Sharp
Sharp

Sharp

DoCoMo Bringing Chocolate to Japan

DoCoMo introduced their 704i-series of eight 3G FOMA handsets, as mentioned yesterday, featuring a range of models from Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Mitsubishi and the LG Chocolate design. The F704i, SO704i, N704iμ and P704iμ will be available this month while the D704i and SH704i will go on sale by the end of August. The P704i will be launched by the end of September and we’ll have to wait for that LG sweetness until sometime in October. Specs and images after the jump.

Willcom Introduces New Smart Phone

Willcom, Sharp and Microsoft held a press conference yesterday at the Okura Hotel to announce the new W-Zero3 ES smartphone. The 3rd model in their series from Sharp this latest unit weighs in at 157grams and measures just under 18mm thick. Boasting a 3.3 inch VGA (480×800) LCD touch-screen display and the so-called xCrawl jog dial with Windows 6 OS running on Marvells PXA270 520MHz processor and Wi-Fi enabled this device will be available on order here by the end of June. WWJ was on-hand for the event and will post video asap, more details after the jump.

A Totally Vivid User Interface

A Totally Vivid User Interface - Video DemoThe Next-Generation of UI’s hit the street here recently on DoCoMo 3G handsets produced by Sharp and NEC. The Vivid UI by Tokyo-based Acrodea “integrates various types of multimedia content including 3D graphics, Flash animation and full-screen movie backgrounds which enable handsets to be easily personalized with graphically enhanced menus and dynamic standby screens.”

As more developers get their hands on the content creation tool, and as brand owners begin to realize this is a natural vehicle to connect with their markets, we fully expect this style of user interface to become a common standard in the near future.. and not just in Japan. Meanwhile, remember you saw it first here on WWJ!

Sharp Develops Dual-Mode TV Tuner

Sharp has announced the upcoming availability of their new VA3B5EZ915 dual-mode tuner module, which is capable of receiving both DVB-H and T-DMB terrestrial digital tv broadcasts, a world first. The module also claims to be the smallest in size (8.0 x 8.0 x 1.25 mm) while operating at the lowest power consumption (43 mW). Samples, priced at ¥20,000, start shipping in July with a target production capacity of 300,000 units per month.

KDDI Announces 15 New Handsets

Mark May 22 on your calendar under Tokyo mobile madness. In the space of a few hours we had an avalanche of new handset models – 27 in all – announced by both KDDI au and (see our previous post) SoftBank Mobile. The Okura hotel was swarming at 10am as the wraps came off au’s Summer 2007 lineup and of course they have their usual dedicated, and slick, Flash site online Here. It will take us a little while to plow through the complete details of each model, available in Japanese, meanwhile we have compiled a quick overview for you after the jump.

SoftBank Mobile Summer Handsets

SoftBank Mobile announced their handset lineup for the ‘Summer of 2007 Sales Battle’ which will be available from the beginning of June. According to the company press release the 12 new 3G models are focused on style, quality and individuality, see the dedicated Flash site [in Japanese] Here. We note six handsets are coming from Sharp, including the 913SH slider while the upstart telco claims a scoop for the first deployment in Japan of Windows Mobile 6 on two of the units from HTC. Toshiba added three models with Samsung and Panasonic each contributing one. More details after the jump.

Sharp Reports Mobile Sales Up 29 Percent

Profit at Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. jumped 15 percent in the latest fiscal year on strong sales of flat-panel televisions and mobile phones according to results reported this week. Net income surged to 101.7 billion yen (US$861.9 million) in the year through March, while sales climbed 12 percent to 3.13 trillion yen (US$26.5 billion), Sharp said in a news release.