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New KDDI Handsets Offer Oral Access to Navigation Service

Posted on: Thursday, 12 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Jan. 12--TOKYO -- KDDI Corp. said Thursday it will introduce three new handsets for its "au" mobile phone service next month which will enable users to orally use the "EZ Navi Walk" navigation service.

The handsets eliminate the troublesome process of inputting information for a search location, such as its address and phone number, by pushing keys on a handset, KDDI said.

The EZ Navi Walk navigation service utilizes a satellite-based global positioning system to give location information to pedestrians. If a user seeks information on train transfers from the service using the new cellphones, all he or she has to do is to speak the names of departure and arrival stations as well as the dates and times.

By adopting technology known as dispersive voice recognition, the handset can pick necessary data from inputted oral information and send it to a server computer for processing. It is the world's first adoption of this technology for a cellphone system, according to KDDI officials.

The new handsets will be put on the market from early February for around 10,000 yen.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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