I recall these phones being an absolute fever dream for us here in Europe. They were all like 5-6 years more advanced than the rest of the world, so otherworldly yet so familiar with that blocky flip shape, two screens and a physical keyboard. I-mode mobile internet (which was trialled in Europe by some operators, but alas it came too late to stop WAP and it wasn't supported by local phone manufacturers), NFC for paying via phone, built in cameras, TV tuners (at a time you could maybe get a FM radio tuner ar most in your phone)... it was truly amazing. And then the iPhone came and took the wind out of the sails of Galapagos phones. Sony (with Xperia, obviously), Fujitsu with their Arrow series and Sharp with the Aquos phones are still somehow surviving, but for how long? How long until the phone market becomes the same, stale bricks that all feature the exact same features everywhere in the world? Here in Europe that already is the case. I've seen a few Android phones in the classic flip style (none of this foldable nonsense), most recently Freetel Mode 1 Retro II, and I must say these have some potential. Give me a flip so I can talk with style like everyone did back in the 2000s.
Thank you for your comment. The modern Japanese releases are exciting compared to the flip phones on the market, but still very lacking when compared to these vintage models from the 2000s.
Glad to see someone is still collecting Japanese phones. I still have the NEC N-04B (Black) and Fujitsu F-01A (gold). Both are in brandnew condition, no scratches at all. It works here in the Philippines using turbo sim, still using the N-04B as my secondary phone. It only works in 2G though. Wifi still good. Glad I did not sell them.
Very glad you enjoyed the video. I have never been able to source a hypersim/hypercard, so it's very fortunate you own one. Also, the F-01A in the video has since been sold due to its issues, but I will be receiving a large lot of these wonderful phones soon.
I love these garakei japanese technology have a very unique and more personality in their past phone designs that the current smart phones doesnt have now sadly😢 nowadays its just a piece of big glass🥹😭
One of the serious advantages that Japan had was it was manufacturing its phone on its own Network, so they were able to create services that integrated well with their society. Osaifu - NFC wallet, which also worked with train tickets. One-Seg TV on their phones. etc. Unlike with most mobile phone companies, where they would create services and features hoping it would be adopted. Also their i-mode internet was CRAAAAAAZY. It was mini internet on steroids.
Indeed - extremely custom tailored phones, the operators such as NTT Docomo commissioned handset makers to include the very best technology for their lineups. All the Japanese exclusive features were so ahead of their times (Osaifu-keitai, i-mode, 1seg), but only worked in Japan, which is a huge shame.
I remember being obsessed with japanese phones in 2003 and 2004. I had a LG vx8100 it was the only dual lcd flip phone and i was so mad when the sales rep lied we were getting 3g coverage when it was not even close. I of course wanted a japanese phone and recall seeing fujitsu and sharp phones and from some of the anime but you couldnt get them without a contract, i think you had to be a japanese citizen and the bands wouldnt have worked on another carrier or would be limited. The closest thing id see made in Japan were the sony erricsons. I was very jealous of the amazing features, displays and design of those phones and would have done anything to get one. By 2009 i was going backwards due to the crash and had the lowest tier lg flip phone imagineable. I always wished the US could have had a fraction of what europe and Japan were doing but we kept getting the same chunky cdma phones.
Well said. Sadly, it seems like the American cellphone market in the 2000s never matched Europe and Japan with their overall higher end and premium phone designs... Thankfully, America got a taste of some keitai through Sanyo & Sprint. A few models were re-released under different models but with a similar design to their Japanese market model!
@mobilephonesandtech indeed, I actually used to work for Sprint (actually for clearwire which was purchased by softbank/sprint). I was a level 2 tech. Sprint indeed had some really cool phones, tmobile as well. I was living in a small Florida panhandle town and most carriers here in the early 2000s had to roam off Verizons network. I actually found an old post from mine back then and asking on Howard forums about the state of US phones and I think much of it had to do with our mess of networks being primarily cdma and a smaller GSM network so many of the bands just weren't supported. Add on the complications of the FCC and approving devices, most Japanese phones I believe didn't have ESNs and many Korean phones didn't either. I recall Qualcomm/e911 being a issue for the importation of many phones so if you ended up going with cdma solutions the phones were quite chunky. I wanted to like tmobile at the time because their phones were smaller and more modern but the network just wasn't there at the time. It has improved here but still some issues inside buildings. I think the aspect of the cellphones of Japan was knowing they had something that we wanted but could not have and the niche of us wanting something like this whereas most people at that time were more focused on cell phone service and dropped calls due to our priority being the plain old telephone system. I think Motorola at that time was trying to do innovative things but with so little competition and select specially made models that were isolated from the rest of the world, companies didn't see a lot of incentive for innovation and were focused heavily on milking the same old tech. The concept of rollover minutes were more important
It's incredible to hear stories like these from those formerly in the industry! HoFo is a gold mine of information on anything old phone or cellular, appreciate all the info there. I have heard that some Japanese and Korean CDMA models were apparently usable in the USA (specifically, Korean models have had success) but they are just mentions I've come across on old forums. e911 was definitely an issue, though apparently some like PagePlus could bypass that requirement around the 2010s... I'm a fan of the T-Mobile branded phones as well, but too bad most were heavily customized with the firmware or even different models even if similar to the international variant. Most of the models (Samsungs) were carrier-specific hardware revisions for example. And yes, I don't think the USA cellular networks were ready for the feature-rich keitais of Japan, except for 3G CDMA 1X (Sanyo stepped in, thankfully!). Shame, people tried to use these phones on GSM 1900 with hypersims or similar methods, but there were problems with coverage and the use of a SIM hack.
