September 7th, 2008 by
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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Posted in sharp, umpc, battery, MID, extended battery, ExtendedBattery, willcom, D4, willcom d4, WillcomD4, battery life, BatteryLife | No Comments »
September 2nd, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
We’ve seen some bizarre — bizarre — handsets in our day, but this one is just too darn cute to call weird. The conceptual Kuma Phone was recently shown off in Japan by Willcom, and according to local reports, the audience in attendance absolutely adored it. The GSM teddy bear, er, mobile can hold up to four speed dial numbers, boasts a built-in vibration function and allows users to answer / terminate calls by “pressing the tail.” An accompanying pamphlet suggested that it would run around $500 should it ever hit mass production, which leads us to wonder if they plan on using Boyds / Vermont Teddies or something.
[Via textually]
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Posted in japan, prototype, concept, willcom, teddy bear, TeddyBear, bear, bear phone, BearPhone, Kuma Phone, KumaPhone, teddy bear phone, TeddyBearPhone | No Comments »
August 14th, 2008 by
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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Posted in sharp, umpc, MID, dissection, dissected, tear down, TearDown, willcom, splayed, D4, willcom d4, WillcomD4 | No Comments »
August 13th, 2008 by
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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Posted in Intel, vista, sharp, MID, willcom, mobile internet device, MobileInternetDevice, atom, D4, willcom d4, WillcomD4 | No Comments »
July 21st, 2008 by
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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Posted in unboxed, unboxing, sharp, shipping, MID, ships, unbox, ship, willcom, now shipping, NowShipping, D4 | No Comments »
July 8th, 2008 by
Filed under: Handhelds
Willcom’s Atom-based D4 MID has been out and about for a little while now, but the folks at Direct From Japan have now thankfully gotten their hands on a Sharp-branded version of the device and offered up some of their initial impressions by way of UMPC Portal, along with a video. On the upside, they say that size and weight of the device is “perfect for a big pocket,” and that the screen quality and pixel density is “amazing.” They also seem to have been particularly impressed by the dock, which’ll let you charge a second battery, and by the device’s rather unique touchpad on the side of the screen. They were less impressed by the hefty $1,200+ price tag (or more when you factor in the optional dock), however, and by the small keyboard, though we doubt many were expecting anything otherwise there. Those outside of Japan also won’t be able to do much with the included W-SIM card but, if you’re still curious about the device, you can check out the video after the break.
[Thanks, TareX]
Continue reading Sharp-branded Willcom D4 MID gets examined, shown off on video
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Posted in MID, willcom, willcom d4, WillcomD4 | No Comments »
May 26th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
It looks like those wanting something a bit more capable but just as brightly-colored as Willcom’s most recent candybar phones could soon be getting their fix, as the company has just announced its new Willcom 03 smartphone, which packs a bundle of features into an eye-catching package. Up front and center on this one is a 3-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen display, which should complement the built-in 1seg mobile TV tuner quite nicely. Otherwise, you can expect built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, along with 256MB of flash memory, a microSD card slot for expansion, a 2 megapixel camera, and Windows Mobile 6.1 for an OS, to name but a few features. Look for this one to hit Japan by the end of June.
[Via Engadget Japanese]
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Posted in smartphone, willcom, willcom 03, Willcom03 | No Comments »
April 13th, 2008 by
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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Posted in Intel, breaking news, BreakingNews, sharp, MID, willcom, phs, atom, D4, w-sim, ws016sh | No Comments »
January 21st, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Check it, Willcom faithful. Two new candybar-styled handsets have emerged for your carrier of choice, and we must say, we’re pretty envious. Up first is the Kyocera WX330K (or Honey Bee, as we prefer), which checks in at 42- x 120- x 9.9-millimeters, is available in five different hues and features a two-inch QVGA display, Opera 7.2 browser, IrDA and an eye-catching Call button (of all things). Next up is the elusive X Plate, a 64-gram sophisticated toy that boasts a 1.8-inch LCD along with Java and Flash support. Plenty of pics waiting in the links below, so go on, take a peek at what America’s missing out on.
Read - Kyocera WX330K
Read - X Plate
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Posted in japan, kyocera, willcom, honey bee, HoneyBee, phs, W-OAM, WX330K, x plate, XPlate | No Comments »
December 11th, 2007 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Android might have launched last month in a cloud of vapor, but since then we’ve seen a couple of concrete developments from Google’s mobile phone project. The latest comes courtesy of Japan’s Willcom, which recently demonstrated what appears to be an early prototype of an Android reference board running on a FreeScale CPU. The unit was shown taking a call while running Google Maps to show off the operating system’s multitasking abilities, but other than that, nothing earth-shattering was revealed. Check the read link for a few more pics.
Update: Link fixed, sorry about that.
[Via Digital World Tokyo]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in android, freescale, willcom | No Comments »
