What's a decent alternative to a Blackberry in Japan?

[GomiGirl]

Any recommendations on where I can get one? Do they sell them for the Japanese market? I'd only be using them at a customer location on their internal network.

I've got one coming from Hong Kong. You can borrow ours if you like for a while. Or you could probably buy one on-line... not cheap at about USD800 though..

[cstaylor]

I'd love to give yours a quick spin. Those NEC Pocket@i's are ~$2,000 (granted, they have a built-in barcode sensor, but still...)

[Mulboyne]

Washington Post (Reuters): Sharp says not fretting BlackBerry's Japan debut

Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. unveiled a new smartphone on Tuesday, aiming to cement its leading position in the market ahead of the impending launch of the popular BlackBerry device in Japan..."We think our product is the Japanese BlackBerry," said Junko Nakagawa, general manager of Sharp's Product Planning Department, on the sidelines of a press conference. "We don't yet consider it our competitor in the Japanese market"...more...

[tatsujin]

For what its worth I faced a similar dilemma, except in the world's other technology capital: Ireland

I went for the Windows Mobile powered I-mate SP5 and so far have been very impressed.

I tend to sync with my exchange inbox rather than go for any enterprise solution but I'm fairly sure its available in Exchange 2003

As regards Japanese language, once again I'd imagine there is a Japanese variant on the software, and considering it is a mobile version of Outlook, the same would apply.

Just another option to consider... Here'sa link I just coughed up

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=408971

[Video-Link Japan]

Hi GG.. Hisashi Burri Jan..

There are a few alternatives available for the Blackberry type smartphone in Japan. Nokia's E-61 series and Willcom's 2nd generation Sharp Zero3 [es] units are both out now. The HTC "Z" for DoCoMo should be here anytime soon.. tho. it's restricted to corporate sales and will not allow flat-rate data.. still a pretty cool unit imho.

There is some video on Wireless Watch Japan at the link below:
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1976

Cheers!

[Mulboyne]

JCN: DoCoMo and RIM Announce Japanese Support for BlackBerry Products & Services

NTT DoCoMo and Research In Motion today announced Japanese-language support for the BlackBerry(R) 8707h smartphone*, which is available in Japan via DoCoMo. The addition of Japanese-language support for the BlackBerry 8707h(TM) will help satisfy customers who are interested in deploying BlackBerry smartphone in Japanese-language environments. Customers will be able to compose and read Japanese e-mails, browse Japanese websites and input Japanese text for personal information management (PIM) applications. A Japanese user interface will also be available. The launch of Japanese-language support will also include the localization of BlackBerry Enterprise Server(TM) and BlackBerry Desktop Manager. BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with IBM(R)Lotus(R)Domino(R), Microsoft(R) Exchange, and enables secure, push-based wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data, while BlackBerry Desktop Manager enables data synchronization between a BlackBerry smartphone and PC. The localized BlackBerry software is expected to be available beginning this summer and will be pre-loaded on the BlackBerry 8707h. DoCoMo will accept advance orders of the BlackBerry 8707h with Japanese-language support beginning June 11, 2007. Details are available at the NTT DoCoMo Business Online corporate sales site http://www.docomo.biz (Japanese only).

[Mulboyne]

DJ: NTT DoCoMo to provide full Japanese support for Blackberry

NTT DoCoMo said Tuesday it would provide full Japanese-language support for BlackBerry mobile handsets from next week. A software download for existing handsets will be offered on the company's Web site that will allow text input and menu display in Japanese. A server upgrade will be offered by Research In Motion Ltd, which makes the devices, a DoCoMo spokesman said.

[Mulboyne]

Kawagishi: Blackberry to be released to Japanese individuals in August

NTT DoCoMo, one of Japan's major cell phone carriers, announced that in August this year it would sell Blackberry devices to public. NTT DoCoMo is the only carrier that has the right to distribute Blackberry in Japan. Although Blackberry is today an essential communications tool for those from businesspersons to general people in the world, Japan has been the only first-place country where no Blackberry services for individuals are currently available. The only exception is Blackberry Enterprise Service (BES) provided by NTT DoCoMo to corporations only, but BES is closed to private persons because NTT DoCoMo fears that Blackberry may affect the sales of I-mode, one of NTT DoCoMo's core competences. There are no other mobile carriers that can offer Blackberry services, so Japanese people, except some lucky persons whose employer has BES for them, have no chance to enjoy communicating with the device. This announce means that NTT DoCoMo is opening the door to the world. The mobile services Japanese people are currently using have been closed within Japan. Most of them are cutting-edge, but are useless if you get outside this country. This opening of Blackberry will help Japanese people to get in touch with what people in the world are usually doing in their daily life.

Via Japan Probe

[Mulboyne]

The Sankei Shimbun has released a news application for the Blackberry, one of the first in Japanese for the device.

[Tsuru]

Any recommendations on where I can get one? Do they sell them for the Japanese market? I'd only be using them at a customer location on their internal network.

