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Apple unveils new iPhone

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Increased battery life will make me want one. The apps on an iPhone are great, but after an hour of playing/using them on the current model the battery goes flat. However, I'll be waiting to speak to a few users of the new version before I line up at 3am to buy one.

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From the picture, it doesn't look as portable as the previous versions. Must be all those extra applications I guess. Does it come with its own transport vehicle?

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iPhones are way outdated and 2 years behind Japanese mobiles, that's why Softbank can't even give away these devices.

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It's previous incarnation couldn't even record video? How retro!

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"a new version of its hot-selling iPhone"

"iPhones are outdated and 2 years behind Japanese mobiles, that's why Softbank can't even give away these devices"

Someone is right and someone is wrong.

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jkoffman... "...2 years behind Japanese models???" What are you talking about??? Japanese mobiles might be ahead in their standard models compared to other countries, but the iPhone makes all other phones in Japan look silly by comparison.

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iPhone may lack a few features ketais have, but in most ways it far advanced to anything else on the market. Just the battery life is annoying. softbank can't give them away cause of the stupid 2year contract... All users are tied into it. In 18months when my contract expires ill be getting a newest iPhone. no video on a stock iPhone but if you jailbreak then you can have video. I used to use a sharp 8series handset and that didn't have video either and camera was the same quality.

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My current Softbank contract expires in 3 months so I am seriously considering iPhone.

I guess what appeals in other countries is you can use it virtually as small computer with WiFi.

In Japan WiFi is always tied with contract - no free access here and there. I guess this combined with the way Japanese use keitai is the key why it doesn't spread more here.

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Suica and KDDI support, otherwise no iphone!!

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I was hoping for something extraordinary from Apple this time but they sure did disappoint everyone big time. My 26 months just finished at the end of May. I may get the current 16gb model and jailbreak it, or just stick to my E61 nokia a little longer.

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Every morning upon arising, I offer humble thanks to the deities that not one second of my time, nor one yen of my income, will be wasted playing with one of these silly and unnecessary gadgets.

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The Sim on the iPhone does come out (easily) so you could put it into your Laptop cell also. There is also a jailbreak program that turns the iPhone into a modem thru the wifi.

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Japanese keitai suffer from the same development blunders as many Japanese tech products: They simply continue to push a spec race, while ignoring what consumers really want/need/lust. Various keitai are marketed as "high spec", without considering usability. For example, the user interface of Japanese keitai are archaic when compared to the iPhone, blackberry, or Palm Pre. Or they are marketed based on their case design, again ignoring actual device usability. If Japanese keitai's are so wonderful, why is it that they are not sold outside of Japan? Docomo tried, and it failed miserably. Keitai's only succeed in this local captive market. I suspect that if the Palm Pre is brought to Japan (it'd need some extra network capabilities first), it would really put the local keitai's to shame, especially considering it's got a "real" keyboard which the thumb-wizards of Japan could utilize.

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Local mobiles are pretty crappy. whenever my friends outside Japan (across Asia, UK ans Europe) see my J-phone they are amazed at the poor design, weight and even the so-called advanced features (which I am pretty useless at anyway) don't raise mucjh of an "Ooooooh" (or sghould that be "eeeeeee").

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Is the iPhone supporting Edy, as that has become really big down in Okinawa?

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I agree with jackfish, I dont care how much things J companies put on a ketai, if some cell phone can provide a better interface with a bigger screen, then that is more user friendly. It hurt my eyes reading the news in a small screens and write with the numeric keyboard take to much time for use Google or Wikipedia.

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Agree completely with mareo^2.

The iPhone user experience is extremely pleasant compared to Japanese phones I've owned. Whenever a Japanese friend notices I have an iPhone they are amazed by it, and say it's cool and they want one. Especially when I show them my 1-year-old cover-flowing through photos. ; - )

Lastly, the iPhone isn't selling badly in Japan at all. That's a discredited story made up by a journalist (Brian Chen) writing for Wired magazine. Google it. True, it would sell more if it was cheaper, but this is a top-end phone, and Apple are selling it to make money. Quality costs.

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iPhones are finally getting camera controls? But it's still only at 3.0 megapixels????

Jeez, welcome to the telecommunications middle ages....

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it is not just a phone it is a minicomputer blows any japanese cellphone out of the water you can see the real internet on it email, music, photos and the new iphone has video wow but I will wait until next year to upgrade still very happy with my present iphone and it has free software for reading books called stanza very cool for reading books on the phone!!!

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I want to buy the iPhone but I am still bound 1 year to my docomo contract ...

Japanese phones are nice but I find iPhone far more intuitive to use, and the bigger screen is a bless to read news or whatever you want on the net.

Also, the new version will allow the phone to be used as a modem, no need to jailbreak it now, and the compass will enable it to use it as a car navigation system, main reason for my will to purchase it, although the limited area covered by softbank might be a problem.

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To fully appreciate the Iphone you have to jail break it. There are so many programs to enhance it. I have a 2g and a 3g both jailbroke and running with just the programs I want not bundled like a old version of windows in a sharp PC.

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Pixel-count races are a prime example of marketing based on meaningless specs rather than actual usability. With increasing pixel-count, comes increased pixel density, and increased sensor noise. If not managed well, this means that your newer camera with "more megapixels" will take a lower quality image than the previous generation. There are many examples of this phenomenon in the marketplace, both with cell phones and dedicated cameras. Besides, with a "lens" the size of a head of a push-pin, you're never going to get much of an image.

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Well I don't want to bug anyone (I said I actually consider iPhone), but you guys have to get out of your gaikokujin holes!

Just visit lets say Softbank product page and you'll understand now all Japanese makers make iPhone alike "full touch" phones. Some are with sliding keyboards, larger screens, offering digital TV (one-seg is a hit in Japan), and more functions appealing to Japanese.

I own 2.5 yo keitai that can take photos (2MP) videos, can play back 3gp videos, play games (yes download software) use it as train pass (Suica), Edy money, etc, etc.

Now add the way kanji are written (press a letter - list of option words is dropping) and you'll understand regular numerical keys are more compact and easier to write in JAPANESE.

And again - I'm very interested in iPhone because I do not use much for conversation, copy/paste is added as function as well as it is small computer and good media player. But the majority of the Japanese are on different wave (I know my colleague who have it as a second phone just because he is a Mac-fan)

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bogva, but can yours hear you and "speak in Japanese" and the phone will type out your email? Here, you can download a program and speak Japaneses into the mic (from a distance) and the program will type out your message with incredible accuracy. While I speak Japanese, and read some, writing is much harder. I can recognize the correct Japanese for the most part, so this program has really been extremely helpful. As for typing by number, a regular keyboard is much easier to type Japanese. iPhone needs video and a few local software packages, but if EDY or Suika would just write a program then we would have it. Can't blame iPhone. Just blame the companies here that haven't prepared their services to the worldwide standards and/or not created the program yet. iPhone rocks. Softbank sucks but iPhone rocks.

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I wouldn't get an iPhone for one reason ... Softbank. Their sales staffs are creepy, arrogant, and can't give a straight answer to a simple question. I actually walked into the shop in Shinsaibashi ready to buy one and walked out 30 mins later determined to buy an iPod Touch instead. A bunch of boneheads if you ask me.

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But it's still only at 3.0 megapixels????

3.0 megapixels is sufficient for a (larger than standard) 7x5" print. there's not much point having much larger unless you have a decent lens, which the iphone doesn't have, neither do most phones with oodles of megapixels but a piece of plastic to bend the light

megapixels are another myth to shift new product year in, year out. i have a 10 megapixel camera but leave it set on 4.

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