NTT DoCoMo is the largest provider of mobile phone service in Japan. It’s comparable to at&t in the United States, both in current structure and historical ties with the government.
On Wednesday morning, we had the chance to visit their headquarters and research facility. The ride toward the area was scenic and beautiful, with rolling hills and semi-tropical trees.
When we arrived, there was a short presentation about the history of the company; then, we went into a completely circular movie-theater style room with sliding doors. It looked very futuristic. The attendants were dressed to match the building to make the whole thing look very “space age.”
The research display lab had some of the coolest things I have ever seen in my entire life. There was a futuristic workstation that showed how computers will become converged with telephone and other networks to make a completely integrated workspace.
The workspace also showed how new multimedia could be transferred. Although it was a staged demo, we got to see the theoretical transfer of a scent. Basically, a scent can be broken down in to various components, similar to sounds or images. The scent can therefore be coded as data and transferred to another computer, where the smell can be recreated from the data. The workstation emits the recreated scent, so the user can experience something through pictures, sound, and scent all at the same time!
One of the most interesting technologies demonstrated was a 3D holograph. I didn’t know that this technology existed yet, but it was completely real and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Another cool technology was the bone conduction phone. This was a small device that you wear on your finger like a ring. When someone calls, you simply put your finger in your ear and the sound conducts through your finger bone to your eardrum. Believe me, it’s a lot less creepy than it sounds.
To issue commands to the finger ring phone, you tap your fingers together in a sequence similar to Morse code (with long and short pauses).
We were also able to view a screen with a non-holographic 3D image that could be viewed from different angles. A camera on the screen tracks your head position and where your eyes are looking. As you look left and right, the image rotates so it can be seen like a true 3D object.
There was also a large variety of cutting-edge mobile phones to play with. They basically make my Motorola RAZR look like a rotary home phone because they are so advanced. They all have ultra high definition widescreens that can be flipped sideways for watching videos or streaming television.
Although many of the technologies we viewed were experimental, they are all in different phases of development and will likely come to the market in the future. In particular, the holographic technologies have the most potential to be utilized commercially. I wouldn’t be surprised to see holographs being used in the United States within the next ten years.
