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Hear Japan's New Phone Agent Talk in Voice of K-ON's Ritsu

In a video from NTT Docomo's Winter 2012 model line unveiling on Thursday, we can hear the enhanced Shabette Concier ("Talking Concierge") voice agent service in action with the voice of the K-ON! anime's high school girl Ritsu. Similar to Apple's Siri, Shabette Concier lets users ask questions and give commands in their natural speaking voice, and the phone (via Docomo's cloud services) will interpret the request and talk back.

In the video, the woman asks Ritsu to call Satō, tells Ritsu to find a taxi, says "Aloha," and notes that she working overtime. In the taxi example, Ritsu could not understand the woman's first attempt, and in the "Aloha" example, Ritsu chastises the woman to speak louder and clearer — before saying she does not recognize what the woman is saying.

Starting this November, users can choose a character for Shabette Concier. Not only will Shabette Concier take on the appearance of the character, but also his or her voice and dialogue lines. The characters include Chibi Maruko-chan, Snoopy & His Friends, the children's program Hirake! Ponkikki's popular Gachapin dinosaur mascot and his snowboy pal Mook, Hello Kitty, comedian Naomi Watanabe, K-ON!!, TV Asahi and Sanrio's Gō EX Panda mascot, the Eagle Talon Flash comedy anime's Yoshida-kun, Squid Girl, D.C.III, Hamtaro, Prince Mackaroo, Wish Me Mell, My Melody, and Cinnamoroll.

[Via Hachima Kikō]