Very nice collection. I miss this garake "generation"... every season alot of new flip-phones in their collection. But nowadays they are practicaly non-existent... at least the recent ones are fully unlocked but far for being high-spec. Sometimes i like to take mines out of the box just for the nostalgic feeling.
Very true. Smartphones nowadays have little variety or interesting new features. To me, the new models (902kc for example) are quite disappointing when compared to models from just 10-15 years ago.
Man Japanese phones where way ahead of the rest of the world before the iphone a lot of the colors and designs still hold up so well anyway do you know what year these phones were released?
None of them are unlocked. They connect to a personal GSM base station I have set up broadcasting Cingular. Most of the models shown are WORLD WING capable (GSM). Which models do you own? Docomo models released after 2011 can be unlocked for free, but only in-person at a shop. See Docomo website.
@@NickoSamonte-uh2id You can try to source a hypersim (known as hyper card, unlock SIM/chip, etc). Almost impossible to find in America, but I've seen some for sale on Indonesian and Vietnamese marketplace sites.
It's not easy, you will need to source a vintage hypersim which I could not find for a reasonable price. If you get past that, these phones with GSM/3G will work fine for texts and calls, but no data or MMS. Japanese phones were never designed to be unlockable until past 2011.
I recall these phones being an absolute fever dream for us here in Europe. They were all like 5-6 years more advanced than the rest of the world, so otherworldly yet so familiar with that blocky flip shape, two screens and a physical keyboard. I-mode mobile internet (which was trialled in Europe by some operators, but alas it came too late to stop WAP and it wasn't supported by local phone manufacturers), NFC for paying via phone, built in cameras, TV tuners (at a time you could maybe get a FM radio tuner ar most in your phone)... it was truly amazing. And then the iPhone came and took the wind out of the sails of Galapagos phones. Sony (with Xperia, obviously), Fujitsu with their Arrow series and Sharp with the Aquos phones are still somehow surviving, but for how long? How long until the phone market becomes the same, stale bricks that all feature the exact same features everywhere in the world? Here in Europe that already is the case.
I've seen a few Android phones in the classic flip style (none of this foldable nonsense), most recently Freetel Mode 1 Retro II, and I must say these have some potential. Give me a flip so I can talk with style like everyone did back in the 2000s.
Thank you for your comment. The modern Japanese releases are exciting compared to the flip phones on the market, but still very lacking when compared to these vintage models from the 2000s.
@@Toritori-ke9sf I believe you're referring to FeliCa technology developed by Sony.
Seriously beautiful designs.
Glad to see someone is still collecting Japanese phones.
I still have the NEC N-04B (Black) and Fujitsu F-01A (gold).
Both are in brandnew condition, no scratches at all. It works here in the Philippines using turbo sim, still using the N-04B as my secondary phone.
It only works in 2G though. Wifi still good.
Glad I did not sell them.
Very glad you enjoyed the video. I have never been able to source a hypersim/hypercard, so it's very fortunate you own one.
Also, the F-01A in the video has since been sold due to its issues, but I will be receiving a large lot of these wonderful phones soon.
I love these garakei japanese technology have a very unique and more personality in their past phone designs that the current smart phones doesnt have now sadly😢 nowadays its just a piece of big glass🥹😭
One of the serious advantages that Japan had was it was manufacturing its phone on its own Network, so they were able to create services that integrated well with their society.
Osaifu - NFC wallet, which also worked with train tickets. One-Seg TV on their phones. etc.
Unlike with most mobile phone companies, where they would create services and features hoping it would be adopted.
Also their i-mode internet was CRAAAAAAZY. It was mini internet on steroids.
Indeed - extremely custom tailored phones, the operators such as NTT Docomo commissioned handset makers to include the very best technology for their lineups. All the Japanese exclusive features were so ahead of their times (Osaifu-keitai, i-mode, 1seg), but only worked in Japan, which is a huge shame.
Nice collection. I intended at some point to feature some of these phones on my channel as well.
Super cool, Japanese phones are very unique.
I remember being obsessed with japanese phones in 2003 and 2004. I had a LG vx8100 it was the only dual lcd flip phone and i was so mad when the sales rep lied we were getting 3g coverage when it was not even close.
I of course wanted a japanese phone and recall seeing fujitsu and sharp phones and from some of the anime but you couldnt get them without a contract, i think you had to be a japanese citizen and the bands wouldnt have worked on another carrier or would be limited. The closest thing id see made in Japan were the sony erricsons. I was very jealous of the amazing features, displays and design of those phones and would have done anything to get one.
