

The phone, due to bow Tuesday, is the first from the company to carry its digital camera brand name.Perhaps some of the most interesting demonstrations at Ceatec won't be of new products but of technologies or devices that are under development. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest cellular operator, is due to show prototype handsets packing the Qi wireless charging system.

Sticking with the wireless theme, Sony will be demonstrating the latest version of its Transfer Jet. The technology is meant to replace cables for connecting gadgets to PCs and is far simpler to connect and use than Bluetooth.
With what's sure to be a crowd-pleaser, Murata Manufacturing will be demonstrating a new version of its Seiko-chan unicycling robot. Unveiled for the first time at Ceatec 2008, the robot has been improved and will this year keep balance while unicycling on a curved beam. Murata develops the robot to highlight and demonstrate its sensor technology.
Such demonstrations often leave visitors' heads spinning with impressions of the advanced state of Japan's high-tech industry. But just as Ceatec serves up the best of the country's technology, it also highlights some big differences between Japan and the rest of the world.

Nowhere has this been seen better than in the cell phone market, where Japanese phones quickly adopted features and services that were seen as futuristic in other countries. This phenomenon is described as "Galapagos syndrome" in Japan. Sharp has adopted that name for its new e-book reader, which will get its first public showing at Ceatec on Tuesday. The Galapagos e-reader supports a Sharp-developed e-book standard and is scheduled to launch in Japan before the end of the year. A different version of the Android-based tablet, yet to be shown, is expected to hit the U.S. early next year. (Networkworld)