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From Asiajin:

Softbank Mobile announced today to release 1-seg digital TV tuner device for iPhone in the middle of December. The 80-gram device provides the feature of TV over WiFi (converting TV signal received to IP-based data for iPhone) and doubles as a battery extender. Three hours continuous TV viewing is available.

I’ve seen a number of these ワンセグ (wansegu, 1seg) digital TV tuner-enabled phones around the office and in trains. I’m not a huge TV watcher, even in Japan,¹ but I have to say these phones are pretty cool. In the land of one-hour train commutes, there’s definitely both appeal and demand. I’ve sat on trains next to everyone from hip high schoolers to grandparents watching TV on these phones.

Frankly, however, I think the fact that it’s a separate device (even if it can be unwired) will still limit its attractiveness. I’ll be curious to see what the interface is like.

My Motorola PEBL that I bought a year or two ago (used on eBay, of course!) has recently started to die, so I walked around the Guanghua (光華) Electronics District¹ near National Taipei University of Technology and bought a new one. I asked around for the cheapest, simplest phones, and settled with this one: an unlocked Sony Ericsson J110i. It’s ridiculously simple, but that’s what you get for NT$1700 (≈$50). No pictures, and no Bluetooth, but it does display Chinese and I can type in bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ). The phone is about the same size as the PEBL, but much lighter (and thus feels cheaper).

The one single annoyance thus far is that it doesn’t have a little hook for the strap that was given to me.

A sixth grader at Nan-ao today gave Jennifer and me cell phone charms. ^^

I do believe she made it herself. The large bead on top is unique… it is very geometric and features diamonds. In Atayal culture, diamonds represent the eyes of ancestors watching over us. I love the green color of the beads too… it complements my phone very well. ^^