Japanese Phones – All about Design

au is a mobile phone brand from Japan that not many of us gaijins know about. Don't correct me please because that first letter hasn't been capitalized because this is the actual name of the company, a company that is marketed by the more prestigious KDDI Corporation a fact that has also brought it the name of au/KDDI which means in a more western language "au by KDDI".

At the moment, this is the brand name that is appearing on all the phones available under the service of KDDI and, if I may say so, from what I have seen so far today on their website, this is a very well made choice.

The phones I am going to write about here can be found on the au website HERE and let me warn you before you click that link: those handsets are going to make you wonder why you still buy phones made by other phone manufacturers. Well, there could be some exceptions to this but I'm sure there aren't many.

The thing that strikes anyone at a first glance over the new models launched this month by au is the external illuminating panel that, depending on the model, shows the user a different type of pattern or color that will surely make you want to at least touch it.

The phone doing this incredible looking thing comes in three color variations, purple, red and white, and as I have understood from the official website, the future owners will be able to choose between a number of panels to attach to their newly bought illuminating cellphone.

Besides the illuminating part, there is also another thing that is going to make you fall in love at the first glimpse of it. I'm talking the simple and minimalist yet beautiful design of this handset which in its white version (the one I’d choose to buy in case I ever go to Japan), shows exactly what the one that has invented the word "minimal" really meant.

If the phone had less hardware features, I'm sure it wouldn't have been the same at all and by this, I want to say that if they would have put or removed anything from what the handset has (remove a key, replace the display, invent another way of placing the keys on the keypad) the handset would not have actually been as stylish and good looking as it is. I know it sounds pretty weird and believe me, I too got a little scared of it but I suppose I finally understood what feng shui and other stuff like this are truly about.

The GUI this phone has is on the same scale as the overall look of its exterior but I want to let you discover it by yourself because it truly is really impressive with its minimalist Japanese looking themes.

To conclude everything I wrote above, you should know that the phone is also capable of doing stuff and you won't be sorry for the money you paid for it. You won't only get beauty because this handset is also capable to make video calls and this fact also implies there also are at least digital camera and support for some type of Japanese 3G-like technology.

This being said, I have one last question for the people that worked on the design and the GUI this cellphone has: why do you want to make me move to Japan?

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