NTT Docomo Google Glass Alternative Revealed At Ceatec Tokyo

If you have visited Tokio by now, then you are already aware of the translation issues you can encounter in the city.  Some restaurant owners have tried to be helpful and added photographs in the menus, others have added plastic models of their most popular dishes, but these are minor solutions and aren’t applicable in every domain.

However, the biggest network carrier in Japan, NTT Docomo seems to be on something that might change this situation forever. They have decided to create a new wearable device, the Intelligent Glass, which should be able to translate instantly any written text. The Intelligent Glass came as a response to Googles Project Glass, and it was presented during the technology trade show from Tokio, called Ceatec.

Besides from providing an instant translation for nearly any text, the Japanese Glass also uses facial recognition and if necessary, it can create virtual business cards for some of your contacts.

Another gadget that Docomo presented at Ceatec along with the Intelligent Glass is a ring, which can project a display on any flat surface available.  The ring is related to the Intelligent Glass, so in order to use this feature you would have to be wearing both the Intelligent Glass on your face and the ring on your index finger.  This gadget is able to keep up with your smoothest movements and you can use it for watching movies, listening to music, exactly as you would do it on a regular tablet.

Considering that in the past period, Japan had to deal with some bad news from their main technology producers, as Toshiba announced that they would cut 3,000 jobs and shut down two factories, while NEC and Panasonic stated recently that they will retire from the smartphone market, the gadgets presented by Docomo at Ceatec were like a breath of fresh air for the Japanese people.

Even though a big number of Japanese products are being released during international events such as CES (Las Vegas) and IFA (Berlin), in order to attract overseas customers. However, the demonstrations shown at Ceatec were quite astonishing.  For instance, Toyota and Honda presented some transportation gadgets pretty similar to the Segways devices, while Sharp showed off  the first notebook computer display panel that works on ultra-high definition technology.  The panel is using Sharp’s IGZO technology.

The IGZO Sharp technology was definitely a highlight of the event, as Sharp presented more than one futuristic usages for it. For example the introduced a ‘frameless’ LCD, which looks like it would be standing on the material that surrounds it. Sharp claims that this technology is able to perform at a higher resolution than regular displays and use less power.

The Docomo gadgets attracted a lot of attention during Ceatec, probably because of all the recent commotion on wearable computers.

After being asked when the general public will be available to experience such a device first hand, he company’s CEO replied that he hopes to launch them in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, when a lot of foreign tourists will be present in town.

Would you prefer such a device over Google Glass?