Japan's summer 2012 phone lineup
It's that time of year when Japanese carriers announce their lineups of new phones for the coming summer months. KDDI / au and NTT Docomo were first to make their announcements, with both companies heavily focusing on Android 4.0 devices. SoftBank is yet to show off its summer collection, but should be doing so before the month is out.
Frog redesigns the Android user experience with Feel_UX
When we first came across Sharp's Aquos Phone Serie back at AU/KDDI's summer lineup launch event last month, we were a little taken aback by the aggressively minimal Feel_UX skin that lay on top of Android 4.0. While manufacturers customizing their devices is hardly a new thing, Sharp's effort goes further than almost any other we've seen — it's nothing less than a top-to-bottom rethink of the entire Android user experience, and it'll be found on seven smartphones from the company this...
SoftBank's summer 2012 Android lineup: better signal, faster downloads
The radiation-detecting Pantone 5 isn't the only new device SoftBank unveiled today. It will be pitting a total of four new Android phones against much bigger lineups from competitors AU and Docomo this summer. All of the phones announced today run on SoftBank's newly-awarded "platinum" 900MHz band, which SoftBank will be introducing with a new advertising campaign in an effort to shake its reputation for poor signal strength.
The key word is 'network'
SoftBank has been offering fast Wi-Fi...
'Fastest ever' 110Mbps SoftBank 4G mobile router out in Japan this fall
SoftBank's recently-launched AXGP 4G network is capable of speeds up to 110Mbps, but so far we've only seen the release of a 76Mbps mobile router. That's set to change at some point after September courtesy of the Ultra Wi-Fi 102HW, a Huawei-made router that SoftBank is calling the "fastest ever." It'll allow for theoretical maximum download speeds of 110Mbps and uploads of 10Mbps, and has a 3,000 mAh battery.
Somewhat oddly, SoftBank seems to be content with restricting its new network to...
Android
SoftBank Pantone 5 107SH hands-on: radiation detection comes to Android
SoftBank's Pantone 5 107SH will make headlines in the global press for one reason and one reason only — it's the first phone in the world to come with a built-in radiation detector — but it'd be a big deal in Japan even without that headline feature. Indeed, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son introduced the Pantone 5 onstage today without even letting the audience know what that color-matched button was for, and showed off a new commercial that makes no mention of the functionality at all. The...
Android
SoftBank announces Sharp Pantone 5 107SH, a smartphone with a radiation detector
We know, it's cliché to say that Japan gets the weirdest and coolest phone features — but clichés get that way for a reason. The latest reason comes from SoftBank's summer 2012 lineup, the Sharp Pantone 5 107SH. The 107SH is a fairly bog-standard Android 4.0 smartphone, with the exception of one main feature: a radiation detector. Naturally neither Sharp nor SoftBank want users to actually depend on it in life threatening situations (and won't take responsibility if they do). As you might...
NTT Docomo president prefers 'open' Android to the iPhone
The iPhone may be Japan's most popular smartphone, and NTT Docomo may be the nation's biggest carrier, but what would seem like a match made in heaven is unlikely to come to pass any time soon. That's the takeaway from comments made by Docomo president Ryuji Yamada yesterday, who expressed preference for Android devices due to the open nature of the platform. At yesterday's event announcing the company's summer lineup, Yamada told a crowd of reporters that it would be 'difficult' for Docomo...
Android
Samsung Galaxy S III has 2GB RAM on NTT Docomo in Japan
NTT Docomo has confirmed to us that its variant of the Samsung Galaxy S III will have 2GB of RAM. The number one Japanese carrier's model, named the SC-06D, will also feature a 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor instead of Samsung's quad-core Exynos, presumably because of its compatibility with Docomo's Xi LTE network. We've already heard that LTE variants of the phone in the US will use a dual-core processor, but it's important to note that Docomo's model is a separate version — it...
Mobile
Docomo's Raku Raku Smartphone F12-D reinvents Android 4.0 for seniors (hands-on)
It's no secret that Japan has an aging population, and that means that there's a sizable market of people who either won't learn the ins and outs of today's advanced smartphones or are unable to afford the latest devices. There are options for elderly customers in the country, such as Fujitsu's Raku Raku Phone series, but with the inevitable shift to smartphones means carriers risk leaving some behind. With that in mind, Fujitsu and Docomo are releasing the F12-D, which is the very first Raku...
