Testing the TV Tuners
And Fingerprint Checks
In Cellphones in Japan
TOKYO -- Japan, the country that brought the world the camera phone and downloadable ringtones, is one of the best places to spot cellphone trends in the making. Its fiercely competitive mobile operators routinely stuff their handsets with features that range from the functional (bar-code readers) to the frivolous (software that turns a cellphone into a controller for model racing cars).
Most of these features are offered only in Japan, and many will never make the leap across the Pacific. But I've tested two of the most intriguing new features available in Japan -- television tuners and fingerprint recognition -- to see how they stack up.
It isn't easy to put a TV tuner into a cellphone. The added components make the phone big and heavy, and TV watching eats up battery power. Broadcast TV signals are also hard to catch on the move.
Such technical difficulties have slowed development of TV-tuner-equipped phones, although scattered services, including Sprint's MobiTV in the U.S., send TV content to handsets via a data stream.
Nonetheless, two Japanese handset makers have put out TV tuner-equipped phones, both sold by Vodafone Group's Japan unit. The V601N from NEC went on sale in Japan in December, and the V401T from Toshiba, which includes an FM radio tuner, launched at the end of April. Both phones sell for around $85. (Samsung sells a TV tuner-equipped handset in South Korea, but canceled plans to roll out the phone in the U.S. and Europe.)
Toshiba and NEC both did a good job of keeping their TV-tuner phones compact. The clamshell-shaped V401T, for instance, has a camera and Internet-access capabilities, yet weighs in at four ounces, just a bit heavier than average.
The TVs on both handsets are easy to use. On NEC's, you flip open the phone, press "menu," then click on the icon with the picture of a TV on it. Toshiba's handset works similarly, but you have to set the region where you're using the phone first.
The big problem with both phones is reception, even with the handset's antenna extended. Toshiba and NEC have tried to beat the problem by building an antenna into the handset's earphone cord. But even then, I found most channels grainy, ghost-ridden and often indecipherable -- both in the Journal's 11th-floor office in downtown Tokyo and in my apartment in the suburbs.
If you can get a clear picture, the rest of the TV features work well. On normal TV mode the picture is extremely small -- about half the size of my thumb on Toshiba's V401T. But both handsets let you switch to a horizontal full-screen view that's much bigger.
Both handsets also let you capture snapshots from the TV, and Toshiba's lets you record up to 12 minutes of footage. In theory, this will allow you to record that winning home run so you can enjoy it again later. In practice, I wasn't on the ball enough to record Asashoryu's winning tackle in Tokyo's Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
When a call comes in, the TV automatically switches to the phone. On the Toshiba, you're automatically returned to your show when the call ends. On the NEC, you have to restart the TV.
Watching television does run the battery down quickly, and you can watch continuously for only an hour or so before the handsets tell you you're out of power. But both handsets leave you enough battery life to use your phone: Toshiba's cellphone is set so that the TV shuts off automatically when only 10% of the battery power remains -- enough for about 10 minutes of phone calls.
Toshiba and NEC say picture quality could improve when digital broadcasting for mobile phones starts up in Japan in the next few years. Then, even if reception is spotty, the picture could be improved with error-correction software.
But until the picture problem is solved, don't expect TV tuners on a phone near you.
For the ultrasecurity conscious, NTT DoCoMo sells three handsets -- all made by Fujitsu -- that feature fingerprint-recognition technology. For now, though, all you can use it for is to lock your phone so nobody else can use it or check its call log.
The square metal-plate sensor in use on the F505i, which came out last year and now sells for around $130, was so finicky that DoCoMo couldn't even get it to work at the product launch.
But this year, Fujitsu has come out with a new fingerprint reader for DoCoMo's F900i and F506i phones, which sell for between $175 and $260. To register your print, you slide the tip of your finger over a strip-shaped sensor three times. (The handset tells you if you're sliding too fast or too slowly.) You can register up to 10 prints (for your 10 fingers), although the finger you use to unlock the phone must match the fingerprint that locked it.
Almost every time I tested the function on the F900i, the handset recognized my print without a hitch. Two friends who tested the phone also had no problems, once they got a feel for how fast to slide their fingers.
Right now, fingerprint recognition is mostly a novelty. But with NTT DoCoMo and other carriers planning services that will turn the cellphone into an electronic wallet, it could soon become an important security feature. At least now it works.
Walt Mossberg is on vacation.
