When the Dell XT debuted with multi-touch drivers last spring we were excited about the ability to use multiple fingers on its capacitive touch screen to rotate pictures and pinch and zoom in on Web sites. But at over $2,000 (the starting price now is about $1,800) we just couldn’t recommend it to the regular consumer. Today’s debut of the $1,299 HP TouchSmart tx2z changes the game for multi-touch tablets not only, because it’s affordable but also because it’s the first multi-touch tablet aimed at consumers.

We got a detailed look at the TouchSmart tx2z and even shot an exclusive video of the multi-touch in action. Read on below to see what we think of the tablet and its touch experience.

Tx2z Design
The Tx2z will live alongside HP’s Pavilion tx2500 tablet and the two look like they could be brother and sister. Measuring 12.05 x 8.82 x 1.23 -inches, the Tx2z isn’t only similar in size but it sports the same chassis as the tx2500 with the same rounded edges, port placement and a durable 180 degree hinge. However, it wears slightly different clothes; instead of the “Echo” Imprint finish on the tx2500, the tx2’s lid sports a newer more flowy Radiance Imprint finish. The model we looked at was adorned in bronze and gold.

We were happy to see that they keyboard has also gone unchanged and that the keys are full size and have a nice coating that make them comfortable and smooth. HP also continued its use of the unique inverted nub design on its touchpad, which provides precise cursor control. The separate column of nubs on the right is great for scrolling.

Touch Experience

But it was our hope that we wouldn’t need to rely on the touch pad all that often and that our fingers could do the navigating on the12-inch, 1280 x 800-resolution capacitive touch screen. Like we saw with the capacitive screen on the Dell XT (that utilizes the same N-Trig drivers as the HP tx2z), tapping your finger lightly works very well. Unlike other tablets that require a firmer press, we were moving through the Vista Start menu and windows with just simple, soft taps.

HP has built in some pretty neat tricks to take advantage of the screen’s mutli-touch capabilities. As you will see in the video, double tapping the screen and then drawing the letter M, brings up the multimedia touch panel, which includes shortcuts to your pictures, music and more. The menu is pretty neat, especially how you access it, but we were hoping for a more compelling graphical user interface, like that on the TouchSmart PC along with some more applications.

We tested out the multi-touch gestures in Microsoft’s Photo Gallery. Pinching in on one of the preloaded Vista images was smooth and panning with just a finger was precise. As we saw with the Dell XT, rotating images took a bit of practice. It is best done by planting one finger on the screen and using another to pivot the image with a circular motion.

We also were able to do some zooming in Internet Explorer even though the Wi-Fi connection was spotty. Zooming in on Web sites was quick and flicking the pages up and down worked for scrolling. Using your finger(s) in the applications mentioned above is the best bet for now or at least until HP rolls out an API for developing software for the touch laptop.

Pen Experience

Those demanding a pen experience still get it with the included stylus that pops out the right edge of the system. As soon as the pen hits the screen, it senses the input and immediately turns off the finger input and enables palm rejection. Writing in Microsoft Works was fluid and the Tablet PC Input panel recognized our somewhat messy handwriting and converted it into digital text.

Early Verdict

Since the debut of the Apple iPhone, people have wanted to control displays with touch their fingers to control their technology (Updated: Thanks Wired, though we did use our toes before the iPhone). Touch phones and touch cameras are all the rage, but can you navigate your laptop in the same way yet? Unlike with the iPhone, there is a learning curve when using the HP TouchSmart tx2z and, until additional applications are written for the platform, the functionality is limited. Nevertheless, consumers who are looking for advanced tablet functionality in a very mobile form factor and want to sit back and use their fingers to navigate the Web will be more than satisfied with the HP TouchSmart tx2z.

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This morning Celio announced two new versions of its REDFLY, a laptop-lookalike device that links your Windows Mobile smartphone via a USB cable or wireless Bluetooth and extends the Windows Mobile interface to its 8-inch or 7-inch screen.

The age old question about devices like these has been: for $299, why would someone want a device that simply uses an underpowered smart phone with a sluggish Windows Mobile operating system to power it. Why not just snatch up a $299 Eee PC 901 or shell out some more money for a higher-powered netbook like the Samsung NC10 which can deliver the full Internet experience?

