The Meizu MX is an odd duck. A Chinese-only smartphone that may (or may not) be reaching our shores, it’s hard not treating it like an oddity washed up on the beach rather than a shipping device. It is a 1.4GHz phone with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and has an 8-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi support, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/HSPA+ built-in. It also has a micro SIM slot (which is putting a… → Read More
In line with RIM’s planned “cost optimization program,” the company is moving a number of executives into positions of greater power and will lay off 2,000 of its estimated 19,000 person workforce.
In an effort to consolidate product efforts, the company is also moving former COO of Product Engineering, Thorsten Heins, into a position that makes him also COO of Product and Sales. Current COO… → Read More
That was a long sayonara: in November 2008, Nokia decided to pull the plug on their Japan operations, at the same time announcing they will re-enter the market with their luxury sub-brand Vertu. They started offering those phones (and the services that come with them) in September 2009, but now decided to give up on this business in Japan, too. → Read More
Do you miss the feeling of pressing physical buttons when you touch icons or letters on a smartphone touchscreen? Japan’s second largest mobile carrier KDDI is working on a display that recreates exactly that “clicking sensation” by combining vibration with a pressure sensor. → Read More
We showed you the LOOX F-07C earlier this week, Fujitsu’s Symbian/Windows 7 dual-boot cell phone that Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo plans to market this summer. In case you were wondering how the device looks like in action, our friends over at Diginfonews in Tokyo have shot a video (in English). → Read More
If you thought Android and clamshell handsets won’t fit, think again: Sharp today introduced [JP] the so-called AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH, a flip phone running on Android 2.3. It’s the first of its kind (at least by a major company), but that’s not all the device has to offer. → Read More
The world’s most advanced mobile nation, Japan, sees more than 100 different cell phones each year. Market research firm Gfk Japan [JP] has analyzed which the best-selling models in the first quarter of this year were and recently published its findings in the form of a top 10 chart. → Read More
Following Docomo yesterday, Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier KDDI au has unveiled [JP] a total of 12 new cell phones today. Their line-up consists of six smartphones (all Android) and six feature phones (well, what the Japanese call feature phones), all of which are listed up below. → Read More
We covered NTT Docomo‘s smartphone line-up for this summer here, but Japan’s leading mobile carrier also revealed 11 new feature phones today. And here are all of them listed up. → Read More
Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has announced its summer line-up of cell phones today, and we have squeezed all their nine new smartphones (plus Fujitsu’s Windows 7/Symbian hybrid) into this article for your reading pleasure (click here for a list of all new feature phones). → Read More
It turns out the leak we blogged last month is true: Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo today officially introduced the Fujitsu LOOX F-07C as part of its summer line-up, and the device actually does dual-boot to Symbian and Windows 7 OS (not Windows Phone). Hardware-wise, the LOOX is pretty interesting, too. → Read More
It’s not the first 3D smartphone from Sharp, but the AQUOS PHONE SH-12C big S unveiled [JP] is much cooler (if you think 3D in a phone is really necessary, that is). The company simply seems to have squeezed in everything they have into the Android device. → Read More
No doubt the Galaxy S II is a great smartphone, and it’s apparently set to sell really well, too. Samsung says [KOR] that global pre-orders for their flagship handset have reached 3 million as of the end of April (which means they should have received even more by now). → Read More
Take this with a grain of salt: Japanese tech blog Juggly is reporting [JP] that Fujitsu is working on a cell phone with both the Symbian and Windows 7 OS (not Windows Phone) on board. According to the article, the handset will be released by Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo as part of its summer line up. → Read More
Oh, here comes controversy. The FCC has preliminarily approved the use of mobile phone signal boosters, but let’s say it’s only put one foot in the water. A 55-page notice of proposed rulemaking [PDF] has been put online that details what the FCC has in mind. The idea is to give consumers a limited ability to boost their mobile signal in times of need. Wireless providers, like AT&T, are none… → Read More
Revolution in mobile-crazy Japan: Market research firm GFK Japan is reporting [JP, PDF] that more smartphones than feature phones have been sold in the country between March 28 and April 3. To be more concrete, 50.1% of all devices sold in Japan in that week were iOS, Android, Windows or BlackBerry phones (see chart). → Read More
Imagine you are a pro-democracy protester on the streets of a repressive government. You’ve got your cellphone and you are messaging your friends. In the crowd near you, the police start making arrests. Fearing the government will confiscate your phone and investigate your contacts, you push a “panic button” on your phone. It deletes the contacts in your address book and sends out an alert. … → Read More
The NEC Medias is not only “the world’s slimmest smartphone”, it’s also selling really well. The handset, which we have shown you last month, was the best-selling cell phone in Japan between March 14 and March 20, according to market research firm Gfk Japan [JP]. → Read More
Wireless provider Mobistar recently announced the results of their survey which sought out cell phone usage by gender. If stereotypes are to be believed, then the results are hardly shocking.
The survey found that women spend more time on the phone, and send more text messages than men. However, the study also found that women are less keen on smartphones. → Read More
On Monday, we’ve just shown you some leaked pictures, but we can now confirm the world’s thinnest smartphone, NEC Casio Mobile’s MEDIAS N-04C, is real. And provider NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, doesn’t want to lose time in bringing it to market: it will hit stores over here as early as March 15. → Read More
NEC is apparently to unveil the “world’s thinnest smartphone” (7.7mm) on Thursday, if a “leak” covered on a Japanese blog today is to be believed. That leak, reported today by Akihabara News, is actually a few days old (see this Japanese blog post, for example). → Read More
Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Displays yesterday announced [JP] that it has developed a new LCD display for smartphones whose quality reaches the “limit of what is discernible to the human eye”. And a look at the spec sheet reveals that big H is indeed prepping quite a display. → Read More
Japan has always been the land of mobile. As such, it’s no big surprise that the country’s biggest social network, Mixi (JP, 23 million members), sees 25 of its 29 billion monthly page views coming from cell phones. And according to Mixi, it’s now the first social network that lets users share information with friends through NFC technology on Android handsets. → Read More
Japan’s three big mobile carriers are offering more than 100 handsets per year, and some of them are quite unique. The latest limited edition is the Sharp SH-09C [JP], a handset developed in cooperation with French luxury crystal glass maker Baccarat and distributed by mobile carrier NTT Docomo. → Read More
Way back in October 2008, we reported about a cell phone that featured a built-in mini projector. The cell phone was showcased by Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, NTT Docomo, as a prototype. But today, the same carrier announced [JP] that such a spectacular handset will finally go on sale in Japan this Friday. → Read More
What you’re looking at above is a screenshot from a Best Buy inventory. Pretty amazing, eh? But why am I showing it to you? There seems to be nothing juicy about it. Y’see, it’s not all that it appears to be, my friend…
Pulling off some serous sleuthing, Android Central forum member, paulmike3, noticed that the number seen up the top left of the image (highlighted as number 3) is actually the… → Read More
Last week we told you that T-mobile had announced their 4G variant of the near-ubiquitous Galaxy S. Well, for anyone that’s itching for this high-speed variant, I’m happy to tell you that today, T-mobile’s info page for the handset has gone live. There isn’t any new info given, but there is an option to sign up for notifications about the device. For those that can’t… → Read More
A sure sign that things a changin’ over at RIM HQ, the keyboard-less Curve Touch — codenamed “Malibu” — has today leaked out into the wilds of the web, courtesy of CrackBerry.com.
This comes just a week after we spied a keyboard totin’ next-gen Curve, known internally as the “Sedona”, so those die-hard keyboard fans need not fret: mid-range Blackberry lovers will have a choice of hard and soft… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
