Japan Winter Phone Collection 2008 - Discussion Thread

[crg_zinger1]

Looky I think i choose the SH03A over the SH01A all because SH01 has that middle part where the hinge looks like someone had to tighten up a belt around the waist.







humm.... SH01 and the SH03 seem to have the same back and keypads. but one is cycloid and the other is a digi cam.

http://blueshow.net/vbb/read.php?tid=520817

[Super Chimp]

I wonder how the 8MP camera used by Sharp would compare to the ones in my i8510 & C905?

[emecee]

i wonder what the 930 and 931 will be, will there be a successor to the 923sh? or it will be two fullface models?

[AL9999]

No, one of them is definitely a fullface successor while the other is expected to be an AQUOS phone successor (ie cycloid hinge).

The 8MP camera module by nature should be better than the Samsung and SE 8MP cameras because Sharp's one is a CCD. It does of course come down to fine tuning and engineering and such, but by their very nature the CCD camera is going to do better in low-light situations than the Samsung and SE.

[emecee]

is the jap phone market turning its focus on the cameras now, instead of components about the screen and its resolutions?

[bottlecap]

I think the one on the far left would appeal to the girlfriend. hmmm maybe I can get her addicted to Ketai

[AL9999]

is the jap phone market turning its focus on the cameras now, instead of components about the screen and its resolutions?

Well, how much further can you improve the screens? You're now approaching PPI (pixels per inch) and DP (dot pitch) densities that are unheard of by any other industry, even LCD TVs (well especially LCD TVs, even full HD TVs have PPI ratings that are very low). Just to show you (high PPI and low DP mean higher picture clarity):

17 inch LCD, 1280x1024 resolution (computer monitor): 96.42 PPI, 0.2634mm DP
22 inch LCD, 1680x1050 resolution (computer monitor): 90.05 PPI, 0.2821mm DP
32 inch LCD, 1366x768 resolution (HD TV): 48.97 PPI, 0.5187mm DP
42 inch LCD, 1920x1080 resolution (full HD TV): 52.45 PPI, 0.4843mm DP
7 inch LCD, 432x240 resolution (car navi): 70.6 PPI, 0.3598mm DP
7 inch LCD, 800x480 resolution (HD car navi): 133.28 PPI, 0.1906mm DP

2.2 inch LCD, 240x320 resolution (average western phone screen): 181.82 PPI, 0.1397mm DP
2.4 inch LCD, 480x640 resolution (Sharp 910SH phone screen): 333.33 PPI, 0.0762mm DP
3.2 inch LCD, 480x854 resolution (Sharp 920SH phone screen): 306.14 PPI, 0.083mm DP
3.5 inch LCD, 480x1024 resolution (upcoming Sharp 931SH phone screen): 323.12 PPI, 0.0786mm DP

So yeah, there really isn't much room for improvement. 300 PPI is the usual level of quality for printed paper and the human eye has a lot of difficulty perceiving any better. Phone LCD viewing angles are also now at 176 or so degrees both ways, while contrast ratios and colour gamuts are as good as LCD TVs and getting marginally better (as fast as they do on LCD TVs really).

Add to this that the 1seg experience has been just about as perfected as you can get, and you can understand why they've now swung back to cameras as a marketing too (which at least in terms of megapixels, still has a way to go). That Sharp decided to return to CCD modules was a bonus and, in my opinion, a very very welcome one.

[deasine]

Many companies also have decided to expand their resolutions: 854 x 480 instead of previous 800 x 480

[aw614]

so is there a website yet? want to watch it this one like i have the last two viewings

[Super Chimp]

The 8MP camera module by nature should be better than the Samsung and SE 8MP cameras because Sharp's one is a CCD. It does of course come down to fine tuning and engineering and such, but by their very nature the CCD camera is going to do better in low-light situations than the Samsung and SE.

See this is what interests me as it's so rare to see a CCD sensor on a cameraphone plus I remember how good the camera on my 903 was for the time. Phones like the K800 & N73 though good could not stand up against it.

Mind you if you went on Mobile Review & mentioned that you would probable get a lot of people arguing the relative merits of CMOS Vs CCD in cameraphones.

