vB Easy Archive - Successor to the 903

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Successor to the 903
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Posted by: I.Goldsmith

Just thought I would let anyone interested know that Sharp are already working on the successor to the 903! According to Sharp UK, it will be avaialable approximately a year from now! I don't know what the model number will be, nor what the new features will be so please don't ask me.

Posted by: Timsta

well tahts good to know i suppose.. but its easy to guess too its such a big hit..

Posted by: mavericke

In one year's time?That would be good then.I wonder what would it be called. 904 perhaps? '4' is not a good number to some people but they might change the name of the phone.

Posted by: AL9999

Sharp were and are working on the 904SH before the 903SH got released. Phone companies have a road map, and they start development usually 1 - 2 years before they get released. Japanese companies (NEC, Sharp) like to announce their phones around a month before release, whereas Euro/US companies (Nokia, Motorola, SE, etc.) like to announce their phones 6-9 months before they get released, quite annoyingly.

What we may see from Sharp now is hard to predict, because Sharp are now working on Japan-only Vodafone 3G phones, in addition to the world convergence phones that we already have (eg 802SH, 902SH, 703SH, 903SH). So whether the so-called 904SH is a Japan only phone or world phone remains to be seen at this point. We'll probably see something early next year, my guess is around February-March...

Posted by: Timsta

i wonder what new features they would put into it.. well.. 6 megapixels maybe.. but i have a 6 megapixel cam phone now. .so thats not so interesting to me now... but maybe.. they'll put tv tuners into there phones now.

Posted by: mavericke

I would really hope that Sharp will decrease the weight of their upcoming successor to the 903SH and op for an external display with a longer lasting battery.Sounds perfect? Hum...I wonder...

Posted by: dimension6

I doubt the battery life will be greatly increased. I saw some 904SH designs floating around on the internet, and it seems they'll make the screen swivel sideways, so you can view widescreen videos by holding the phone upright. Oh, and if they add a TV tuner, then it will only work in Japan (different tuner frequencies), therefore I'd be surprised if they add a TV tuner for a global phone (look at the 604SH; it's not global).

Posted by: AL9999

Those designs you saw were only from a crazed fanatic who hoped in vain that Sharp would copy the design of the Nokia N92. It's way too radical for a Japanese company and there's a 99% chance it won't happen.

They won't add a Japan-only tuner, obviously. If they ever add a TV tuner it would have to support the huge amount of different TV specifications (PAL-B, PAL-D, PAL-G, NTSC, NTSC-J, SECAM-BG, and many other derivatives), and the complexity involved in making such a tuner is the reason they haven't actually made one yet. At least, in the recently released GX40 they've finally made an FM radio for outside Japan, so they're getting there I guess.

Speaking of my last post above, it appears Sharp is not making a 904SH, as it's now early January, the 804SH has already been released in Japan and nothing has appeared in the Bluetooth SIG's website, where phones usually show up on average 3 months before they are released. So I think we'll be waiting for a 905SH in July-August, which according to a few Vodafone insiders will have a 5MP cam.

Posted by: Blt4424

Holy crap 5MP. Is anyone coming out with a new phone in the next 6-10 months to rival that?

Posted by: mavericke

5MP? That would be nice but I really hope that there would not be any increase in the phone's weight compared to 903SH. I mean,really...903SH is heavy compared to the MOtorola V3x but seriously...I hope that the successor to the 903SH will remain the same weight as 903SH or lighter a little bit.

Posted by: gone

Quote:

Originally Posted by mavericke

5MP? That would be nice but I really hope that there would not be any increase in the phone's weight compared to 903SH. I mean,really...903SH is heavy compared to the MOtorola V3x but seriously...I hope that the successor to the 903SH will remain the same weight as 903SH or lighter a little bit.

ehhh 5MP is like old ;E

I present you the 5MP phone the Samsung S250 http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/...1020_0000074352

Posted by: jack_d12

yeah that one is old but it's cdma not gsm ... if you guys aren't talking about gsm the japan 3g phones that aren't gsm had 4mp camera a while ago and looks good too ...

http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/...foma/index.html

looks way hotter than that samsung....

there is a new gsm 5 mp camera by some taiwan company that's out already ....

http://www.gophone.com.tw/mobile/co...p?sn=0512140001

it's by gigabyte i think they make motherboards .. and it's 7 mp interpolated 5 mp natural ....