Android
Panasonic's Eluga V P-06D: thicker but better
When we reviewed the Panasonic P–04D last month, some of our major gripes with the device were its lack of Android 4.0, laggy performance, Pentile screen, glossy plastic construction, and the poor placement of the sleep / wake button. Well, today Panasonic and NTT Docomo are announcing a new handset — the Eluga V P–06D — that fixes pretty much every complaint we had.
First off, this isn't the 5-inch Eluga Power, although Docomo will be releasing that phone later this year as well. All...
Panasonic Eluga Live tablet hands-on video
The Eluga line is Panasonic's attempt to break into the global mobile marketplace, but if its first tablet under the brand is anything to go by we can't see the worldwide push extending to larger screens. The only distinguishing feature of its Eluga Live tablet, coming out in August through NTT Docomo, is something that will only work in Japan — a pull-out antenna that lets you watch 1seg terrestrial TV broadcasts along with content from Docomo's new Nottv service. Panasonic already sells a...
Evangelion comes to Android: hands-on with Sharp's NERV edition SH-06D
Today at NTT Docomo’s summer lineup event we finally saw the company take the wraps off a working version of its NERV edition SH–06D Android handset, inspired by (and designed alongside) the upcoming third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion franchise. After using it for a few minutes on the show floor today, we can safely assure you that there’s nothing on the market remotely like it.
It’s impossible to pick the phone up without noticing the crazy skinning going on. Everything is...
Mobile
Sony Xperia SX: hands-on with a little Android 4.0 powerhouse
Sony's Xperia SX, which was announced last week for release in Japan, is in many ways the most likable handset we've seen from the company's mobile reboot. It's a tiny phone with a 3.7-inch 960 x 540 display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, LTE support via Docomo's Xi network, and an array of features from 1seg TV to Osaifu Keitai NFC. Sony has done a pretty amazing job fitting everything into such a diminutive frame (the phone is 9.4mm thick and weighs just 95g), but the...
Mobile
Fujitsu's Arrows Z ISW13F: hands-on with Japan's first Tegra 3 phone
We’ve been following Fujitsu’s quad-core Tegra 3 smartphone from Las Vegas to Barcelona, and today we’re finally getting a look at the finished project in Tokyo at AU’s summer launch event. Long story short, the Arrows Z ISW13F (as it will be known here) has a list of specs that handily makes it one of the most feature-packed devices we’ve seen in any market.
Aside from the 1.5GHz processor, the Android 4.0 phone features a big 4.6-inch 720p (1280 x 720) LCD display, 16GB of onboard...
Mobile
Kyocera's 'speaker-less' Urbano Progresso: tissue conduction meets Android 4.0
One of the most interesting products we saw at CES this year was a "Speaker-less Smartphone" prototype design from KDDI and Kyocera that relied on bone conduction tissue conduction rather than a typical smartphone speaker; a boon for the hearing impaired, and people that use their phones in loud places. Well, "Speaker-less Smartphone" has been re-named "Smart Sonic Receiver," and today we were able to take a look at Kyocera’s first device using the technology, the Urbano Progresso.
Update: A...
Mobile
Sharp Aquos Phone SL hands-on video
Japan has a lot of mobile users that aren't quite ready to make the move up to a smartphone — many see the touch controls as intimidating or difficult to use. As such, there's still a market for certain form factors that are all-but-dead in other parts of the world. Sharp has capitalized on this before with its Aquos Phone The Hybrid series of Android clamshells and sliders on SoftBank, and it's unveiled a similar product today as part of KDDI / au's summer 2012 lineup.
The Aquos Phone SL...
Mobile
Sharp Aquos Phone Serie hands-on video
When we reviewed the Sharp Aquos Phone 104SH, we were struck by its Western feature set, sleek hardware, and attractively minimal Android 4.0 skin. The Aquos Phone Serie ISW16SH, announced at today's KDDI / au summer lineup launch event, could not be further away from those ideals — it's a hefty device with an array of Japan-specific features and Sharp's "Feel_UX," one of the most radical Ice Cream Sandwich skins we've ever seen.
Feel_UX basically does away with the traditional home screen...
HTC J hands-on video
We got our first chance to check out the HTC J in person today at KDDI / au's summer lineup launch event. The J is essentially a Japanese variant of the One S — it's got a 4.3 inch qHD Pentile display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and an 8-megapixel camera. At 10mm, the J is thicker than both the One S and the One X, but the curved design works really well with the rounded glass and the phone actually feels great in the hands. It runs on au's WiMAX network, which is still widely used in...
