Docomo to test service that makes smartphones more intuitive

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NTT Docomo will trial Tap-de-Concier, a smartphone service that uses trend data, operation history and selected service statistics to enable basic device functions and services from Docomo’s dmenu portal to provide highly intuitive information and support, adjusted by location and time. The trial will last from Tuesday until Sept 30.

The service app (in Japanese only), which works with most Docomo smartphones running on Android OS 2.3 or higher, can be downloaded for free at Google Play or Docomo’s dmenu portal.

By tapping on the icon, the user is presented with a screen of selected functions and/or services that the user is predicted most likely to need. Predictions are based on analysis of trend data from Docomo’s dmenu portal, Tap-de-Concier operation history, and usage and statistics of Docomo’s Shabette Concier voice-agent service. Information provided by the selected functions and services is highly tailored to the user’s predicted needs with respect to current location and time.

For example, the service learns if a user is likely to leave the office at a given time of day and then automatically provides a list of likely destinations, which the user can tap to obtain a specific train schedule. Or, for a user who frequently looks up recipes with their smartphone before dinner, Tap-de-Concier can provide quick, easy access to popular recipes in the late afternoon and early evening. Conventionally, users select and launch functions and services individually and then input information or perform operations manually, but Docomo’s new Tap-de-Concier service greatly simplifies this process while providing intuitively selected information.

The service works in conjunction with eight built-in handset functions: phone, mail, memo, alarm, timer, calendar, camera and music player, and 15 web-based services: transit, maps, weather, location guide, restaurants, recipes, videos, music, images, app searches, games, ebooks, tweet searches, news and Wikipedia.

Docomo tablets, Raku-Raku smartphone and certain smartphones running on Android 2.3 or higher are not compatible.