The makers of the REDFLY device continue to put out new products as evidenced by today’s announcement and don’t see the onslaught of netbooks as a threat. “A lot of people have their information on their smartphone - their full base of contacts, etc. The REDFLY creates a fantastic extension of that experience. From a battery life stand point here is a device that has over 8 hours of battery life at $299. Those are untouchable in terms of battery life in comparison to some of the netbooks out there,”

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Celio today announced the second version of its REDFLY smartphone accessory, the C8N. The new model, priced at $299, looks similar to the original C8 REDFLY which it is replacing, but is available in black instead of red and has a few bonus features, such as the ability to play video from your iPhone or iPod Touch on a larger, but mobile screen.

Celio is also announcing a new more wallet-friendly C7 version. Priced at $229, the C7 sports a smaller 7-inch screen and is rated for less battery life.

We’ve had our hands on C8N for a few days now and are prepared to deliver our first impressions and a hands-on video.

Design
If you’ve never heard of Celio’s REDFLY, here’s a quick explanation: It looks like a netbook. At 1 x 6 x 9 inches in size, it’s just a bit smaller than the Eee PC 701. It has a display and a smaller QWERTY keyboard, as well as two USB ports, a VGA out, and an NTSC port. However, the biggest difference between a netbook and the REDFLY is that the REDFLY is just a shell; there isn’t a hard drive inside, and it won’t connect to the Internet on its own. Instead the RedFly takes your smart phone’s operating system (well just Windows Mobile phones for now) and runs it on a laptop looking device.

Note: The REDFLY unit we were testing is colored red. The final unit will be black.

Easy Setup
To get started, you need to first install a small .cab file to one of the supported Windows Mobile phones (we used an HTC Touch Pro), and then plug your phone into one of the available USB ports (it can also be paired via Bluetooth). Whatever is on your phone’s display appears on the REDFLY. That means you can view and edit Office Documents directly on your handset, but with the REDFLY’s full keyboard, a mouse, and a much larger 800 x 480 resolution display.

Multimedia
The media port (for NTSC/PAL connections) is the latest addition to the REDFLY. If you have a Windows Mobile device connected, you can also plug an iPod, iPhone, a Zune, a DVD player, etc. right into the unit.

We plugged in an iPhone 3G using a $19.99 A/V cable (not included) and began streaming a YouTube video. A small adjustable box appeared on the REDFLY display on top of our Windows Mobile OS. We liked that we could work on a Microsoft Office file and watch a movie from the iPhone at the same time. However, if you’re traveling and want to watch your iPhone video on a larger display, you can also blow the movie up to full screen.

The colors looked washed out, and the picture didn’t look as sharp as it looked on the iPhone. Still, we liked that it was a more comfortable movie experience than holding the iPhone for over an hour. Also, you’ll need to plug your headphone into your multimedia device to hear audio; the REDFLY doesn’t have its own speakers and because the phone is docked it wouldn’t play out of the iPhone’s speakers.

Web
We liked surfing the Web on the REDFLY because it was easier to read the text on pages, and it let us sit back instead of squinting closely at our phone. During one instance, we pushed the phone into our pocket while sitting shotgun on a road trip and fired off a few e-mails from the REDFLY sitting in our lap.

We couldn’t load the latest version of Opera—you’re limited to using version 8.6 right now—and it doesn’t support Skyfire at all. That means streaming Hulu.com movies is out of the question.

Security
Since the REDFLY is just a larger image of your phone, you don’t have to worry about viruses or other security problems that effect real computers. It also means you won’t lose sensitive data if your REDFLY is snatched by a would-be laptop thief.

Performance
The REDFLY worked well, but there were a few annoying bugs. For one, it felt like the sluggishness of our HTC Touch Pro was highlighted on the bigger display.

Also, when we were inputting data into fields, the REDFLY would sometimes automatically start typing using the phone’s virtual keyboard. When we were setting up our e-mail account it kept typing various letters on its own, repetitively, until we manually clicked one of the virtual keyboards keys.

The REDFLY is rated for up to 8 hours of battery life, but it won’t charge your phone while it’s connected. We used the battery for 4 hours and were able to drain the battery by half. Also, we liked that it set itself into idle mode automatically to help save juice.

