• SoftBank 007SH KT: Hello Kitty-Branded Clamshell Android Phone

    Serkan Toto

    Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

    Friday, August 19th, 2011
    hello kitty softbank

    The Yahoo Phone isn’t the only unusual handset Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank rolled out yesterday. SoftBank subscribers can soon lay their hands on another one, the 007SH KT [JP], which has two selling points: it’s designed like a clamshell feature phone (even though it runs on Android), and it has Hello Kitty written all over it.

    Technically speaking, the 007SH KT is based on a model SoftBank has introduced back in May for the Japanese market. Produced by Sharp, the so-called AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH is being marketed as the world’s first flip phone running on Android (2.3).

    The Hello Kitty version shares many of the (very impressive specs) of that model: waterproof body, 3.4-inch LCD touchscreen with 854×480 resolution, 0.7-inch OLED sub-display, 16MP CCD camera with 1,280×720 HD video recording, IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR, digital TV tuner, e-wallet function, etc. etc.

    For fans of the cartoon cat, SoftBank throws in menus and screens in Hello Kitty design, special icons for use in mails, a Hello Kitty calculator app, a Hello Kitty alarm clock, etc.

    SoftBank plans to start shipping the 007SH KT in Japan next month.