Whether you need the latest model mobile phone as a business necessity, or you're simply looking to buy your first one, Jeffrey Strain explains new developments you need to know



Technology has been able to shrink the mobile phone from a bulky and heavy brick-sized object which appeared in the early 1980s, to a lightweight instrument which today weighs only several ounces and is smaller than your hand. These advances have also produced mobile phones with all kinds of technological wizardry. Hardly a week goes by without one new keitai development or another. Better yet, the newest generation of mobile phones are debuting with advances which ultimately propose to change the way phones are used.

Fancy functions
There are currently over 350 million people in the world using mobile phones, and one out of every three people in Japan has one. Estimates are that 800 million people will have a mobile phone by the year 2003. Mobile phones will soon surpass the number of terrestrial phones in Japan. This is not surprising. Mobile phones are easy to carry, service and sound quality continue to improve and most importantly, people don't have to pay the outrageous deposits necessary to hook up a terrestrial phone when they buy a mobile phone.

The continually dropping price for mobile phones make them appealing to those who don't currently have them, and the constant technological advances keep long-time users trading their old ones in for newer models. Features currently available on many newer mobile phones include a built-in personal organizer including a calendar and phone number storage, the ability to send and receive faxes and email, Internet access, voice mail alert, caller ID, call forwarding and call waiting, number recall, vibrating alert, programmable ringing tones and most importantly multilingual capabilities. NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode phones allow you to trade stocks, reserve airline seats, hotel rooms and concert tickets, buy books, access news and do online banking. You can also access live play-by-play reporting of selected baseball games, read Internet pages and receive email. Better yet, this system uses what's called "packet communication," which reduces your mobile phone costs. Under this system, you pay for the amount of data transmitted (the number of packets) and not for the actual time on the phone which can greatly reduce costs.

Standard questions
Another question to consider when purchasing a mobile phone is whether to get a cellular or PHS (Personal Handy System) phone. While only a year ago PHS phones looked liked they might soon be wiped out of the mobile phone market, they have cleverly highlighted their one major advantage over cellular phones to make a comeback. This advantage is that PHS phones can transmit data at far greater speeds than the digital cellular phones currently available. This, along with a pricing structure which is less expensive than cellular phones and the ability to make calls from underground subway stations, has made PHS phones worth a look for those who transmit large amounts of data from their computers. PHS phones come with some disadvantages though. The two major disadvantages are their lack of calling range and their inability to be used in vehicles that are moving. Due to each type of phone having large weaknesses, dual mobile phones which can be used as either a PHS or a cellular phone are gaining in popularity.

Probably the most difficult aspect in choosing a mobile phone is anticipating the services that will be available in the next few years. This is especially important these days with the third generation of mobile phones getting ready to debut in March 2001. Much like computers, constant technological advances seem to outdate even the top models after several years. The importance of correctly predicting the next generation's standard is compounded even more today since two rival standards are being presented (see part 2, in issue 308), and chances are that only one of them will succeed. It's a very similar situation to the competition between Beta and VHS to be the world standard when VCRs first appeared. Your choice of standard may very well determine whether you have functioning electronic equipment or a piece of useless junk several years from today.

In part two: The next generation: It's war!

Reprinted by permission of Kansai Time Out.