Japanese iPhone 3G Guided Tour

[MacRumors]

Apple Japan has posted a Japanese version of the iPhone 3G Guided Tour. No new information, but is surprisingly interesting to watch even if you don't understand the language. At one point the Chinese character recognition is demonstrated when they are showing off the international keyboards.


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[a1016neo]

Oh God! What's up with these black turtlenecks?

[daneoni]

Technically its a crew neck and everyone has their 'logo'/quirk

[queshy]

apple is more of a cult than ever...

[bacaramac]

Funny, the guy acts and moves the same way the dorky US guy does.

[badgerman]

Originally Posted by bacaramac

Funny, the guy acts and moves the same way the dorky US guy does.

It looks even more Dharma Initiative than the US version!

[bushido]

Originally Posted by badgerman

It looks even more Dharma Initiative than the US version!

lmao

---

i love japanese, they talk so fast it sounds like they dont even breath. The dude seems more friendly as the american one tho

[iSlicer]

OMG, he is wearing a black top... THATS what apple does. It does not matter if its in Australia, Japan or the UK... THEY wear black tops.

[sargent bannana]

lol apple cult anyone.
i am inloave with these black shirts.
is swear these people seem too perfect irobot/human 2.0 anyone?
also i love how the JAPANESE guy shows the CHINES hadwriting recognization.

[alvintwj]

That isn't Chinese keyboard. That's the keyboard for Japanese input.
Chinese keyboard have different inputs.
Symphonic and text recognition.

And, in the tour we get to see the UI in Japanese, which is kinda new and fresh.

I kept looking at the 3G iPhone. Oh my...

[nima]

Originally Posted by sargent bannana

lol apple cult anyone.
i am inloave with these black shirts.
is swear these people seem too perfect irobot/human 2.0 anyone?
also i love how the JAPANESE guy shows the CHINES hadwriting recognization.

i swear to go in the near future theres going to be billions of apple zombies and next thing you know our whole world is going to be white and simple and they'll introduce the ihouse and the icar and ishoes and everyone will be the same.

[Snakepit]

Looking at the App Store portion of the video makes me wonder whether international users will have their own version of the App Store, or if each country will have their own App Store. I guess it shouldn't be too difficult to localize apps for different countries, but I wonder how many developers have taken the time to create localizations for more than a few countries.

[batchtaster]

Originally Posted by Snakepit

Looking at the App Store portion of the video makes me wonder whether international users will have their own version of the App Store, or if each country will have their own App Store. I guess it shouldn't be too difficult to localize apps for different countries, but I wonder how many developers have taken the time to create localizations for more than a few countries.

There better bloody well not be. Different language stores, yes. Different country stores, no.

I'm sick of being 2 (or more) years behind the US just because "our" iTunes Store needs to be treated differently... for some reason. Fine, there's some stoopid licensing/local company junk for the music, movies and TV.

But with apps, there is not a single reason for English-speaking countries to be denied an English-language app (French-speaking countries/French-language apps, etc), for anything other than artificial reasoning. I will accept "this app shows fuel prices in South-East Backwater, Mississouraho" or "TV listings for up-state Minnesomington", although if I actually cared to see information about a place 700,000 miles away, I should surely be able to.

If the App Store is segregated like the regular iTunes Store, I'll be mighty pissed off.

[jpqsmex]

there's also a spanish (Spain not LA) version http://www.apple.com/es/iphone/guide...ur/medium.html

[kjs862]

This is getting a little ridiculous, why don't they just go out naked all clean shaven and balled.

[mavis]

Originally Posted by batchtaster

There better bloody well not be. Different language stores, yes. Different country stores, no.

Actually, it's up to each developer to decide which countries the application will be sold in. And I sincerely doubt all apps will be available in all countries - most software sold in the US, for example, cannot be exported due to licensing issue and other restrictions. I just hope my U.S. iTMS account will function with my Japanese iPhone!! Then again, what if some Japanese developer releases a really useful app in Japan only - then I'll be screwed with my US account. Either way, I lose. But I think it's a safe bet that most of the cool content will be coming from American and European developers, or at least will be available in the US App Store, since that's going to be the window to the biggest iPhone user base in the world ...

[Diversion]

Ha.. notice the echo they added to his voice? Typical Japanese way to attempt to over-blow everything to make it Japanese Supercharged!

[wakerider017]

Originally Posted by Diversion

Ha.. notice the echo they added to his voice? Typical Japanese way to attempt to over-blow everything to make it Japanese Supercharged!

I thought the echo was due to poor acoustics of the recording studio. No?

[bushido]

i still dont understand why handwriting recognition is for japan and china only, it would be fun for everyone else as well wouldnt it.

[Diversion]

Originally Posted by wakerider017

I thought the echo was due to poor acoustics of the recording studio. No?

No - it was definately added for the overblown effect.. it gets the Japanese all excited. You can tell it was interpolated post-recording.

[bluebomberman]

Originally Posted by bushido

i still dont understand why handwriting recognition is for japan and china only, it would be fun for everyone else as well wouldnt it.

My understanding is that all iPhones will have handwriting recognition for Chinese (and Japanese, too? Eh, I'm too lazy to look up the answer) regardless of where it's sold. Good for the bilingual folk...

The reason why you don't see it for all the languages iPhone support is that it's a really difficult technology to get right, made even more so by differences in languages. (Try to use Inkwell on your Mac and you'll see for yourself.) Plus, with most Western languages, an alphabet means a virtual keyboard is much more time-effective than drawing individual letters on a screen with your finger without any obvious method for separating a string of inputted letters into words and sentences.

[hob]

If the american dude looked a bit like a robot, this is actually a japanese robot.

the skin tone is different between arms and face, and his shoulders are wayyy out of proportion.

keep up the research Apple, you're nearly there...

[Podgy]

Love apple but wtf?
Huge echo?
Standard delivery style?
iPhone up ass?

Awful but I want an iPhone!

[(L)]

Originally Posted by bluebomberman

My understanding is that all iPhones will have handwriting recognition for Chinese (and Japanese, too? Eh, I'm too lazy to look up the answer) regardless of where it's sold. Good for the bilingual folk...

The reason why you don't see it for all the languages iPhone support is that it's a really difficult technology to get right, made even more so by differences in languages. (Try to use Inkwell on your Mac and you'll see for yourself.) Plus, with most Western languages, an alphabet means a virtual keyboard is much more time-effective than drawing individual letters on a screen with your finger without any obvious method for separating a string of inputted letters into words and sentences.

Just to add to this, I do think that the fact that the guy introduced "Chinese character input" as part of being able to use other input methods, it appears that character recognition is not by default a part of Japanese input. Now, anyone who knows any Japanese knows that the kanji characters Japanese use were adopted from China, but this was several centuries ago. Especially due to China making simplified characters, there are differences and incompatibilities between Chinese characters and the kanji that Japanese use.

Now, as you point out, an alphabet is faster than character recognition. In fact, since Japanese is based on a phonetic system (simpler looking characters you see in the video are these), converting phonetics into kanji characters is significantly faster than drawing your own, unless it is a rare character. Most of the time, character recognition is even less necessary than in English, so that might be why they didn't bother developing an independent Japanese one as well.

[sushi]

Originally Posted by mavis

I just hope my U.S. iTMS account will function with my Japanese iPhone!!

That is a 64 dollar question.

Please let us know when you get yours.

Originally Posted by mavis

Then again, what if some Japanese developer releases a really useful app in Japan only - then I'll be screwed with my US account.

Isn't it fun living outside of your own country.