One of the hit products at Fujitsu’s booth at this year’s CEATEC exhibition (that’s currently taking place near Tokyo) was the so-called “Dual-Touchscreen Mobile Phone”. As the name suggests, it has no physical keyboard but boasts two screens instead, and it’s designed like a typical Japanese clamshell cell phone. → Read More
Panasonic was all mysterious when it announced a “Lumix Phone” last week, teasing it with a special website (now updated, but still in Japanese) that contained neither pictures nor solid information about their newest cell phone. But the company today unveiled the handset at CEATEC 2010, Asia’s biggest technology and electronics exhibition, which takes place yearly in Chiba (one hour away from Tokyo). → Read More
It took Japan’s handset makers and carriers a while, but interest in Android is picking up steam over here. Sharp, for example, announced two Android tablets for release later this year just last week. Earlier this year, the same company presented the IS01 (full details), an Android-based smartbook distributed by Japan’s No. 2 mobile carrier, KDDI au.
And today both companies announced [JP] the IS03, an Android-powered cell phone for next month. And the device boasts some pretty impressive (and quite unique) specs. It’s basically the first smartphone that meets the specific demands of Japan’s spoiled cell phone users. → Read More
The 3D craze continues to find its way into the cell phone market. Sharp has today announced plans to launch a smartphone that features both the 3D screen (pictured) and the 3D camera the company unveiled earlier this year. While this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, a Sharp representative today stressed the phone will be available by year end – globally. → Read More
Japan’s second biggest cell phone carrier KDDI (over 30 million subscribers) rolls out quite unique handsets from time to time, mostly under their iida sub-brand. The company today in Japan introduced [JP] another “lifestyle” cell phone, the so-called Light Pool. Technically, the device isn’t anything special – but it’s rather pretty. → Read More
Big news from the Japanese cell phone industry today: Two of Japan’s top handset makers, namely Fujitsu and Toshiba, are in talks to merge their cell phone operations within this year. According to the Nikkei (“Japan’s Wall Street Journal” and usually a reliable source), negotiations already reached the “final stage”.
The joint venture, if it happens, will create Japan’s second largest cell phone maker (with a combined 18.7% domestic market share), following Sharp (26.1%). Fujitsu (the current No. 3 among Japan’s handset makers with over 5 million handsets shipped in 2009) is expected to become the main stakeholder in the joint venture. Toshiba is the eighth biggest (1.28 million units). → Read More
We reported last year that NEC, Hitachi and Casio were in negotiations to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan’s second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp. And the new company, which is called NEC Casio Mobile Communications and was established on May 1, just yesterday announced ambitious expansion plans. → Read More
Japan has been flooded with new cell phones over the last few days. We’ve shown you KDDI au’s 10 new handsets Monday, SoftBank Mobile’s 13 new models yesterday, and now it’s time for NTT Docomo‘s summer lineup. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier (55 million) unveiled 20 new cell phones [press release in English] yesterday, some of which are just awesome.
Here’s Docomo’s complete line-up for this summer. → Read More
Japan’s second biggest mobile company KDDI today unveiled [JP] the 10 cell phones of their new line-up for this summer. The first of these models, the majority of which are waterproof (which seems to indicate a new trend in Japan’s cell phone industry), will be rolled out in Japan as early as at the end of this month.
Here’s the complete line-up. → Read More
If you’ve seen a teenager in the last two years, then you’ve seen a teenager texting. Seriously, I can’t think of a situation in the last couple of years where I saw a teenager without a cell phone. The teenagers in my extended family send text messages seemingly all day long, every day. Now the Pew Internet and American Life project has released a pretty comprehensive analysis of teen texting behavior. → Read More
Whereas Sharp decided to cautiously embrace Android, Toshiba still seems to be firmly in the Windows camp. After releasing the “iPhone killer TG01” on WinMo 6.5 last year, the company announced another Windows Mobile-based cell phone in Japan today (Toshiba is one of Microsoft’s official “Mobile Partners”, after all). → Read More
Just the other day, hearts were broken all over the world when Microsoft said that current Windows Mobile 6.5 devices won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7. The good news is that might not entirely be true as Microsoft said on Twitter that it’s entirely up to hardware manufacturers. Way to confuse us! Another area where WinMo 6.5 gets no love? Adobe Flash 10.1. → Read More
As if gadget choices weren’t complicated enough, Best Buy might be making your Verizon Android handset decisions a lot more difficult. According to Best Buy’s Facebook page, the DROID is dropping down to just $99.99 with the DEVOUR going for the same exact rate when it’s released on February 25. So many choices, so little time! Need some help? → Read More
Microsoft is doing a complete 180 and reinventing the way it handles its mobile presence. When the iPhone was first announced, Steve Ballmer quipped that Windows Mobile was on hundreds of devices all over the world while the iPhone was one operating system on one handset on one carrier. It looks like he and the gang are thinking differently these days. → Read More
HTC seemed pretty confident that the HTC Desire and HTC Legend weren’t US-bound when we talked to them at Mobile World Congress. But hey, things change — right? Boy Genius Report has just received word that the two handsets are bound for this side of the ocean, along with details on which carriers might be nabbing them. → Read More
Acer recently announced its growing presence in the Android realm and Rogers was quick to snap up the manufacturer’s latest device – the Liquid e. If you can get past the drug-related name, the handset doesn’t seem to sound so bad on paper. → Read More
When the Google Nexus One was announced, there were several cool new features unveiled for the device and Android 2.1: interactive wallpapers, 3D graphics and support for Google Earth. The latter wasn’t available at the time, and there was no date set, but it looks like it’s available on Android Market now. → Read More
Earlier this week we told you guys that Windows Mobile 6.5 was going to stick around after Windows Phone 7 hits the masses. It would even take on a new name — Windows Phone Classic. With everyone sticking around and playing nice at this party, you’d think that maybe current WinMo 6.5 handsets might get a little Windows Phone 7 love. Sorry to burst your bubble. → Read More
Part of me feels like saying, “LG Arena! Last stop, AT&T!” After all, this handset has been announced well over a year ago and it’s been available in other countries for quite some time. Of course, if you’ve been keeping up you’ll know that Best Buy is getting the Arena very soon for a modest price with a contract. Need a reminder for the perks and features that come with this phone? → Read More
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