My FOMA Experience

FOMA, brand name for DoCoMo's 3G service, was the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA and was launched in October 2001. It also offered the first mobile videophone communication in the world.

October 17, 2001, 2003: The view expressed on this page is from Noriko Sakai who recently purchased her new P2101V FOMA handset in Yokohama.

Last week I brought myself the world's first 3G handset at Y68,000 ($590) and had the chance to play around with a DoCoMo FOMA visual phone capable of full-motion videoconferencing.

The new FOMA wireless phone I brought was the dark blue clamshell design (P2101V) manufactured by Matsushita Communication Industrial, substantially larger, uglier and heavier at 150g compared at only 80g with a typical i-mode handset. This is somewhat disconcerting, since all users in today's Japan including myself are used to sleek, featherweight, cigarette lighter-sized telephones that literally must be restrained with a tether to keep them from leaping out of the pocket every ten minutes.

A nice touch is the small digital clock window on the outside of the case. This lets you tell the time without having to open the handset. My memory is not that great, I often find myself leaving my watch at home these days because I can always glance at my new phone.

The camera on this phone is mounted on the rod that connects the two halves of the clamshell. It swivels 180 degrees so you can capture images in front of you while speaking into the handset. I can already foresee the social problems that will arise when millions of these things are in use in Japan. People will be "casually" holding them at waist level and below in crowded trains and on stairways. . .You know what I mean without going into details.

Once I read the 900 or so page manual, I switched-on the brand new handset and turned the handset camera on myself and enjoyed examining very sharp, high-res, full-color, real-time, full-motion images of my face from the 2.2inch screen display with 4,096 colours. The image snapshots are very useful, as I can take the picture and email it instantly to my friends.

The new FOMA phone Panasonic P2101V has an integrated camera for videoconferencing, short movies or JPG snapshots. We used the camera to document our visit and emailed them back to the office with the phone to make our co-workers jealous.

These pictures are not altered in any way and were shot in the medium compression size.

The tiny camera shots itself in a mirror.

People waiting in the exhibition park.

The train arrives at the station.

After a long day, a nap in the train.

Now who said there aren't any good 3G applications?

My friend also brought the same videophone handset and we immediate test the video function and it was really easy to use it, without any problems and I must say I was impressed.

Later I test the videophone capabilities of the FOMA handset with a partner again. In a Shinjuku hotel room, I got a call from my boss in Kamiyacho, and he came in loud and clear, both on-screen (full-motion video) and via voice. The videophone feature is really fun - like something from a spy movie - and the sound quality is great.

You have to wear an earphone in order to hear the other party; looking head-on into the handset screen means you can't assume the ordinary telephone posture of pressing the speaker to your ear.

The video transmission is at 64kbps, not at the 384kbps speed promised for the future by DoCoMo, so it's a bit jerky. But, while it takes you 6 sec to download an imode page, with FOMA it's almost instead. I must say the screen resolution and color quality is excellent, and I had a hard time retrieving the handset from an enthusiastic visitor from overseas. What's more, the FOMA handset worked inside the hotel room, while my regular i-mode telephone didn't. Good times.

The service has fantastic sound quality and I like to show-off with it on the train by making conversation on the videophone to friends, Star Trek come true.

The service is only limited to the Tokyo metro area, the handset is too big and you can't receive calls while surfing. The battery runs out after 60 minutes of use with the video-conferencing function on and also you better look pretty in the morning while using the videophone, price to pay for advance technology. I have not received my monthly bill, but at the rate I am using- I'm not surprise if my bill comes to $57 a month.

The Good:
Must be the video-conferencing function and the abilities to send instant images by email taken from the camera. Download Internet pages almost instantly.

The Bad:
Does not look as good as some I-mode handsets. Expensive and weak battery life.

Overall:
Go and buy it just for the ultra cool video functions. However you need friends to experience the full fun of it. I can certainly foresee the business use of it.