Ever since Steve Jobs announced the coming of the God Phone in January, industry analysts started taking bets on which cell-phone manufacturer would meet the Apple challenge first. My money has been on Samsung, the new electronics leader in Asia, who has recently been besting Sony at every turn. But an unlikely player called Sophia Mobile has stepped up to challenge Jobs' creation with a device called the Nani.
In Japanese, "nani" (literally translated means "what?") is usually what you'd say to someone taking on Cupertino's favorite hippie-mogul. But Nani has a few things going for it: a large, 4.3-inch touchscreen (yes, a touchscreen!), video playback at 800 x 400 pixels, a MicroSD card slot, Wi-Fi capability, a camera and a TV tuner. Is this the iPhone killer? In Japan… maybe.
The odd thing about the Japanese cell-phone market is that despite the country's love affair with Western pop culture, few Japanese consumers go out of their way to acquire electronics from the U.S. and Europe. Finland-based Nokia learned that lesson firsthand, getting repeatedly spanked over the years by the Japanese market, but the case for the iPhone isn't as bleak. Apple has stores in Japan's central hubs of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka, and the iPhone has a huge cool-factor advantage. Unfortunately, the other Apple advantage — unending hype from high-profile Apple zombies like The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and The New York Times' David Pogue — isn't something the iPhone can count on in Japan.
editor@dvice.com
By clockworkdiamond at 6:51 PM ON 07/18/07
Actually, the iPhone works on the G3 network which unfortunately, is inferior to the native Japanese networks. Because of this, the iPhone is not supposed to be supported for almost another year while Japan service providers add this downgraded network to their systems. (this leaves anyone who buys an iPhone and then goes to Japan with the prettiest looking brick ever made) I don't believe that the Nani would have any competition at all. Nifty looking phone though, I would like to see more of the GUI on it ;-)
By papacy at 3:02 AM ON 07/19/07
Well, I'll just copy my response from the OTHER Apple-hating, Cupertino-bashing story they're runnig simultaneously:
As usual, the SciFi tech column is absurdly, obviously, conspicuously anti-Apple... I'm no Apple-addict or anything, but i DO resent being preached to by some editor with a bad attitude and a (thinly) hidden agenda. Of course, they're also hyping another 'iPhone killer' story at the same time... big surprise.
Someone should mention to the losers editing this page that this site was meant to be read by people who actually LIKE technology.
And Apple is a company that makes tech fun AND elegant... so why so bitter, scifi?
By LostMK at 5:50 AM ON 07/19/07
papacy... you need to calm down...
If you would read... /archives/2007/07/08/review_i_came_i.html
is linked right in the first sentence of this post "God Phone" (god phone?... yeah, that is really meant to make the iPhone look bad... right...)...
What this post does, is provide an alternate/objective viewpoint on the iPhone through an article about a different, yet similar product...
Also... There is no such thing as an unbiased comment/post/article/etc... not anymore as of 2007... ;D
By fatcat83 at 10:40 PM ON 07/19/07
papacy you must also keep in mind that if you look at apple's history in the portable media area they don't do as well as their hype lets on. the ipod is a great example, as cool and as hip the ads claim they are, the ipods are fragile and the software is easily corrupted or damaged from user operator error. and apple just keeps on putting out "new" models that are only cosmeticly new. and rarely up grades the unites or really put out a new model. and that is what i think they are doing with the iphone. in stead of building the phone with the same quality that they put into their computers.
By Fightclubfan at 8:10 AM ON 07/23/07
Hey SciFi Tech - I too am noticing a trend against Apple.
Some balance in the reporting would be nice - we chose to come here. Seeing Apple getting bagged all the time doesnt make me want to stay.
Its easy to unsubscribe - it might pay to listen to your audience every now and again.
BTW I own a PC and a Mac - so I'm not a complete Apple-worshipper.
Cheers
By molochreborn at 12:25 PM ON 08/03/07
I am more then happy to not only come here, but to continue coming here to hear other points of view about any technology maker.
I have an iPod, and it has some really crappy features about it. I could easily list a dozen of them, but the fact that I expose them doesn't mean that Apple's iPod isn't worth buying. Hell, I'm looking at buying a new one in few days!
I like to buy my technology based on what the best product on the market is for me. Panasonic, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, etc... I DON'T care who makes it, so long as it's a good product. PLEASE, everyone needs to stop getting upset and wasting space by complaining that their favorite company is getting bad reviews. If you feel SciFi is being biased about Apple, then go to apple.com and read two of their articles for every "anti-apple" article that you feel you read here.
And to the people writing all the articles, please keep them coming. For every angry person at the extremes that you hear from, there are 10 people in the middle who don't buy into their zealousness. Just because we aren't upset, and so don't complain... doesn't mean we have no opinion.