If you're scouting the strange, the weird and the weirder, you'll find plenty to get absorbed in over at the research facilities of NTT DoCoMo. The Japanese giant is at it once more, but this time the invention is actually somewhat down to Earth. It's mission? To create a method for easily controlling a music interface (on a PMP or cellphone) with just your eyes. By rolling one's eyes and jerking them from side to side, the outfit is hoping to have the corresponding music player change tracks and get louder / softer. If you're not exactly keen with freaking out fellow citizens on the street with completely erratic eye movements, you may also appreciate a similar technology it's working up which can detect a user's finger tapping to achieve to same goal. Of course, said technology would be halfway useless on the smash hit-packed ZVUE Journey (no way you're bypassing any of those tracks, son), but we guess you could check out your toes every now and then to keep from constantly staying at 11.

[Via ShinyShiny]

We'll get into more detail later, but we thought it was appropriate to share the moment when the Japanese showed the world just how pathetic your 3G iPhone fantasies really are. Announced today are 19 new handsets from NTT DoCoMo's 906i and 706i series. All 8 of the 906i feature 3G / GSM international roaming, GPS, HSDPA, 1-seg mobile TV, full browser with Flash 8 support, DCMX mobile credit card and iD mobile credit payment tech, VGA LCD screens, and voice to text translation of Chinese, English, and Japanese. Some even support direct transfer of Blu-ray video. The 11-strong 706i series features a variety of handsets including a waterproof 1-Seg phone, world's slimmest 1-Seg phone, and a wellness phone to monitor your health and diet. All eleven 706i phones rounded up and pictured after the break.

The morning has only begun and already the first oddity has been unleashed in Japan. You're looking at NTT DoCoMo Communications "Mobile Fragrance Communications Kit" which is based on the same scent delivery technology NTT has already deployed into homes and movie theaters. Fragrance playlists are downloaded to your DoCoMo phone and then transmitted over Ir to the portable "aroma generator" pre-loaded with base fragrances. The scents are then unleashed into the room under the accompaniment of new-age MIDIs and animated GIFs we presume will include dancing pandas and Hello Kitty cats. Ugh. The pilot program runs from April 10th to the 20th and will undoubtably be a huge success in the land of the uprising robo-san.

[Via Impress]

We like to think that NTT, Japan's dominant telephone company, is a serious corporation. So when NTT DoCoMo issues a press release claiming to have successfully demonstrated the world's first "molecular delivery system for molecular communication," we figure this must be significant. The technology and biochemistry at the foundation sure seems to be. In an experiment, NTT DoCoMo confirmed the use of synthesized DNA to transport specific molecules through the body. The process converts chemical energy into mechanical work so there's no need for an external power supply or control mechanism. The hope then is to one day plant a "biochip" in a cellphone which can read "excitement, emotion, stress or disease" from the simmering juices (blood, sweat and tears) pooled inside the meatsicles of "living organisms." This is where things start to fall apart. Seeing as how this is Japan, that ambiguous target audience means you and your pets. Robots too, just as soon as they get skin. And when the English press release claims that a bio-chipped phone could be applicable to "fortune telling" -- well, we've lost all hope.

[Thanks, StopSpamming]

Just think -- this time next year, we'll all look back at this milestone and wonder how on Earth we thought it was impressive. For now, however, we wouldn't blame you for high-fiving everyone around, as NTT DoCoMo has stretched the boundaries again with a recent Super 3G field test. Reportedly, the outfit was able to record "a downlink transmission rate of 250Mbps over a high-speed wireless network in an outdoor test of an experimental Super 3G system," and while it's not quite the 300Mbps we'd heard about before, you won't find us kvetching. If all goes to plan, the firm is hoping to "complete development of the technologies required for the eventual launch of a Super 3G network" by 2009, but who knows how long we Americans will have to wait to indulge after that.

It's fairly commonplace for Chinese manufacturers to crank out clones of other popular wares, but apparently, things aren't brushed off as easily when the cloning gets done by a mega-corp like Toshiba. Granted, quite a bit is lost in translation here, but the long and short of it is that NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu are suing Tosh for creating and selling its 821T -- which, as you can see above, looks an awful lot like Fujitsu's RakuRaku handset. Reportedly, the plaintiffs have demanded that Softbank Mobile withdraw the 821T from the market, but it seems there's quite a bit more back-and-forth left to go down before the dust settles on this one.

[Via GearFuse]

What the heck is going on here? Despite the overwhelming popularity of gizmo-heavy mobile devices in Japan, working with megacarrier NTT DoCoMo must be a losing proposition for many of its manufacturing partners, because just days after Mitsubishi's announcement of its withdrawal, a fresh Nikkei report indicates that Sony Ericsson is raising the white flag as well to divert attention and resources to less saturated and more profitable markets. Apparently, DoCoMo will bear the brunt of the downsizing, while Sony Ericsson's partnership with KDDI -- a CDMA carrier -- will continue. [Warning: subscription required]

Update: It turns out that Sony Ericsson intends to continue working with DoCoMo by initially delivering new models through mid '08, at which point it will start buying handsets from other manufacturers and rebranding them. In other countries this would be truly egregious, but as our Japanese bureau points out, DoCoMo lays out very strict requirements for each of its lines that would probably make it difficult to distinguish a true Sony Ericsson model from a rebranded model sourced from, say, Sharp or Toshiba.