[Cloud V]

Al, I've been following up with the new Docomo news and am pretty excited myself.
Still, I see some problems with this lineup.

First off, the reason they are redoing the lines and getting away from the 70X and 90X is because people felt there was becoming less of a difference between the high end and low end lines. Unfortunately, I really think they've gone and done an incredible stupid thing in going and creating 4 theme lines, which I promise you, will only confuse people more than ever. This is going to make it harder for people to decide and choose, especially considering how similar some of the phones are. While it's nice being able to have a choice, I really think that you'll notice that giving people too many choices will find they freeze and just go with the same old model. Which most likely will be the P model.

To tell the truth, it feels like they're going for the Softbank approach, which over the last year has been to introduce a slew of models all at once. It's funny because now you see au and Softbank stepping back and reducing the numbers of new phones they announce.

Like you said as well, with the new 2 year contract requirement, it's harder than ever to switch phones here, and that means less people are going to change, unless stores subsidize these phones, and they won't for sure. The good thing though is Docomo has finally learned about getting phones out soon after announcing them, which is absolutely wonderful, since it used to be almost 4 or 5 months for some phones to come out after being announced. Unfortunately, they've gotten into the habit of announcing their spring phones at the same time, which, of course means you've got to wait anyways!

Also, while you see a general increase in camera's across the board, I really think the focus for this cycle is touch screen by far. Thanks to the iPhone, you're seeing a boom in touch screens elsewhere in the world, and now it's hitting Japanese phones.

Personally, I'm going to get rid of my SO906i (any buyers?) and going for the F-01A myself. Sharp hasn't been on top of the game since the 902i in my opinion.
NEC phones are bricks now, and Panasonic is too gimmicky.

Anyways, looking forward to getting my hands on the mocks next week!

[Trinimassive]

oooh, I'm liking the SH-03a.

found a couple more pictures of the SH-03A, SH-01A ,P-01A and P-02A
their a bit big so here's the link


http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DG

&

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DN

[stevetam]

at first the p-01a looked bland and just liek hte p905 and p906 but now I realize the keypad is soo freaking cool! Notice when the screen is on the vertical hinge the keypad changes configuration to match the normal configuration?

[AL9999]

Al, I've been following up with the new Docomo news and am pretty excited myself.
Still, I see some problems with this lineup.

The lineup is nothing but a problem if you ask me.

First off, the reason they are redoing the lines and getting away from the 70X and 90X is because people felt there was becoming less of a difference between the high end and low end lines. Unfortunately, I really think they've gone and done an incredible stupid thing in going and creating 4 theme lines, which I promise you, will only confuse people more than ever. This is going to make it harder for people to decide and choose, especially considering how similar some of the phones are. While it's nice being able to have a choice, I really think that you'll notice that giving people too many choices will find they freeze and just go with the same old model. Which most likely will be the P model.

You nailed it on the head. I don't think anyone could've put it better - a problem that started from the 905i/705i series and carried through to the 906i/706i series, where customers are confused about what the product lines actually mean because the phones are now all so similar to each other in form factor, design, specifications and features. This is compared to when the 70?i series began - the original 700i series was clearly lower-specced and had more stylish designs than the bulky 90?i series above it. Anyway, this is a problem which they've already admitted they've identified, but instead of fixing it, they go and make it worse by creating four product lines, double the number of before. In addition, while some of the new models stand out as being obviously unique, the majority of them are very similar. It's quite strange.

To tell the truth, it feels like they're going for the Softbank approach, which over the last year has been to introduce a slew of models all at once. It's funny because now you see au and Softbank stepping back and reducing the numbers of new phones they announce.

Yes, this seems to be something that started with the 905i and 705i series and they probably did pick it up from Softbank's marketing, although Softbank never really launched so many models compared to the others. If you look at past product announcements from the carriers, you can see that docomo now announces the largest number of models per year. From the 31st July 2007 to 30th June 2008 (I'm using this time bracket because it's the most recent set of product announcements, not counting this year's winter ones which are just starting):
Softbank launched 33 models
KDDI au launched 31 models
docomo launched a whopping 42 models, if you only count 905i/705i and 906i/706i (50 models if you count the 704i series as well, which was announced on the 4th of July 2007).