Final Thoughts
We like the idea of the REDFLY and it does what it sets out to do well. It’s great for those that don’t need a notebook and prefer to fire off e-mails and edit documents on their phone instead of on a laptop. However, anyone who doesn’t use their smartphone for everything will find more value in a $299 netbook that has a full blown operating system on it, a full hard drive, and the ability to get online without tethering a phone.

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Oh, mini-notebooks. Whence first you hit the scene a year ago, even at 7-inch screens and 4GB HDDs, you were a dream. Now there seems to be a demand for larger systems with bigger displays, more voluminous hard drives, and an increasing emphasis on lasting battery power (like the 12-inch Dell Inspiron Mini 12).

Now, many early-adopters are sitting in their offices with liliputian machines they’ve no idea to do with. Our initial recommendation: blend them. But that was hasty and after some thought (and some time combing the web for other folks’ modifications and tweaks), we realized there was still quite a bit of use to be squeezed out of the old guard of netbooks.

Use It as a Wi-Fi Frame

If you’re already using your netbook as a paper weight, you might as well use the machine to show off some pretty pictures while it’s mama-birding all that looseleaf. The Acer Aspire One with Linpus Linux Lite already comes with a built-in slideshow maker. To use it open up PhotoMaster and gather the images you want to show off in a folder, then hit the slideshow button and, viola, instant Wi-Fi photo frame.

If you have a Linux-based netbook that’s not an Aspire One, try downloading digiKam, a feature-filled photo editor for Linux users that includes an option to sync up your pictures in a slideshow. Once you’ve got the order set up, add your favorite nostalgia-drenched tunes and start watching the memories.

Windows XP-based netbooks can create all kinds of slideshows with Microsoft Photo Story 3, a free download.

Put an Arcade in Your Bag

Turn your former mobile workhorse into an instrument of child-like delight by making it your primary gaming machine. Sure netbooks are known for their limited storage capacity and easy-going processors, but that just means you can’t play a resource-intensive game like Call of Duty 4 on that 7-to-8 inch screen. Other lightweight diversions are a totally viable option. If you’ve got an HP 2133 Mini–with its ample 120GB hard drive–you’ve got more than enough memory to install Game Tap’s 5GB video player. This web portal (gametap.com) contains hundreds of video games ranging from basic RPGs to classic arcade-style games like Street Fighter II. You can play most for free or pay $9.95 a month (currently there’s a deal that drops the first month down to $.99) for premium games like Sonic the Hedgehog II or Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

We know not all the netbooks come with such a roomy hard drive or a mainstream OS, and for those of you who hopped on the Eee-wagon waaay back in the days of the Eee Pc 701, the good team at Eeeuser.com felt your pain and posted instructions on how to install emulators–a program that emulates your favorite old school gaming system, be it the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo–onto that Linux-toting Eee PC.

Use your Netbook as an E-reader

The Kindle and Sony E-Reader are great machines for mobile reading, but what if you want to do your Web surfing and book worming on the same device. If you’ve got an Eee PC with Windows XP, then turning it into an e-reader isn’t hard at all. Try adding Adobe’s free reading software, Digital Editions, which works with PDFs and EPUB files to the Eee PC for an even clearer digital read.

Our friends at JKOnTheRun even found a useful program called EeeRotate that allows users to change the Eee PC’s display orientation from landscape to portrait. For those who like a good read on the go, that translates into less time scrolling per page.

Make Your Own Apple Netbook

That Dell Inspiron Mini with the Linux OS not all it’s cracked it up to be? Tired of hacking Linux every time you want to do something as simple as add an icon? Well, another Mini 9 owner felt the same way and decided to hack his Dell mini-notebook and install Mac OS X. Surprisingly the most complicated part of the process was fixing the wireless adapter and the audio chipset. Once the related patches were installed, the Mini 9 worked like a Mac lover’s dream: even OS updates could be downloaded and installed without much hassle.

Make a GPS Receiver Out of It

Though bigger than dashboard GPS units, an Eee PC or a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 are both adequately compact to be practical portable GPS units. You might not want the cops to catch you with a laptop in your lap while doing 80 mph on the highway, but if you want added GPS functionality on your notebook companion, here are two options to make your dreams come true, one for an Eee PC and another for a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (be warned, the later requires you to manual install a GPS receiver into the Dell Mini 9 and could become a regrettable decision for novice modders).