Posted by: gone

All of FOMA phones are pretty much amazing ;[

When we had ****** camera phones they already had 2MP ones

I was just pointing out that there are 5MP phones around already thats all

Posted by: BMWFilms

I could make do with the FOMA Sharp phones 4 speakers on the next 9XXSH and all of the other toys we enjoy ie. AQUOs screen, 'X' MP camera, rotating display. Not asking for much Sharp, I just want our phones to destroy anything else audio wise in addition to everything

Posted by: echau

BMWFilms: We all want our phones to do everything! But, when are the manufacturers going to listen to us??

If my k-jam had the same camera as my 903, I would be plenty satisfied =)

Posted by: mavericke

I think we just got to wait for the time to come when the phone is being launched.

Posted by: Vt_Mc

If the 903 had a outer LCD, Sony Ericsson Operating System, it's already a perfect phone

Posted by: Timsta

it'll come out around june/july.. the next version. Japan has finally halted all productions of the 903sh. december was the last month of production.. and yes.. december models are unlockable too.

Posted by: Blt4424

Does that mean a slight increase in price may happen now?

Oh and Timsta, know of anywhere or anyone who can fix my phone's camera? I think I need a whole new camera.

Posted by: Timsta

slight increase? try 50 dollar increase by my wholesalers just today. they are getting more and more scarce by the day.

Posted by: Timsta

as for your camera? hrm.. what kind of issue do you have?

Posted by: Blt4424

These strange lines all of a sudden on all my pictures I took this one day a couple weeks ago. It showed up in the viewfinder on pictures I was about to take and then showed up when I took the pictures. The LCD is fine, no problems on pictures taken prior to that day. I don't remember anything I could have done physically to do this. All my pictures were terrific before this. Here's an example:

I thought the CCD in the camera went bad.

Posted by: echau

woah...that looks horrible...hope you can fix it...

Posted by: Timsta

whoa. crazy. i doubt a firmware reflash would help it.. but u never know. try asking the seller regarding it. you are covered by sharp warranty tho. just have your phone re-flashed to japanese and then rma it. you should get your phone back nicely fixed.

Posted by: echau

so that's a software problem? hopefully it's not hardware

Posted by: BMWFilms

that looks ultra painful to watch...best of luck

Posted by: AL9999

Wow 903 production already over? It's in such hot demand in Japan to the point that there's hardly any stock available anywhere and they halt production? Is Sharp crazy? Hmm...

But yeah mid this year is when I think it will be out too. Personally I want the FM radio in the GX40 put into the 905 at least, but I suspect it will also come with a digital TV tuner conforming to the Japan spec of digital TV (what they call one-seg), which decodes H.264 video. This had better mean that they're also putting in the Toshiba T5G graphics chip, which allows recording of 640x480 video at 30FPS! That would be awesome.

Posted by: Blt4424

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timsta

whoa. crazy. i doubt a firmware reflash would help it.. but u never know. try asking the seller regarding it. you are covered by sharp warranty tho. just have your phone re-flashed to japanese and then rma it. you should get your phone back nicely fixed.

Who am I going to rma it to? I bought it off ebay, I live in the US. SharpUSA won't do anything for me. How do I prove my warranty? I guess I have a warranty card but it's all in japanese...

Posted by: Timsta

you would have to rma it to the japanese sharp. but first you should contact your ebay seller and see if he can do it for you (if he's in japan). and 2nd. u need your phone flashed properly back to the japanese firmware (so its non-tampered with).

yah.. voda/sharp japan has halted all production now. all the auctions in japan and non-voda stores have jacked up the prices. i'm sure they still have more in the warehouses but they aren't going to make january, february etc. etc. editions. all i can say is. while its cheap. buy buy buy.

oh back to the rma. if you have a friend that lives in japan or from japan, it'd be alot easier to get that rma done. i don't know how they feel about fixing a phone thats coming back from NA .. they already pissed that we have so many of their phones.

Posted by: Blt4424

Hrm. Yeah I know I'd need to get it flashed back to original japanese f/w. The Ebay seller was actually from the States too, ehh.

Yar...I don't know anyone from Japan. If I did, how would they go about getting it rma'ed for me? Would they have to go to a special place or just send it somewhere?

I'm thinking I should try and just sell it as if for as much as I can get, take a loss, and buy a new one before the prices sky rocket.

Posted by: Timsta

hm.. that might be your best choice and let the guy on ebay deal with the issues. the new owner miught know someoen in JP. well. the person in JP would have to ship it to sharp and have it fixed or bring it to a local vodafone store and raise a little yakuza hell.

yah. if u do need a new one. contact me and i'll do my best to hook you up with one.