12-30-2004, 02:00 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Another Great Reason to Visit Japan
"Japan will start lending to foreign visitors personal digital assistants (PDAs) with travel information and translation services as part of a tourism promotion scheme. The pilot program is part of a government drive to find ways to make Japan more attractive to foreign tourists, who are often put off by the country's language barrier and high prices."
Now that's something worth checking out! It will be on trial from February to March next year for selected tourists who arrive at Narita Airport. PDAs will be fitted with Chinese, Korean and English software. Now let's just hope they're using Pocket PCs. ;-) Do you think this is a great way to help tourists make their way around the country?
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12-30-2004, 02:58 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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Very cool. The tourism agency in my home town has/had a similar project a few years ago. They had those Sony Ericsson P600 phones, and loaded them with tourist information about buildings, restaurants, shopping, etc. IIRC, they also had it hooked up to a GPS, so you wouldn't get lost.
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12-30-2004, 03:08 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 35
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Ehh, unless they are going to use one of those 'rugged' Pocket PCs, then I really don't see how this is going to work. People are going to damage them all the time, and after the PDA goes through 5 different people, it's going to be dead. PDAs as a travelling gimmick is just not going to work out, unless the government doesn't care about cracked screens coming into their offices every minute.
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12-30-2004, 03:33 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by bob1919a
Ehh, unless they are going to use one of those 'rugged' Pocket PCs, then I really don't see how this is going to work. People are going to damage them all the time, and after the PDA goes through 5 different people, it's going to be dead. PDAs as a travelling gimmick is just not going to work out, unless the government doesn't care about cracked screens coming into their offices every minute.
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Being that most of the replacement parts needed to fix these things would be locally available, I don't think the repair factor would be a big issue for them. The bigger issue, IMO, would be travellers actually using the service. The way I see it, travellers would fall into 2 categories: Users of PDAs, and non-users. The Users would, most likely, elect to use their own PDA and load software on it before leaving home. The non-users are non-users for a reason, and probably won't make use of the service as they do not want or see a need for a PDA even when travelling.
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
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12-30-2004, 03:46 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 39
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I've been there 6 times already so i have no need for such adevice sine i can speack it fluently
Yo no necessito este!
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12-30-2004, 04:44 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,734
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I believe we posted about this device before. It was a pocketpc with wifi, bluetooth and gps and also 3G I think, and it would pop up a presentation at certain locations.
Im sure with enough customisation and ruggedness it would be quite useful, similar to museum guides, but much better. You will probably have to pay a deposit, so Im sure people will try to take care of them. The design they had you had to wear by a neckstrap.
Ill search more and try to find the picture.
Surur
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12-30-2004, 05:12 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 134
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Now if Bobby Fischer only had one of these!!
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12-30-2004, 05:32 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 49
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Sure it could help! As soon as you get out of the airport, English explanation seem to disappear real fast (even in Tokyo)!
On the other hand, personally, when I'm traveling for fun, I use to cross check information in 2 or 3 reference books. So for me a system like that can't replace all books.
If a GPS system is included, then you will save many hours.
But when you are taking the wrong road, the real adventure begins!
I have discovered my best isakaya and onsen by luck!
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12-30-2004, 06:51 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,734
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Found it!
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/smart...ate-027251.php
 
Quote:
Available in both "Orange" and "Blue" variations, here are Japan's first smartphones with Windows Mobile, and were developed by KDDI. The "Orange" and "Blue" don't refer to just the color variations, either�there are actually a couple functionality variations. While Orange supports communications standards such as CDMA, 802.11b, Bluetooth and so forth, Blue primarily revolves around the "mu-chip" reading capabilities, which are going to be used at the "2005 World Exposition" to be held in Aichi Japan from March of next year. In fact, KDDI hasn't said anything about actually selling any of these units to the public, so the World Exposition may be your only chance to get your hands on one. You're in luck, though, as KDDI has said they will use the Orange variation to control the mindless foreigner population expected to attend the World Exposition.
Inside of the Ai Mate lie a 520MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, 64MB of ROM, USB functionality, and even an inclination sensor that automatically flips the screen around when you go to show it to someone.
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Surur
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12-30-2004, 08:45 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 301
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I'm assuming a nice little deposit is needed correct? If not many tourist will be taking home a nice Japanese souvenir :lol:
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