Make it Naughty

Let’s be honest, glossy surfaces aren’t for everyone. All those fingerprints require constant polishing and glossy lids are so vanilla anyway. Some machines need to be dressed up in something a little more sexy so that their inner gritty, dominant nature can shine out. How this amateur leather designer from Russia stretched and glued leather across his Eee PC 901 we’ll never know, but he did it, so there’s a way for you to do it too. If you need leather-covered electronics to match your skin tight leather pants, that fringed leather motorcycle vest and those whips you stash in your laptop bag, this is for you.

Make it Sensitve to Your Touch

This one’s not for Doms, but still useful. When a savvy engineer modified his Aspire One last month with a touch-capable display. It was a distinct achievement, but we’re not sure the tweaking was worth the trouble. Why? Cause it looks like the modified Acer Aspire one lost its keyboard in the process!

Web surfing? Not without entering a Web address. Writing an email? Pretty impossible without the ability to type! If the modder customized the system with a touch typepad, we at least wish he could confirm it with pictures. Still, despite the fact that you could be rendering your machine useless, a tiny portable touch screen still looks cool and makes us just a smidge jealous.

We don’t know if its the same guy but some enterprising modder brought this touch-tweaking technology to the masses. With the Acer Aspire One Easy & Fun Solderless Touch Screen Kit, available on eBay, you too can be the coolest kid on the blog, even without a soldering gun.

This is what we came up with; what do you want to do–or have you already done–to your aging netbook?

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HP’s TouchSmart PC has brought multi-touch computing mainstream, so why not throw those capabilities into a laptop. That is exactly HP’s thought with its announcement today of the HP TouchSmart tx2z tablet.

Evolving out of the HP Pavilion Tx2500, the TouchSmart TX2 sports a similar convertible chassis but its updated capacitive touch screen and multi-touch drivers by N-Trig can support multiple points of input on the 12.1-inch 1280800 display.  This is the first laptop aimed at consumers to support multi-touch. To date only the business Dell Latitude XT has supported multi-touch input.

Check out our exclusive hands-on video here to see the Tx2’s multi-touch in action and our first impressions of the notebook.

With a starting price of $1,149.99 the Tx2z will be configurable on HP’s Web site starting today and will ship to customers on November 28. See the full specs of the system below the jump.

AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core or AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile ProcessorsATI Radeon(TM) HD 3200 Graphics with 64MB Display Cache Memory avilableMicrosoft Windows Vista Ultimate or Home Preimum or Business12.1” diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800) w/Integrated Touch-screenUp to 8GB DDR2 System Memory160/250/320/400/500GB 5,400RPM SATA Hard DriveSuper Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support802.11 b/g WLAN, Bluetooth avilableBattery: 4-cell, 6-cell, or 8-cellDimensions: 12.05 x 8.82 x 1.23 -inchesWeight: 4.33 pounds .gallery { margin: auto; } .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } .gallery img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; }

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Of course, we at LAPTOP know we are in good company in donating One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptops to children of the developing world, but in the company of Tom Brady?

Seems like OLPC has enlisted the support of the Patriot’s Quarterback to get the word out about the Give 1, Get 1 holiday giving project. See the commercial below

As Giants and OLPC XO fans, we are relieved that Brady’s injury has given him some more time to tell the American people about the importance of giving a laptop to a child of the developing world.

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One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is launching their second annual Give 1, Get 1 campaign. Starting today, Americans and Europeans can buy an XO for themselves for $399 on Amazon.com, while at the same time giving a child of the developing world an XO of their own. Those who just want to give a laptop can do so by donating $199.

Last year’s Give 1 Get 1 helped raise more than $35 million to fund the delivery of over 150,000 laptops to children in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda.

At LAPTOP Magazine the kick off of OLPC’s global campaign allows us to show off our first-hand reporting of the impact that giving an XO can have on a child. During last year’s Give 1, Get 1 program we sent one laptop to a former colleague in Mali. She gave that durable, green laptop to a fourth grade girl and we watched how she used the little notebook.

Taken with the experience, we went further this year and donated 30 laptops through OLPC’s Give Many program to the village of Ouéléssébougou in Mali. With those laptops we launched an eight week program where 30 third and fourth graders were able to use and keep the laptops. We have reported on the progress of the students and how they used the XOs as well as some of the obstacles with the laptops themselves.

