DoCoMo, purveyor of multi-colored phones to Pantone fans in Japan has come up with a 3G phone aimed at kids. As well as having many safety features and a keyboard designed for small fingers, the F801i, which goes on sale in Japan December 20, comes with a bright yellow "amulet." Not to ward off evil phone spirits, but as a remote control and lost phone locator you wear round the wrist. See it, and a gallery with more info, below.

When the alarm is activated, all sorts of things happen: A piercing 100-decibel alarm goes off, dazzling LED lights and the cell calls up to three pre-programmed emergency numbers of the parents' choosing. The child's location can also be sent via SMS to registered individuals.

Actually, it sounds like the perfect phone for accident-prone technicolor dreamers. It's waterproof for up to 30 minutes, can withstand jets of water being squirted at it, lose it and, if you press a button on the spanky yellow bracelet, it will bleep if you are within 10 meters of it. If you're not, the phone will shut down automatically, sending a message to another DoCoMo cell if phone and bracelet are not reunited within five minutes. Available in light blue, orange, black and white, there was a massive, child-friendly launch in Tokyo this morning. [Remember that The Wellness phone is about as mean as you can get. A concept that DoCoMo has been only too happy to show off at CEATEC this week, the cell measures how bad your breath is on a scale of 1 to 10 — zero presumably means you're dead — and how overweight you are. There are other health-related features as well, such as a calorie counter and pedometer. Is this the saddest phone concept ever made? Probably. [ What at first glance looks like a dolphin fetishist's DoCoMo cellphone is in fact a covert lighter, perfect for keeping your dirty habit under wraps (except you know, the packs of fags lying around, the smell, etc.).

If you drop the three bucks and change on one of these (available in a rainbow of five colors), be sure to pick up a NTT-Neomeit's upcoming service for remote home control from the cellphone is something we want very badly. For just $4 a month, your cellphone can access a Web page that will control power switches, TVs, A/V equipment, lamps, A/C or just about anything. Why would we want this?

Just the scenario of turning off your radiator, heater, TV or A/C if you forgot to when you left the house should be enough. But how about turning on a rice maker when you're about to leave work to go home? Or turning up the heat in preparation for your arrival? You're sure to come up with even cooler applications yourselves. – Jason Chen

So the story goes as follows: Nintendo releases DS. DS becomes instant bestseller. Touchy-screen dual number becomes next game fetish. NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi think it may be a good idea, Japan's