Update 2: Sony Ericsson's Japanese PR folks have denied Nikkei's report, although they did mention that they are "reevaluating" their DoCoMo line without going into any detail. Whether the report was actually false or Nikkei just managed to out the info well before Sony Ericsson wanted it out, though, remains unclear.

Update 3: The official Sony Ericsson response, and while it says that they're taking a good, hard look at their DoCoMo business, it also mentions that they'll continue to develop new handsets for the carrier. Clear as mud? Good!

Read - Nikkei report [subscription required]
Read - Sony Ericsson response

A lot of readers might be surprised to learn that Mitsubishi even makes cellphones, but yeah, it sure does. Its domestic Japanese market has typically been the recipient of its impressive wares, selling models on NTT DoCoMo using the "D" model name prefix -- but maybe not for much longer. Nikkei is throwing out some rumors today that Mitsu will be exiting the dog-eat-dog cellphone manufacturing biz and possibly doing so very swiftly, even withdrawing models due to hit DoCoMo in the next few weeks. Despite raking in over 100 billion yen (about $958M) annually from its mobile division alone, the company has apparently been unable to make it profitable and recently downgraded its handset sales forecast for the current fiscal year. Frankly, we wish Mitsu had sold enough handsets abroad for us to be really upset about this. Nikkei says an official announcement could come as soon as today, so we'll update you when we know more.

[Thanks, rinse]

Update: Nikkei was dead on. Mitsubishi has just announced that it is ending its cellphone manufacturing business, a venture that goes back some 25 years with the introduction of car phones on NTT's network. For what it's worth, the company says that it'll continue to support its devices and move the 600-odd employees in the business to other parts of the company. It also says that it will "work to maintain and further strengthen the partnership with NTT DoCoMo through the communication related business [it aims] to expand," so don't get too teary-eyed, DoCoMo. Hit the link for the official release.

We already had an inkling that Apple was in talks with both NTT DoCoMo and Softbank to bring the iPhone to Japan, but a spokesperson confirmed today that Steve Jobs has indeed met with DoCoMo president Masao Nakamura, but didn't say when or exactly what they talked about. That's not much to go on, of course, but seeing as any phone on DoCoMo's FOMA network will have to be UMTS / HSDPA -- that's 3G, to all you keeping score at home -- we're keeping a close eye on this one.

According to the Wall Street Journal Asia, Jobs and Co are in Japan working out the details for a domestic iPhone launch. It's no surprise then that Jobs was rumored to have just met with NTT DoCoMo's president, Masao Nakamur, to discuss the deal with the largest carrier in the world's second-largest economy. As usual, Apple seems to be playing the carriers off one another with rumors that The Steve is courting Softbank as well. However, "people familiar with the situation" say that DoCoMo is the first choice. While the revenue sharing is a sticking point as usual, WSJA says that Apple doesn't expect to have any difficulty closing the deal. Funny, that's what everyone was saying about Vodafone in Europe.

P.S. -For what it's worth, NTT DoCoMo does not run a GSM / EDGE network. Any iPhone released on DoCoMo's FOMA service will be UMTS / HSDPA -- right, the 3G iPhone.

NTT DoCoMo is launching a new mobile phone / bracelet combo aimed at helping youngsters stay safe on the mean streets of Japan. The two-part system combines the FOMA F801i phone, which adds safety features like a 100-decibel alarm, high intensity flashing LEDs, and the ability to automatically notify family in the event of an emergency, and a bracelet remote control which communicates with the device. The phone can be set to provide its location to registered parties, and will turn itself on if it has been switched off. Coupled with the phone is the "amulet style" bracelet, which can be used to locate a misplaced phone, lock the handset, or send a message to another phone (if the device and bracelet are out of range for over five minutes). We suspect that for worried and / or nosey parents, this is a dream come true.

So we're not too sure what's going on with this here "NEON100" from HTC that just found its way through the FCC's bureaucratic labyrinth. Is it yet another Touch variant? Yeah, it clearly is -- just take a good hard look at that label sample. It's also recently passed through Japan's certification process, and we're seeing some talk across the 'nets that it could be destined for NTT DoCoMo, but we don't think it's the HT1100 since we're not seeing any hint of a slide here. Even more confusing, the test reports are referencing WCDMA Band V -- North America's version of WCDMA on the 850MHz band, versus Japan's Band VI. Ah, screw it, the point is that we're pretty sure this isn't destined for the States unless it's tucked neatly away in the briefcase of a Japanese traveler. Shame, too, since we sure could use a Touch with HSDPA 'round here.

We've certainly seen instances of intrabody communications at work, but now NTT DoCoMo is looking to join the fun and hopefully tie cellphones into the equation. Apparently, the firm has "various devices" in development that could utilize an "advanced handset" in certain forms of wearable electronics to give users the ability to unlock doors, make payments and exchange data with a friend with a simple touch. The prototype mobile packs a sensor produced by Kaiser Technology Company, and while the current version can only transmit data at 40-kilobytes per second, a speedier flavor is surely on the horizon. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]