Japanese Reading Books on Cell Phones

Posted on March 25, 2005

Will people really read books on cell phones? At first you wouldn't think so, but in Japan people are happily reading on their cell phones thanks to some new technology. Quality displays and fast flipping software allow readers to quickly move text forward in a nonfiction book or novel. NBC News explains:

Several mobile Web sites offer hundreds of novels - classics, best sellers and some works written especially for the medium. It takes some getting used to. Only a few lines pop up at a time because the phone screen is about half the size of a business card. But improvements in the quality of liquid-crystal displays and features such as automatic page-flipping, or scrolling, make the endeavor far more enjoyable than you'd imagine.

The cell phone book option may soon be available to U.S. readers as well. Random House is already making agreements with a San Francisco company called VOCEL to provide cell-phone readers with access to text from their language study aides and game strategy guides.