Eurotechnology sees no similar large jumps in past data, other than seasonal jumps in March of the years observed (attributable to strong sales before the traditional start of the financial year, school year, and general employment year in April).
• As no other high-profile phones were introduced by SoftBank in July, the month's unusually high subscription increase of 56,500 users can be safely attributed to new iPhone 3G subscribers (including existing SoftBank subscribers adding iPhone as a second phone, or defectors from other carriers).
• The above would not count existing SoftBank subscribers upgrading from an existing phone to iPhone. With no numbers released by SoftBank, Eurotechnology guesses at a number similar to the 56,500 new subscribers – or for simplicity, 100,000 total.
• Assuming a +/-50% margin of error on the number of upgrading subscribers yields a ballpark result of 75,000 - 100,000 iPhone 3Gs sold in Japan during July 2008.

If sales keep up that pace, Eurotechnology estimates between 640,000 - 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold in Japan during 2008. Nice numbers - though still only 1.2 - 2% of all handsets sold in the country for the year.

The Japan iPhone 3G sales numbers are a big piece of guesswork, but it's a rough block to start whittling into useful shape as more data appears. Stay tuned for more –

GREEN HOUSE introduces two tiny lenses for the serious mobile phone photographer. The DN-MCL30 (JPY1799) is a 2x telephoto lens that weighs a scant 6.6 grams. The DN-MCL40 (JPY1999) is a 170-degree fish-eye lens weighing 10.8 grams. Both lenses make use of a steel ring that you attach around your camera's pinhole lens with double-sided tape; the lenses then attach to the ring magnetically.
http://www.donya.jp/item/6409.html
http://www.donya.jp/item/6410.html

Name: TASCAM GT-R1
Category: portable digital recorder
Price: about JPY35,000
Release date in Japan: August 26, 2008

Here's one for the musicians. TEAC, the Tama city-based maker of recording gear, offers the new 208-gram GT-R1 IC recorder and effects box for music makers on the go.

While aimed primarily at recording guitar and bass via direct line input, the GT-R1's stereo microphones will capture acoustic guitar - or your whole band - at better-than-CD 48kHz/24bit quality. (Or capture your sales meeting instead, should you want to request such mundane tasks of the device.) Record your riffs for later output to another device, or lay a new track on top of a saved recording. Also built in are a 55-effect multi effector, which you can add either during recording or during playback; rhythm presets to give your session a beat; and a chromatic tuner. Playback options include such niceties as speed control and interval looping.

The GT-R1 saves to WAV or MP3 format on SD/SDHC external memory. The included 1GB SD card will record about 100 minutes of audio in WAV format, or over 18 hours in MP3 format.  

Look for the device at music and electronic shops throughout Japan from late August.

More info: http://www.tascam.jp/list.php?mode=99&mm=9&c2code=01&c3code=02&scode=091... (Japanese)

iPhone 3G users in Japan: SoftBank Mobile just unilaterally made your monthly data fee cheaper. Maybe.

The company is revising its monthly JPY5985 all-you-can-eat "Packet Flat-rate Full" data plan, required for all iPhone 3G contracts, to a cost of JPY0.084 per packet. The new minimum fee drops to only JPY1695 for up to 20,175 packets; the fee rises with usage from there, up to a maximum of the old cost of JPY5985 for 71,250 packets or more.

In other words: it's still all-you-can-eat, but light users can now shave some coin from their bill. At the same time, SoftBank Mobile is strengthening its E-mail (i) service for iPhone 3G to store users' mail indefinitely with no scheduled deletion, though a mail data limit of 200MB or 5000 messages will still apply.
http://www.softbankmobile.co.jp/en/news/press/2008/20080805_02/index.htm... (English)