When the iPhone was released in Japan there was some resistance because it didn’t have a few things the local handsets had, emoji (emoticons) and TV. As of the latest update to the firmware you can use emoji and as of today you can download the Ustream iPhone App and watch live Video Streaming.
Not having either of these on the iPhone certainly didn’t stall my purchase of the iPhone, i never used either on my Japanese handset. I couldn’t download the Ustream app quick enough today though and can confirm it does work in Japan.
Here’s a couple of screen caps i took. It’s an extremely easy interface to search through and find programs to watch by live or featured categories.
There’s also an archive of programs in case you miss what you wanted to watch the first time round.
With this latest inclusion of Ustream to the app store it adds another massive benefit to owning the iPhone.
Technically, It does require a WIFI connection and from the brief look at a few programs, both the video and audio come through at a very acceptable quality.
Here’s the link to the Ustream Application in the iTunes store and to the Ustream site where you’ll need to create a login if you want to broadcast your own video, and as usual, you can read more on Techcrunch.
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Oh this makes getting the iPhone in Japan a much easier decision. Well, that and the fact that I am starting to develop a couple iPhone apps for the store with a coder buddy of mine.
To bad my G1 wont work…
Best technology purchase i’ve made ET … hands down.
There’s also a TV application from Softbank called “テレビ”. Search for “softbank” in the iTunes store and you’ll find it.
No comment on how good it is though. I installed it a few minutes ago and it doesn’t work – just gives up with an error message. Unfortunately the only part of the error message that I can read is “できません”.
All this kind of stuff was so much easier in German. Not that I thought so at the time…
The Softbank application requires the Softbank hardware module that streams to the iPhone. The error you see says it cant find the required hardware….. But upstream looks like a winner…
Here’s the hardware you need from Softbank. http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/oneseg/index.html
A Japanese colleague translated the error message for me this morning. I’d assumed it was going to stream over the internet, rather than requiring a dongle.
Anyway, if it’s a OneSeg receiver I guess it means it can only receive Japanese TV, which makes it pretty useless…
Yeh, i`m with you David …. will leave it for the others if they want to buy.
I checked it out neil, not bad but requires wifi connections which is not going to be acceptable to the locals here.. I guess when the Nozumi Express finish its on board wifi project that would work but as far as going around town on riding on the Yamanote.
But who cares I hate Japanese TV anyways..
Cheers for the app though, might be good for some people.
Yeh, i had this discussion re WIFI only with a mate. Japanese TV isn’t that flash ……. some of the other stuff might be nice though and hey it’s free so i grabbed it now in case they charge later!