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Tokyo (pte025/02.02.2005/12:15) - Japanese mobile phone giant Sharp http://www.sharp.co.jp is set to launch a new handset next month that responds to shakes, tilts and jiggles. As the Tehran Times http://www.tehrantimes.com reports, the phones manufactured by the Japanese electronics maker for Vodafone KK, the Japan unit of the British mobile giant, will come equipped with a tiny motion-control-sensor, a computer chip that recognises and responds to movement.
Customers of the new phone can shake it in the air in a variety of patterns made up of two moves - combining left, right or top, down movements - to program it in nine different ways to scroll or jump to e-mail or other features. The sensor, which is made by Aichi, not only detects the direction towards which the mobile phone is moving but also the speed and force with which it is jerked about. In the mobile version of "House of the Dead", players can aim their mobile phone in various directions like a gun. The phone can also be used to play a golfing game from Taito, where users can swing the handset like a golf club, making a virtual ball pop around on a virtual course. Users can also make the sensor work to move their cursor by tilting the phone towards the direction they want the cursor to go.
At present, Vodafone is not giving a price or sales target for the handset, which will only be sold in Japan at the moment. The company has said that it is working on other kinds of games for the Japanese handset using movement, but has not given any further details. The new phone can also act as an electronic musical instrument. Users can first select their favourite sound from a menu that includes clapping, tambourine, maracas, a whistle blow, yelps and other noises. The sounds then play in time to the user's moves. Vodafone is recommending the feature for karaoke parties.
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