S60 Open to new features

I heard that Japan has phone charging stations all over the place.

Hopefully they have one (or two) standards for phone charging. Nokia alone has two standards, let alone what the other manufacturers have.

Posted by: PhoneBoy | May 18, 2007 12:43 AM

It is true they have mobile phone chargers available in many places. There are portable chargers with regular batteries in them available in most convenience stores. The types of chargers available are only for the most popular mobiles though. There are a couple of charger connection types but not all are available.

I really don't think that battery life is the main issue, as wireless charging will probably be available soon (it has already been tested) - so noone will have to worry about charging, it will happen automatically. Though, I agree that in non-japanesee reality noone is ready for such convergence yet,and I don't only mean devices and technology but also people and their habits etc.

I'm not convinced having everything in one device really is a problem. Sure if you lose that you lose everything, but then again people often tend to keep their wallet + keys + phone on them in the same place anyway (a pocket, a jacket or a handbag for example). If there's a hole in their pocket, they get robbed or forget their handbag then the chances are they lose all these items at once anyway. And if I'm going to lose my money and keys I'd rather lose them on a phone which can be locked by a code (or fingerprint) and remotely disabled and wiped by the network operator (assuming of course that there is some kind of backup of my data ;-P) so nobody else can use it.

As for doorlocks and dead batteries or lost phones I think there are ways around this. I've seen doors that can be unlocked by a PIN code (like you sometimes get in hotels) as well as an electronic key. If you lose the key (or in this case phone) you can still use the PIN as a back up.

The main advantage of separate keys, credit cards, drivers license cards and whatnot is that nobody else has control over them. Ok, sometimes people loose them or their wallet gets nicked, but if that particular problem was that bad, a solution would have been found. In reality, I never hear people complain that they loose they keys, cards, wallets all the time. If there isn't a problem, nobody is going to look for a solution.

Then there's the associated cost. Having a wallet in your pocket is almost free, and replacing it and the cards is not that expensive either. A competing service must therefore be very inexpensive as well. But given the inherent dangers in storing all your personal identity data on a network, such solutions won't come cheap. It might work for gimmicky stuff like loyalty cards, but for important things like a drivers license or a credit card? I don't see that happening for a long time.

interesting point of view there. I wish we had that level of convergence over here in india .. With one of the fastest growing gsm markets and the number of mobile phone users way past those of landlines...it is only a matter of time before we go the japan way.. but the question is ...how long ?

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