By 2009 i was going backwards due to the crash and had the lowest tier lg flip phone imagineable. I always wished the US could have had a fraction of what europe and Japan were doing but we kept getting the same chunky cdma phones.
Well said. Sadly, it seems like the American cellphone market in the 2000s never matched Europe and Japan with their overall higher end and premium phone designs... Thankfully, America got a taste of some keitai through Sanyo & Sprint. A few models were re-released under different models but with a similar design to their Japanese market model!
@mobilephonesandtech indeed, I actually used to work for Sprint (actually for clearwire which was purchased by softbank/sprint). I was a level 2 tech.
Sprint indeed had some really cool phones, tmobile as well.
I was living in a small Florida panhandle town and most carriers here in the early 2000s had to roam off Verizons network. I actually found an old post from mine back then and asking on Howard forums about the state of US phones and I think much of it had to do with our mess of networks being primarily cdma and a smaller GSM network so many of the bands just weren't supported. Add on the complications of the FCC and approving devices, most Japanese phones I believe didn't have ESNs and many Korean phones didn't either. I recall Qualcomm/e911 being a issue for the importation of many phones so if you ended up going with cdma solutions the phones were quite chunky.
I wanted to like tmobile at the time because their phones were smaller and more modern but the network just wasn't there at the time. It has improved here but still some issues inside buildings.
I think the aspect of the cellphones of Japan was knowing they had something that we wanted but could not have and the niche of us wanting something like this whereas most people at that time were more focused on cell phone service and dropped calls due to our priority being the plain old telephone system.
I think Motorola at that time was trying to do innovative things but with so little competition and select specially made models that were isolated from the rest of the world, companies didn't see a lot of incentive for innovation and were focused heavily on milking the same old tech. The concept of rollover minutes were more important
It's incredible to hear stories like these from those formerly in the industry!
HoFo is a gold mine of information on anything old phone or cellular, appreciate all the info there. I have heard that some Japanese and Korean CDMA models were apparently usable in the USA (specifically, Korean models have had success) but they are just mentions I've come across on old forums. e911 was definitely an issue, though apparently some like PagePlus could bypass that requirement around the 2010s...
I'm a fan of the T-Mobile branded phones as well, but too bad most were heavily customized with the firmware or even different models even if similar to the international variant. Most of the models (Samsungs) were carrier-specific hardware revisions for example.
And yes, I don't think the USA cellular networks were ready for the feature-rich keitais of Japan, except for 3G CDMA 1X (Sanyo stepped in, thankfully!). Shame, people tried to use these phones on GSM 1900 with hypersims or similar methods, but there were problems with coverage and the use of a SIM hack.
Very nice collection. I miss this garake "generation"... every season alot of new flip-phones in their collection. But nowadays they are practicaly non-existent... at least the recent ones are fully unlocked but far for being high-spec. Sometimes i like to take mines out of the box just for the nostalgic feeling.
Very true. Smartphones nowadays have little variety or interesting new features. To me, the new models (902kc for example) are quite disappointing when compared to models from just 10-15 years ago.
@@mobilephonesandtech indeed. The saddest part is that the japanese phone giants are slowly disappearing, fingers crossed for the remaining ones.
Man Japanese phones where way ahead of the rest of the world before the iphone a lot of the colors and designs still hold up so well anyway do you know what year these phones were released?
Majority of the models shown, 2005 - 2010.
@@mobilephonesandtech thx
Do you know if those themes are pre-installed or downloaded online? Some look cool and very 2000s like
Both, the phones often have a few themes preinstalled already.
How did you unlock those phones? I have a lots of garakei/keitai in here. However it won't accept any other sim cards. Can you help me?
None of them are unlocked. They connect to a personal GSM base station I have set up broadcasting Cingular. Most of the models shown are WORLD WING capable (GSM).
Which models do you own?
Docomo models released after 2011 can be unlocked for free, but only in-person at a shop. See Docomo website.
@@mobilephonesandtech I'm no longer living in Japan. I'm here in PH. Is there any other ways that we could unlock it? Like buying a unlocking chip
@@NickoSamonte-uh2id You can try to source a hypersim (known as hyper card, unlock SIM/chip, etc). Almost impossible to find in America, but I've seen some for sale on Indonesian and Vietnamese marketplace sites.
Could any of these still be used today for texts and calls? Where Im from still supports 2G and 3G networks (Bands 2 and 5.)
It's not easy, you will need to source a vintage hypersim which I could not find for a reasonable price. If you get past that, these phones with GSM/3G will work fine for texts and calls, but no data or MMS. Japanese phones were never designed to be unlockable until past 2011.
Cingular?
how do u get Cingular in 2024
I have a private GSM test network with the PLMN set to Cingular, otherwise these network locked phones can't be used.
Здравствуйте а где можно купить телефон
You can find these phones on Yahoo! Auctions Japan and Mercari JP, then import them.
sick!
Robust and elegant design on all these phones.
Indeed, these are one of my most favorite phones.