Filed under: Handhelds

Not quite sure what happened of late, but extra long lasting batteries are all the rage now. With netbook manufacturers offering up extended cells left and right, it’s only fair that Sharp toss out a Willcom D4 with a super longevous battery, too. The Willcom D4 Ver.L (L stands for Long, loony) reportedly arrives with a lovely CE-BL58 extended battery as a standard accessory, and while the resource-demanding Office application isn’t included, that helps keep the price at ¥97,700 ($901). A fair trade for the hardcore traveler, we suppose.

[Via Pocketables]

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Filed under: Handhelds

By now, you’ve surely realized that the Sharp-branded Willcom D4 is far from being the perfect handheld, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t be lusting over a few internal shots. Thankfully, one fearless owner decided to tear the MID down for our viewing pleasure (and to install a larger 1.8-inch HDD, but that’s beside the point), and everything you’ve hoped and dreamed of seeing is just one click away. Okay, so it’s not that dramatic, but it’s still worth a peek.

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Filed under: Handhelds

Jenn from Pocketables has gotten her hands on the diminutive Willcom D4 and given it an ultra-thorough review — and we’ve got the details. While she praises the general speed of the device, screen resolution and brightness, and comfort of holding the D4, her reactions to the touchpad and keyboard are less than enthusiastic. Adding insult to apparent injury, it seems that the battery life leaves quite a bit to be desired (unless you’re employing the extended battery pack), the video playback is choppy with most codecs, and the non-standard headphone jack is deeply, deeply annoying. The conclusion? Willcom’s miniature needs “Help to achieve its potential,” which is probably not what most potential buyers of the $1500 device want to hear. Of course, you should explore the whole review — and its handsome photos — so hit the read link for more.

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Filed under: Handhelds

Okay, so maybe there are more than just four lost souls who are jonesing for Willcom’s D4 MID, and if you’re waving your hands frantically in a futile attempt to express your love for said device, you can reportedly expect to see one headed your way soon. For everyone else who has yet to make up their mind, head on past the break for an unboxing video that’s sure to sway your decision meter one way or the other.

[Via Wow-Pow]

Continue reading Willcom D4 MID gets unboxed, all four pre-orders ship out

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Akihabara News had the chance to take the Atom-based Willcom D4 / Sharp WS016SH for a spin in Tokyo. Although they only got hands-on with a near-final, engineering prototype, the kids at Aki came away impressed. Sure, the yet-to-be-optimized hardware still struggled a bit with Vista. Nevertheless, Aki remains enthusiastic about the OneSeg device toting a sliding / tilting 5-inch, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen display with WiFi and Japanese W-SIM. With this, Lenovo’s ideapad U8, and other Intel Atom-based MIDs on the immediate horizon, these bigger than a cellphone smaller than a laptop handhelds look to be fulfilling the ultra-portable 2006 Origami promise… finally, in the second half of 2008. Lengthy video available after the break.

Continue reading Video: Willcom’s D4, the World’s smallest Vista MID previewed

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Akihabara News had the chance to take the Atom-based Willcom D4 / Sharp WS016SH for a spin in Tokyo. Although they only got hands-on with a near-final, engineering prototype, the kids at Aki came away impressed. Sure, the yet-to-be-optimized hardware still struggled a bit with Vista. Nevertheless, Aki remains enthusiastic about the OneSeg device toting a sliding / tilting 5-inch, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen display with WiFi and Japanese W-SIM. With this, Lenovo’s ideapad U8, and other Intel Atom-based MIDs on the immediate horizon, these bigger than a cellphone smaller than a laptop handhelds look to be fulfilling the ultra-portable 2006 Origami promise… finally, in the second half of 2008. Lengthy video available after the break.

Continue reading Video: Willcom’s D4 Vista MID previewed

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Filed under: Handhelds

Check it out, ’cause you’re looking at what must be the world’s smallest QWERTY device capable of running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1. At least it will be when it makes its debut in Japan come June. Measuring just 188 x 84 x 25.9mm and 470grams, all that power / battery conservation / smallness of the Willcom D4 (aka, Sharp-built WS016SH) comes courtesy of a 1.3-GHz Atom processor pumping away beneath that sliding / tilting 5-inch, 262k color, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen hiding a 64-key QWERTY keyboard. Inside you’ll find 1GB of memory, a 1.8-inch 40GB disk, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microSD slot, HD audio codec with mono-speaker, and Opera browser riding atop Japanese PHS (W-SIM) or 802.11b/g WiFi. Hitting Japan for ¥128,600 (about $1,254) — a lot less with 2 year contract. And with Willcom experimenting with Android, don’t be surprised to find this released in an alternate form later in the year or early ‘09. Engadget Japanese is at the launch event with plenty of hands-on images in the gallery below.

Update: Whoa, weird. Our Japanese colleagues are telling us that there’s an optional Bluetooth, companion handset for making calls over W-SIM. Gallery updated with new pics.
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[Via Engadget Japanese]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

D Cube’s been safely off the radar for quite some time, but its D9 includes just enough goodness to warrant a second glance. For starters, you’ll find a 3.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, support for MP3, OGG, WMA, AVI, WMV and JPEG file formats and a T-DMB TV tuner to keep things interesting. In case the 2GB / 4GB of internal storage proves too tiny for your bloated collection of acid rock, you can fit a few more tracks on there thanks to the microSD / SDHC expansion slot. Not one to stay parked in the palms, the D9 also includes a kickstand and a pair of lackluster speakers for watching extended clips. Probably a good bet for just ₩128,000 ($131) — ’tis a shame it won’t ever make its way Stateside.

[Via PMPToday]

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