We encourage those whom are considering participating in Give 1, Get 1 to read our coverage of our program in Mali. In these tough economic times, reading about how children can be impacted by one laptop may help you rethink what you buy your child this holiday season.

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Starting in September we began a series of blog posts that followed our pilot program in Mali, Africa. You can follow the details of the experience in each of the posts found here, but the pictures below provide a glimpse into this powerful experience.

The 30 XO laptops donated by LAPTOP Magazine arrive in Mali.

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In our previous posts that have followed our One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Mali program we witnessed how the fourth and fifth graders in the village of Ouéléssébougou, Mali utilized the 30 XO laptops donated by LAPTOP Magazine. We first saw how they learned to use the applications in the Sugar OS and explored the XO out of the classroom when they were able to bring them home to their families.

In the final weeks of the one-on-one program we see how quickly the kids get the hang of preloaded programs like Etoys, a program that is based on the LOGO program of the 1980s. It allows kids to make their own models, stories, and games by typing in commands.  Some of the kids figured out the program quickly  while others were frustrated, but the more experienced kids were able to teach the others how to create projects.

Perhaps the most interesting thing we witnessed was how the parents of these children view the XO project. As the eight week program winds down and the 30 XO laptops are taken from the kids to create a permanent computer lab at the village school, the parents and the kids share the impact the XOs have had on the educational progress.

Former LAPTOP employee Salimata Fandjalan Bangoura is the project manager for OLPC Mali. The following are excerpts from Sali’s journal for the seventh and eighth week of the program.

Collaborating to Learn Etoys

For the first six weeks of the program, the most popular activities were Write, Chat, Record, Paint/Draw, and Memorize. The students hadn’t explored the Etoys activity much before. When we opened the Etoys activity, I first showed them some of the tutorials like the one where you can draw a car and write a set of commands to make it move on screen. They watched very carefully and saw how in the tutorial the car was drawn, and how the car was made larger and later on smaller, but it was when they saw it moving on its own on the screen that their eyes and mouths just opened in excitement. They just kept starring at it. Some couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and poked their neighbors while pointing their other finger excitedly at the screen to see what was happening.

After the excitement died down a little bit, I asked them to re-watch the video tutorial to get a better understanding of the functions of the tools. After about 10 minutes, we went back to the home screen of the Etoys activity and opened our own new projects. Everyone wanted to draw a car as they saw in the video tutorial and see if they could recreate the motions. Most of the students didn’t have trouble figuring out the functions of the different tools, but they had a lot of trouble getting them to do what they wanted. The mouse was either too fast, or their little fingers were too fast. There is no consistency with the mouse arrow and buttons. It is too big and the buttons are too small. It would be great if the child could choose the size of the arrow as it can sometimes get lost on screen.

It took a little while to get the drawing the car down. The ones who were able to figure it out first helped out the ones who couldn’t and by the end of the day, instead of 5 out 30 it was 20 out of 30 who were able to do it. Both the kids and the teachers explored the program during the next 2 days.

Final Week

As the last week of the program began, the students were very sad about having to give the laptops back to the school. We informed them that their XO was going to be taken from them in order to create a computer class for all the students at the school, so they too can get an opportunity to learn about computers. They were not happy about it, but most of them understood the reason why. They wanted their brothers and sisters and friends to also learn what they learned through the program. They wanted as many people as possible to benefit from the gift of the 30 laptops. Its really nice to see students feel that way; I think that comes from the communal society they have grown up in.

Some, on the other hand, could care less about the other students and they wanted to keep their XOs. They expressed their feelings to their parents, who later on came to me and told me what the students said. The parents even asked me if there was any way their children could keep the XOs even if they could pay for it. Some even harassed their parents about it and wouldn’t speak to their parents out of anger. I got a lot of cold stares. If looks could kill, I’d be dead.

We let the children go home early all this week. The first reason is that this is the month of Ramadan and some of the students fast; they do not eat anything from sunrise until sunset. The other reason is that this was the last week they were going to have their XO, so we wanted them to have as much fun as possible and personal time with their little green and white friends.

