Originally Posted by
AL9999
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).
Well, you in turn have hit it on the head right here. One thing that DoCoMo has been known for, is being behind the loop. This has actually been pretty prevalent even to the regular laymen over the last 2 years or so. You see that not only with their business plans, but with phones themselves.
Originally Posted by
AL9999
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...
And, here it is, you actually have your own makers working against you in a way. The fact that Sharp has always been deeper in bed with Softbank has always been a thorn in the side with Docomo users, because in general Softbank gets more Sharp models, with more features well in advance. They’ve had Bluetooth and VGA screens long before Docomo (if you don’t count the Fujitsu black sheep touch/Bluetooth phone from like 5 years ago, which I guess was an innovator but well ahead of its time) So it’s always been Docomo playing catch up, so now their throwing everything out there, but it all ends up being half-*****.
I think they just didn’t take Softbank, or the phones they’re putting out serious. Even the iPhone, was something they really should have bent over backward to get, even if it isn’t the black ship phone that people were making it out to be, it’s causing the other makers to sit up and notice. But man, it makes the makers stuff look like crap. I feel sorry for Mitsubishi in a way, for putting out the D800 phone because you know that was a big red mark on the budget for them, only to have them shown up by the iPhone.
Basically, we’ll have to actually wait to see how the implementation works with each maker and touch screens. Unfortunately, Docomo’s always held the maker’s back in a way, and so we may not see full touch screen functionability on keitai’s for a few cycles. For sure none of these models will have the ability to do text input via touch.
I guess from a business viewpoint, it’s sound, I mean, if you give them a phone that does everything, then they’ll never upgrade. Unfortunately, this system worked well with the old system of subsidized phones, it doesn’t work now.
Originally Posted by
AL9999
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).
Sharp was great I think until the 903i series, they really didn’t bother upgrading the camera module for like 3 cycles, and the GUI just started getting more and more sluggish. It’s kind of interested, Sharp used to be considered best for response, and Panasonic and Fujitsu horrible, but they’ve really switched in the last couple of years. Fujitsu’s phones have been the best response wise for the last three cycles. NEC and Panasonic share the same software background, so in the end they both operate similar so it’s a matter of style I guess. Do you want a neuro-pointer or Bluetooth? Kind of thing. Mitsubishi and Fujitsu had the same software so it’s kind of a surprise to see Panasonic picking up Mitsubishi’s speed selector and slide style. Fujitsu has come out on top though in terms of usability, features, and things such a security like fingerprints and waterproof functions. I actually liked the yoko-motion, it worked well for TV and pictures, surprisingly.
For me, 5 megapixels decent camera, the security features, and much more responsive GUI, and waterproof is a winner so far for the next series. The touch panel is just bonus. But still, I’ll be sitting at the Ebisu DoCoMo shop next week over lunch playing with the hot mocks for sure, so I’ll let you know.
Originally Posted by
AL9999
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.
Willcom’s biggest advantage was being able to call users free. That was totally blown out of the water by Softbank’s plan for making all calls to Softbank users free for 21 hours of the day. Then, followed up by au and Docomo making family calls absolutely free, so basically Willcom has nothing left for them anymore. PHS quality sucks too by the way. The one year I used Willcom it totally sucked, and I could never hear anyone on my eS.
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My phones: D501i, D503iS, SH505i, 603SH, SH506iC, SH901iS, SH700iS, SH902i, WS007SH, D903i, F904i, F905i, SO906i, F-01A
Available for sale: SO906i (3G+GSM)
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