Is this finally the beginning of Japanese Android phones being made available outside their home market? Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo yesterday announced it has inked a deal with French telco Orange to bring a Sharp Android handset to Asia and Europe.
The handset in question is a pretty nice one, the AQUOS PHONE SH80F (pictured), that Sharp introduced (together with Docomo) in Japan back in May.
In Japan, the device is called “AQUOS PHONE SH-12C” and comes with Android 2.3, two 8MP CMOS cameras, 3D video recording in 720×1280 resolution, a 4.2-inch naked-eye 3D display with 960×540 resolution, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and an HDMI connection.
I’m assuming that for the European version, Sharp will axe the infrared connection, e-wallet function, and digital TV tuner (no details yet).
Orange says they will introduce the AQUOS PHONE SH80F in France as early as October 6, before rolling it out in “Asia and Europe”. The company has over 200 million customers worldwide.
Sharp, the market leader in Japan’s mobile market (over 25% share), has been talking about exporting its handsets for years.
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
San Francisco