This compares to the same period just a year ago (ie 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007), where:
Vodafone/Softbank launched 34 models
KDDI au launched 37 models
docomo launched 35 models

But yes, for this year's autumn/winter announcements, Softbank will launch and KDDI au has launched a smaller number of phones than in the past - this is a reflection of decreasing demand over the new contract system that's come into place in Japan. Unfortunately, someone didn't tell docomo this fact (and they were apparently too clumsy to realise themselves). I'm sure come early next year, they're going to have a huge inventory of unsold handsets while having a major shortage of the one or two handsets that hit it big with consumers (as you say, probably a P and I think an SH as well).

Like you said as well, with the new 2 year contract requirement, it's harder than ever to switch phones here, and that means less people are going to change, unless stores subsidize these phones, and they won't for sure. The good thing though is Docomo has finally learned about getting phones out soon after announcing them, which is absolutely wonderful, since it used to be almost 4 or 5 months for some phones to come out after being announced. Unfortunately, they've gotten into the habit of announcing their spring phones at the same time, which, of course means you've got to wait anyways!

Well if you look at this upcoming launch's release dates, I think around half of them will be out before the end of the year; the other half come out well into next year. As you say, that's because they're announcing both autumn/winter and spring handsets in one go - where they used to announce 90?i and 70?i series handsets separately and three months apart, they're now announced at the same time.

Also, while you see a general increase in camera's across the board, I really think the focus for this cycle is touch screen by far. Thanks to the iPhone, you're seeing a boom in touch screens elsewhere in the world, and now it's hitting Japanese phones.

This is something I have mixed feelings about. It's fine to have a touchscreen feature in a phone, but as long as it's implemented properly. The iPhone's touchscreen implementation is excellent, but I remember the SH906i's touchscreen implementation being horrible - the UI was very slow to react to finger-presses and the actual things you could do by touching the screen were very limited. All of this is just competition at its best of course, but nonetheless, I'd personally prefer a better camera (well, a realistically better one, not just with more megapixels) than a touchscreen that doesn't improve the experience significantly. Then again, docomo is the operator that usually introduces the gimmicky features...

Personally, I'm going to get rid of my SO906i (any buyers?) and going for the F-01A myself. Sharp hasn't been on top of the game since the 902i in my opinion.
NEC phones are bricks now, and Panasonic is too gimmicky. Anyways, looking forward to getting my hands on the mocks next week!

Look forward to hearing what you think about them. In my opinion Sharp's phones for docomo have always been good but not the best; I've felt they kept their best hardware for Vodafone/Softbank. NEC never got my attention for anything, Panasonic was always about the form factor or Bluetooth or one particularly excellent feature, and Fujitsu was either the innovator (OLED screens first, fingerprint scanner first) or the copycat (its single axis hinge cycloid imitator screen, which looked silly at best but seemed like a silly afterthought at worst). While it's a shame Mitsubishi's gone, I think their only selling point was the fact their phones were sliders, and this isn't a point of difference anymore. Apart from the SO906i with its camera focus, SE also doesn't typically have a point of difference either anymore, if you ask me (perhaps why they don't have one phone included in this upcoming launch).

[AL9999]

Also, Disney Mobile announced the DM003SH today. Again, it's a rebadge of the 824SH.

http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/artic...age/42496.html

Willcom also announced their PHS phones yesterday... I think we have a company which is desperately struggling to stay relevant in the Japanese phone industry but will probably announce they're shutting down in a few years. At the subscriber numbers they're pushing, they can't possibly remain in Japan for longer.

Anyway, it was just three phones (all unremarkable) and a data card: http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/artic...age/42474.html

Finally Softbank should be announcing their new lineup tomorrow. The investor streaming service should be available from the following page:

http://www.softbank.co.jp/presentati...lts/index.html (Japanese)
http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/presentation/index.html (English)

In the meantime you can watch their financial results announcement tonight if you have nothing better to do.