KDDI and Sharp have announced the world first debut of a waterproof solar panel powered handset will be available for sale in Japan as of early June. The eco-friendly design will enable an estimated 1 minute of voice usage for every 10 minutes of charging time, under ideal conditions, and appears set to be the first of several innovative models planned for future release. The code-named Voyage, Soup and Gem concept designs are featured Here.
A new Sharp handset is headed stateside for T-Mobile as this post shows the Sharp Sidekick PV300 has shown up with the FCC. While it’s possible they are running the device through the FCC to get global roaming certification, however the certification for AWS 3G leads one believe it is destined for T-Mobile as AWS 3G is the kind T-Mobile uses.
The good folks over at KDDI have announced [in Japanese] a new lineup of devices, tagged “iida” for innovation, imagination, design and art, with 3-models on launch to follow in the foot steps of their in-house AU Design Project. The G9 slider, Misora clamshell and stylish collaboration with Yayoi Kusama, details are available Here, along with teasers for more units to come.
We note the Solar-powered concept model on display during CEATEC 2008 seems to be in the pipeline and the Pico Projector which can also connect to several other AU handsets as well. All of these devices are on display now over at the Designing Studio in Harajuku!
AU has announced their E30HT handset, running Windows mobile 6.1 pro edition, will be available as of May. Also of note, the EVDO Rev.1 network connection speed package is topped up with a full flat-rate data plan so that heavy users will be entitled to connect the device as a so-called walking hotspot for their laptops as well.
Congrats to the folks at scanR – who presented at MoMo Tokyo earlier this week – as their application comes loaded as a pre-install, other goodies include; Adobe Reader, Opera Mobile, Navitime, Microsoft Office and Outlook with ActiveSync. Thankfully the CDMA Global Passport package is also available for clients when roaming overseas. HTC finally has handsets on all three operators!
According to this press release, NEC will be present at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. NEC is a major player in all areas of the event, with a high profile presence at the conference and on the exhibition floor. As the leading provider of mobile handsets to operators in Japan, NEC will showcase a variety of recent Japanese models that feature unique designs, architectures, touch screens, user interfaces and brand collaborations. NEC’s series of handsets are LiMo Foundation certified devices that capitalize on the LiMo Platform, the industry’s first collaboratively developed Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. Full details Here.
It appears that Toshiba is playing a viral campaign game with their new TG01 device, which tons of blogs are talking about but not found on their official site.. yet. Apparently it is hoping to take Mobile World Congress by storm next week and judging by the initial specs. this looks like it could be a killer!
SlashGear has an early write-up on it Here, noting the typical smartphone suite. But the real exciting bits are inside via Qualcomms new Snapdragon chipset which enables 1GHz cpu speed and therefore real power to run demanding on-board apps such as full blown Flash for example.. wOOt! As the official details are obviously still fairly thin for the moment we’ll say this much: Looking Good Tosh. now, how about letting us take this baby for a little road-test.. 😎
KDDI has announced 10 new models for their Spring 2009 line-up. It’s a promising looking collection with a most notable model by Hitachi, the WOOO touting world firsts for the 3D viewing function, that looks very cool in person, and 3.3 inch VGA organic EL display. More details after the jump >>
LG Telecom has announced the canu s1000 handset will go on sale in Korea for about 500,000 won. The unit is made by Hitachi and based on the W53H design, a dual-swing clamshell with QVGA organic EL display . It will run on the same EVDO rev. A network, synch with the operators OZ content portal and run DMB instead of 1Seg for digital TV. LGT reportedly had good results from their earlier experiment with the canU 801Ex handset which was provided by Casio based on the W53CA Exilim model that was released by AU in spring 2007.
DoCoMo and Fujitsu announced that they have localized a mobile phone, based on the F905i model sold in Japan, targeting sales into the Taiwanese market. The new handset was officially launched by Far EasTone Telecomm, in which DoCoMo has an equity stake and is the exclusive provider of i-mode in Taiwan, this week.
The F905i offers advanced features such as 3.2-inch full-wide VGA two-position display, 3.2-megapixel camera and Fujitsu’s proprietary technologies for exceptionally clear sound and voice reproduction at 30% slower speed for easy comprehension.
It’s the first unit co-developed by DoCoMo and Fujitsu for export and allows users to view and input text using traditional Chinese character set, enabling access to FET’s i-mode service in the local language [PDF]. We expect to see increased activity in this respect considering the challenge that device makers are facing in Japan.
KDDI has introduced their Walkman Phone, the Xmini produced by Sony Ericsson, ready for a late December debut. This extremely small handset (w44mm x h75mm x t18mm) naturally packs full music functionality, including maximum storage capacity of 4GB, capable of holding around 2,300 full-song tracks and incorporates a touch sensor for control even when the device is closed.
Apparently the super-thin model, tipping the scales at only 75g, does not have an on-board camera or 1Seg digital-tv tuner, or even external memory slot for that matter, but thankfully it will be available in several colors; Green & blue, purple & pink, white & Tarcoiz and good old black on black. Also noted, the Xmini model ships compatible with the ‘EZ Chaku Uta Full Plus’ service, which is also expected to come online in the latter part of December, making it possible to download and play-back AAC 320kbps tracks ‘for customers who want to be able to enjoy high quality audio content’.
