Japanese Wellness phone and mobile TV

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.

The funky-looking Japanese Wellness phone.

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.

Now that's what mobile TV should look like.

If proper mobile TV ever makes it to Australia then we definitely want to see handsets like this pop up all over the place. Not only was the picture extremely sharp on the Panasonic Viera phone, but the phone itself looked pretty cool too.

Watching TV on your phone is supposedly the next big thing. If this phone is anything to go by, we can see why everyone's so excited. Still, you might not want to get caught watching Neighbours when you're at work.