4G
4G

Dual-Mode 3G/4G Solution

UbiNetics and Renesas Technology Corp. have signed an agreement for the development of the first RF (radio frequency) solution capable of supporting W-CDMA and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) in the frequency bands used in Japan, Europe, and the US. HSDPA is the high-speed data transmission system which accelerated W-CDMA. Its system realizes 14.2-Mbps maximum high-data transmission speed. The announcement marks the second time the companies have partnered for joint RF solution development.

Sharp's New 4GB Hard Drive PDA

Sharp will begin marketing November 10 the latest model in the Personal Mobile Tool Zaurus series of PDAs. The SL-C3000 PDA [.jpg image] is the first in the industry to feature a built-in 4GB hard drive to enable users to carry large-volume data such as business documents, photo images, music and video. It can also be doubled as an external hard drive when linked to a PC via a bundled USB cable.

Sony Announces New Clie for Japan

This may be the exception that proves the rule, but Sony shows that the PDA isn’t quite dead yet (at least not in Japan) with their latest, the multimedia PEG-VZ90. The biggest news is that it’s the first Palm with an OLED screen, but besides that it also plays back MPEG-4 video and both ATRAC3 and MP3 audio (hallelujah!), includes 802.11b wireless, and has a CF card slot that will take both communications and memory cards (plus the inevitable Memory Stick slot. According to Sony’s press release (in Japanese) this unit hits the street here at the end of September.

Toshiba's New 60GB 1.8-inch HDD Offers World's Highest Capacity

Toshiba Corp. today confirmed its continued innovation and leadership in the fast growing market for 1.8-inch hard-disk drives with the announcement of two new drives. The 60GB “MK6006GAH” achieves the highest capacity yet achieved in this increasingly important HDD format, while the 30GB “MK3006GAL” slims down drive thickness to only 5mm.

Vodafone K.K. Unleashes Sharp V602SH

Here in Tokyo, the tension is killing us – waiting for Vodafone to break out of its bolt hole and unleash its global-spanning battlewagon of 3G W-CDMA phones. While new management here does whatever it’s supposed to be doing to sweeten up Vodafone’s sour performanceof late, Little-V still has the muscle, and Sharp always the technology, it seems, to pull something out of the hat; this time its the V602SH, packing a 2.02-megapixel camera (small yawn) plus a real eye opener – an optical zoom! See for yourself in our video program from the Tokyo Business Show in May.