Wellness phone and mobile TV: Crazy Japanese inventions

What we really like about Japanese handset culture is its absolute openness when it comes to trying out new ideas. The US and European markets are mainly driven by popularity and although some manufacturers are brave enough to break the mould, many don't.

Enter NTT DoCoMo's stand at the Mobile World Congress and the Wellness handset (pictured), a phone designed to keep you fit and healthy as well as make phone calls. Why, you ask? According to one of its creators, it's because the Japanese diet is changing and people need an easy way of keeping track of their health.

The Wellness phone offers an impressive variety of features including a pedometer, heart rate monitor, body fat monitor and even a bad breath monitor -- you don't want to be fit but have smelly breath, do you? At the moment the phone is only a prototype but will probably be made at some point.

Click on the next page for pictures of the Wellness phone and some more Japanese phone goodies, including the Panasonic Viera TV phone. -Andrew Lim

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