GW-80

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
G A D G E T W A T C H
The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan
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Issue No. 80

Friday, November 8, 2002
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

Name: Hitachi HDC-1
Category: Digital cameras
Price: 16,000 yen
Release date in Japan: November 22

The Gist: Psssst! Fancy a digital camera but don't know which one to
choose? Looking for a strong, mid-range model that's easy to use and
take on vacation with you? Yes, well have a look at this beauty: a
stylish, 2 million pixel camera capable of producing 1600x1200 dot
images, a 2x digital zoom, and it can take movies at 15 frames per
second. Oh, and it's compatible with any flavor of Windows when you
need to hook it up to your PC. This is the camera you're looking for,
my friend, and all for a knockdown price of 16,000 yen.

Hitachi is making a bold move with the HDC-1, the latest in the
company's i.mega series, coming in at an incredibly attractive price
point ("suits you, sir, and so affordable!") with a digital camera
that basically has all the functions most users need or desire. It's
tiny, too, truly pocket size with dimensions of 93x38x56mm and
weighing only 110g. It doesn't have a proper, optical lens but there's
a macro function for close-up work, the shutter operates at anything
from 1/2,000 of a second to 1/4, and the JPEG images are saved either
to the built-in 8MB flash memory or to an SD memory card. Even
connection to a PC is simple, via USB. What's not to like?

More info: http://www.hitachi-hl.com/news/2002/1101/index.html

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Name: TDK MOJO-CD1220/BK/RD
Category: Portable Audio
Price: Open (but approx 20,000 yen)
Release date in Japan: November 15

The Gist: The MOJO-CD1220/BK/RD is a portable CD-player with -- take
a deep breath here because it's very exciting -- digital audio output
capability! Yes! The suggestion is that you should connect your
portable player up to any other AV gear in your apartment that has a
digital optical input and then voila! Flawless, faithful digital
sounds will flood your living space to the delight of all around. But
this does beg the question -- if you have AV equipment with an optical
input, isn't it likely to be able to play CDs anyhow?

Nevertheless, the new MOJO player is here and is sporting what the
company describes as a new, almost totally round design. Round disc,
round machine -- makes sense. Capable of playing MP3 and WMA format
sound files, the CD1220 will provide 20 hours of continuous play with
an additional, external battery pack and around eight hours on the
internal batteries. The included LCD remote control can display ID3
tags and CD-Text as well as kanji (Chinese characters) and, thanks to
the bundled Navitrack Version 1.8J and the DK Logo Editor Version 1.0,
users can execute multiple searches and even edit the startup logo
displayed on the LCD remote (if you're supremely bored one day). The
new MOJO CD player comes in black, red and silver and weighs 200g.

More info: http://www.tdk.co.jp/tjaah01/aah36900.htm

=============================EVENT====================================
3GMOBILE WORLD FORUM 2003
14-17 January 2003, Tokyo, Japan
As with our hugely successful 2002 event, 3GMobile World Forum 2003
will aim to present a realistic view of the 3G opportunity and to
provide a platform to transform 3G technology and demand for new high
value services into revenue across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US.
For further information, visit: http://www.3gmobileforum.com
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Name: IOData MDM-H2LP2
Category: Portable Audio
Price: 21,000 yen
Release date in Japan: end November

The Gist: Since we're on a portable music theme now, make way for the
world's thinnest portable CD player. At a tiny 14.1mm thick, the
"HyperHyde Loops II" WMA/MP3 portable CD player has more than halved
the last model's thickness (should I be saying "thinness" here?) and,
just like the MOJO player above, will spin up all sorts of
dodgily recorded discs (like ones created with a CD-RW drive) without
a hitch. It too has a remote control with LCD display capable of
showing kanji and it'll run for 35 hours continuously using an extra
battery pack but the best feature has to be that, thanks to that
world-beating waif-like waist and magnesium alloy molding, the
HyperHyde Loops player weighs just 125g, which is a good deal less
than any of the competition despite it costing about the same.

More info:
http://www.iodata.co.jp/products/sounds/2002/mdm-h2lp2/index.htm

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STAFF
Written by: Max Everingham (max@everingham.net)
Edited by: J@pan Inc editors (editors@japaninc.com)

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