手机电视收看和指纹识别功能测试
日本是最能反映手机制造潮流的地区之一，正是这个国家为全世界贡献了数码摄像手机和可下载铃声。在日本，手机运营商之间激烈的竞争促使他们不断地在手机上增添功能，从实用性的功能（如：条形码扫描器）到娱乐性的功能（比如将手机转变成赛车模型遥控器），不一而足。
这些功能中大多数只会在日本市场上供应，也许永远都不会登陆美国。但我还是测试了日本手机上提供的两种非常有趣的新功能--电视收看和指纹识别--以考察这些功能的效果如何。
把一个电视调谐器安装到手机里并非易事。新增加的部件使手机变得更大、更重，并且观看电视也会很快耗光电池电力。另外，在移动中接收电视播放信号也很困难。
包括美国公司斯普林特(Sprint)在内的运营商曾经提供过零星的类似服务，将电视内容通过数据流发送到用户手机上，但上述技术上的困难延缓了具备电视收看功能的手机的发展进程。
然而，现在两家日本手机制造商已经推出了装配电视调谐器的手机，均由沃达丰(Vodafone Group)日本子公司销售。一款是日本电气公司(NEC)制造的V601N，于去年12月在日本上市。另一款是东芝公司(Toshiba)制造的V401T，在今年4月底推出，这款手机还带有调频收音机功能。两款手机的价格都在85美元左右。（三星公司(Samsung)在韩国销售一款带电视收看功能的手机，但放弃了在美国和欧洲推出这款手机的计划。）
东芝和NEC在控制带电视收看功能手机的集成度方面都很出色。拿翻盖手机V401T来说，尽管同时具备拍照和无线上网功能，但重量只有4盎司，只比一般的手机重一点点。
这两款手机的电视收看功能都便于应用。对于NEC那款手机，你只要在打开手机后按'菜单'键，然后点击上面用电视照片做的图标。东芝那款的操作方法也类似，但你首先需要设定你使用手机的地区。
这两款手机最大的问题都在于信号接收方面，即便把手机的天线拉出来，效果也不理想。东芝和NEC曾经尝试通过在手机耳机线里内置天线的方法来解决这一问题。但截至我进行测试的时候，我发现大多数频道还是很不清楚，满是雪花或重影，让人无法辨别。无论在东京城区报社11楼的办公室里，还是在我位于郊区的公寓里，情况都差不多。
只要你能接收到清晰的图像，其他的电视功能都运行良好。在正常电视模式下，图片相当小，在东芝V401T手机上，图片只有我拇指的一半大小。但两款手机都有切换成全屏观看的功能。
两款手机都有保存电视画面的功能。东芝那款能让你最多录制12分钟的电视节目。从理论上来讲，你能用这种手机记录一个本垒打的全过程，以便日后观赏。在实践中，我动作不够敏捷，未能记录下朝青龙(Asashoryu)在日本大相扑国内夏季赛事中获胜的一击。
当有电话打进来的时候，电视会自动切换到电话模式。东芝那款手机在电话结束后将自动转回电视画面，而NEC那款手机则需要重新启动电视功能。
看电视的确会迅速消耗电力。你只能连续看一个小时左右，手机就会告诉你电池电量低。但两款手机都会给你留下足够的电力让你继续使用手机：东芝那款手机设定为在电池只剩10%的电力时，电视功能自动关闭。这些电力足以让你打大约10分钟电话。
东芝和NEC表示，等未来几年在日本开始启用手机专用数字广播信号后，画面质量会有所改善。届时，即便接收的画面仍然不清晰，也将能用纠错软件来改善画面质量。
但在画面问题得到解决前，不要指望带电视收看功能的手机会离我们的生活很近。
出于一种超级的安全意识，NTT DoCoMo销售三款由富士通(Fujitsu)制造的带有指纹识别功能的手机。但迄今为止，这个功能的唯一用处就是：帮你锁定手机，让别人无法使用手机或查阅电话记录。
F505i手机于去年推出，目前售价130美元左右。这款手机上应用的方形金属块感应器要求非常苛刻，甚至NTT DoCoMo在产品发布会上都无法让它正常工作。
但今年，富士通推出了新的指纹识别器，应用在NTT DoCoMo销售的F900i和F506i手机上，手机售价在175美元到260美元之间。为了记录你的指纹信息，你要把指尖伸到条纹状感应器上面三次。（手机会告诉你是否你伸手过快或者过慢了）。你最多可以记录10个指纹（全部10个手指头），但你解锁的指纹必须与你锁定手机的指纹相符才行。
几乎我每次测试F900i的指纹识别功能时，手机都能毫不犹豫地识别出我的指纹。我的两个朋友在找到感觉怎样记录指纹后，进行了手机测试，也没有发现任何问题。
迄今为止，指纹识别功能还是个新鲜事。但由于NTT DoCoMo及其他运营商计划推出将手机转变为电子钱包的服务，它也许很快就会成为一个重要的安全功能。至少现在它挺管用。