On Thursday, we had many of the parents come in to evaluate the use of the XOs and tells us a bit about how their son or daughter used the computer while at home. The number of parents who came out was great considering that this is the rainy season and most people are at their farms working. They spoke a lot about how excited the children were about having an XO, and how much they used it, and how they thought it improved the child’s intelligence and encouraged them to learn and do school work at home. Some even said that before the child was lazy to run errands, but now because they wanted to use their XOs, when sent on an errand or if they have chores to do at home, those are the first things they do when they get home so that they would not be interrupted while in the middle of their XO play.

Some parents said they had to take the computers away from the kids because they could not stay away from it (they were happy when it would run out of battery power!). The majority said that the students used it moderately because they (parents/family members) controlled their use; they did not want the child to always be on there and ignore their other responsibilities. One mother said that her son, who hates to wake up early, would wake up early just to turn on his XO.  She loved that he would teach her about things on the machine.

All parents said that the children shared their computers with others at home. One mother said that even she took it from her child sometimes so she could take her pictures and learn to type. The majority of parents used the Record activity to take their pictures, and record their voices and short videos. Some used the Write activity to type. Everyone truly saw this as a great opportunity. At the beginning they said, they really had no idea what this program was about, but in the end they truly understood what it was and what it could mean for their child’s education. Most parents said they saw an increase in their child’s reading and writing.

On Friday, we had a small party with the students. We gave them certificates of participation in the program and goody bags amidst tears and frowns. It was sad to see everyone leave and the classroom closed and locked. I had a smile on my face the entire time, knowing that more laptops will be on their way to kids around the world and hopefully to Mali soon.

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When I found out I was going to Japan one of the first things I promised I’d do (after karaoke, of course) was to visit Akihabara Town, Tokyo’s gadget district. In a country renowned for its obsession with gadgets this is the place to shop for electronics. I imagined everyone watching TV on their cell phones while waiting for the metro, and saw Akihabara itself as a place where gadgets too good for the likes of Americans lie out in the open.

Indeed, at least when it comes to the sheer volume of gadgets, the Japanese seem to have a leg up on us. If only because the Tokyo metro is eerily quiet (even people who know each other speak in whispers, at most), everyone on the subway plays with their phone and Nintendo DS. But as for futuristic TV phones as low-hanging fruit? Not so much.

Akhibara reminds me of Manhattan’s diamond district: it’s bustling, colorful, and the stores kind of look the same. Many of them have two, three, maybe even more, floors. The density of the district is overwhelming but, the selection isn’t. Most of the products– notebooks, cell phones, cameras, camcorders, and personal navigators– are from brands we know and trust (Japan is home to the Sonys and Panasonics of the world, after all), and have counterparts in the U.S. Often, those models are available in the States, possibly with a different name.

However, Japan seems to emphasize different types of gadgets. I saw plenty of phones, portable DVD players, and pocket translators, and a decent number of cameras, but far fewer MP3 players, QWERTY smart phones, and GPS navigators. And I saw a few unique gizmos: a digital photo frame watch here, an anime webcam there.

In many cases, the electronics were lower-tech than what you’d find in the U.S. The budget notebooks for instance, weren’t significantly cheaper (if at all), and the stores were less conducive to hands on testing than, say, a Best Buy. At times, the loose items in bins even reminded me of the fish market across town.

One way in which Japan trounces the US, electronically speaking, is that its storekeepers seem more comfortable placing mainstream notebooks and netbooks side by side on the shelves. In the picture below, they dominate the display lining the busy street. Ironically, in a country where even the safety videos on airplanes are cute, mini-notebooks often take center stage.

The netbooks aside, however, what’s striking about Akhihabara’s gadget selection isn’t how cutting-edge it is, but how precious. The most ubiquitous phone in the city is the SoftBank Pantone. This flip phone, available in even more colors than the new iPod Nano, targets teenagers with its fun color selection and large text-friendly keyboard. It’s simple, feature-wise, but the color palette exceeds what you’ll find in most handsets offered in the States.

And the ubiquitous billboard:

Did we mention the adorable webcams?

While we’re on the subject of cute, the biggest– and strangest– mobile tech trend I’ve seen is people attaching charms to their phones. Even grown men, including a road warrior in the airport, have these adorable little tchotckes hanging from their handsets. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the evidence:

I found this on the ground in Yoyogi Park, located in Sobuya, a neighborhood that brims with teenagers on the weekends.

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