Just chiming in to recommend the E71... Exchange sync, wifi, gps, hdspa, j2me, full keyboard... not to mention it looks the part. You can even set up Skype to work on it if you want, and there are loads of different Japanese IMEs and other great apps available for western phones.

I got one, and I got the missus one as well... how did we ever live without it?

[TennoChinko]

Just chiming in to recommend the E71... Exchange sync, wifi, gps, hdspa, j2me, full keyboard... not to mention it looks the part. You can even set up Skype to work on it if you want, and there are loads of different Japanese IMEs and other great apps available for western phones.

I got one, and I got the missus one as well... how did we ever live without it?

Which carrier in Japan?

I thought NTTDoCoMo was dropping it after Nokia announced they were withdrawing from Japan?

[Yokohammer]

Apparently NTT DoCoMo has started selling the Blackberry from today (that's February 20).

[Mike Oxlong]

Yup, that's what they say.

http://www.totalokinawa.com/blog/2009/02/13/blackberry-bold-with-docomo-in-japan/

[IkemenTommy]

I wonder if these Blackberrys are also emoji challenged like the Pons.

[Yokohammer]

I wonder if these Blackberrys are also emoji challenged like the Pons.

Yes.

I went down to the DoCoMo shop this afternoon to check 'em out, and they are indeed emoji-less. In fact, they don't even do iMode. But they are killer little mobile Internet access devices (with a built-in telephone), and they should work just about anywhere in the world that has flush toilets, so I'm picking mine up in the morning.

[IkemenTommy]

Yes.

I went down to the DoCoMo shop this afternoon to check 'em out, and they are indeed emoji-less. In fact, they don't even do iMode. But they are killer little mobile Internet access devices (with a built-in telephone), and they should work just about anywhere in the world that has flush toilets, so I'm picking mine up in the morning.

Before you do, when is Android (Google phone) coming out? Or does Japan have to wait another millennium to get one of these?

[Yokohammer]

Before you do, when is Android (Google phone) coming out? Or does Japan have to wait another millennium to get one of these?

I hadn't heard of that one. But since Softbank is handling the iPhone and NTT DoCoMo is now handling the Blackberry (that's the two biggest players, isn't it?) I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Google Phone.

Looks like a cool little smart phone though.

The reason I'm so taken with the Blackberry is the QWERTY keyboard. It's tiny, for sure, but my fingers already know where the keys are so typing on the thing, if you can call it that, is really easy. The iPhone display is bigger, I think, but I just don't get along with the touch-screen keyboard.

[wuchan]

The reason I'm so taken with the Blackberry is the QWERTY keyboard. It's tiny, for sure, but my fingers already know where the keys are so typing on the thing, if you can call it that, is really easy. The iPhone display is bigger, I think, but I just don't get along with the touch-screen keyboard.

I like this one SH-04a but if you need to use MS office I would go with the crackberry.

[Tsuru]

Which carrier in Japan?

I thought NTTDoCoMo was dropping it after Nokia announced they were withdrawing from Japan?

They are, but if you really want you can still get it from abroad and use it in Japan

[Mulboyne]

[FG Lurker]

They are, but if you really want you can still get it from abroad and use it in Japan

Not on Docomo you can't. You can on Softbank though.

[Yokohammer]

I got my Docomo BlackBerry Bold the day after they were released, and have found it to be extremely useful and versatile thus far. The news of this overheating issue is a bit of an annoyance, although mine, which has only been through 3 or 4 charge cycles so far, hasn't shown any signs of overheating at all. I'll probably have to drop into the Docomo store to get more info as the info on their site is pretty meager. They're simply saying that if your BlackBerry Bold keyboard overheats during charging, call one of the given numbers. They probably haven't really sussed it out themselves yet.

Anyway, mine is cool so far.
A wonderful little tool/toy.

[IkemenTommy]

Before you do, when is Android (Google phone) coming out? Or does Japan have to wait another millennium to get one of these?

It appears that Docomo is going to be releasing the first Japanese Google phone (aka HTC "Magic")in June. (link in Japanese)
No idea why the phone in the image says "Vodaphone" on it though.

Perfect! Ikemen-san was just looking around for a new Docomo phone.

[FG Lurker]

It appears that Docomo is going to be releasing the first Japanese Google phone (aka HTC "Magic")in June. (link in Japanese)
No idea why the phone in the image says "Vodaphone" on it though.

Perfect! Ikemen-san was just looking around for a new Docomo phone.

This is quite interesting for a few reasons.

One of which is it is very likely that the Android OS doesn't have the same sort of protection of the carrier data settings that Docomo has on their own handsets. This could (finally!) make it possible to use non-Docomo handsets on the Docomo network. I have no idea why they won't give out this information as it only costs them customers... AFAIK pretty much all major carriers outside Japan have this information freely available, usually on their public websites.

I'm interested in moving back to Docomo (though I despise NTT...) due to the better coverage. I'll wait and see what happens with the new iPhone and what other goodies HTC brings out.