au autumn lineup - W43CA by Casio

as i currently use (and very much like my) W41CA, by far the best selling au keitai for the first half of 2006, i was anticipating its replacement. but i must say that i am a little disappointed.

the handset itself has changed from the 'hinge and swivel' to just the traditional clam shell style, with the addition of a sub display. Casio adopted something called 'Heart Craft' to make it easier and more comfortable to hold. while the W41CA wasn't exactly small, the W43CA has added another 2mms in thickness.

it can recieve the new services like EZ News Flash and decoration mail. like Casio's summer release G'zOne W42CA, you can split you address book into two scenes, for example one for work and one for personal, though i don't think i would particularly set this function. it has a dictionary, IC recorder, 18 hours of music playback and W41CA's penguins are back for some more.

Model	W43CA
Maker	Casio
Network	au (WIN)
Display	2.6inch WideQVGA (240x400) , sub = 0.9inch
Camera	2.07 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	106 x 51 x 24 mm
Weight	130g
Felica	YES
Other	full browser, infra-red, dictionary
Colours	red post, white mag, navy ink

au autumn lineup - DRAPE by Toshiba

DRAPE: verb arrange (cloth or clothing) loosely on or round something.

this keitai seems to be the W47T unnecessarily altered by designer Sakai Naoki. well maybe that is being a bit harsh, i know some people might appreciate a designer keitai, but i would rather go for functionality when it comes to a mobile phone.

as you can see in the table below, the specs for the DRAPE are pretty much identical to the W47T, the only things i had to change were to make it a few mms fatter. as you may be able to deduce from the colour names, the design is based on art deco and the three keywords of 'premium', 'luxury' and 'mature'.

Model	DRAPE (W46T)
Maker	Toshiba
Network	au (WIN)
Display	2.6inch QVGA (240x320) , sub = 0.8inch
Camera	3.24 megapixels, sub = 3.3mp
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	108 x 51 x 24 mm
Weight	still weighing :-)
Felica	YES
Other	video calling, FM radio, full browser, infra-red
Colours	victorian jet, bronze, shell cameo

au autumn lineup - W47T by Toshiba

with download speeds of 3.1Mbps and upload speeds of 1.8Mbps, EV-DO Rev.A is quite a tempting upgrade, but even by December when this handset comes out, one worry has got to be the area in which the service is available for the early adopters.

as well as a max of 1GB microSD card, the W47T also has 100mb of internal memory. it also will be compatible with most of the new services announced by au, for example, the new portal service 'au my page' will not require the download of an EZ-apli, but be accessible directly from the phones menu.

the main camera is a decent 3.24 megapixels, and to my surprise, the sub camera even bettters that at 3.3 megapixels. the phone has infra-red, full browser and all the music functions you have come to expect from au. like all of au's new phones, QUICPay, the osaifu keitai credit service offered by JCB is preinstalled.

Model	W47T
Maker	Toshiba
Network	au (WIN)
Display	2.6inch QVGA (240x320) , sub = 0.8inch
Camera	3.24 megapixels, sub = 3.3mp
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	107 x 51 x 21 mm
Weight	still weighing :-)
Felica	YES
Other	video calling, FM radio, full browser, infra-red
Colours	exotic orange, champagne white, urban grey

au autumn lineup - W43H by Hitachi

due out in early September, the W43H one seg tv compatible keitai is based on the W41H. Hitachi have managed to make it more compact, whilst increasing the TV viewing time to 4hrs 15mins on a single charge, up from the 3hrs 45mins achieved with the W41H.

it is compatible with the majority of the new services announced by au, including EZ Channel Plus, EZ News Flash, au My Page and the address book deposit service. the previously available 'time shift' feature that will record the television during a call, and then play it back to you at 1.3 times the speed until you catch back up with the live programme is also there. recording wise, you can fit 2hrs 40mins worth of TV onto a 512MB microSD card.

Model	W43H
Maker	Hitachi
Network	au (WIN)
Display	2.6inch WideQVGA (240x400)
Camera	2.07 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	106 x 50 x 23 (mm)
Weight	140g
Felica	YES
Other	one seg TV, FM radio, dictionary, infra-red
Colours	mystic violet, mellow white, sensual blue

au announces autumn lineup

well the title should actually read autumn and winter, because although 12 handsets were announced yesterday, 3 of them are previews of what is coming this winter. you can't blame them though, trying their best to impress potential 'switchers' in the run-up to Mobile Number Portability (MNP) this October.

the handsets, left to right, top to bottom in the picture above are; W43H from Hitachi, W47T from Toshiba, DRAPE (w46T) from Toshiba, W43CA from Casio, W43SA from Sanyo, w43S from Sony Ericsson, W43K from Kyocera, W41SH from Sharp, W45T from Toshiba, W42SA from Sanyo, W44K from Kyocera and A5522SA from Sanyo.

as well as the new handsets, that are supposed to focus on music and design, au announced a total of 10 news releases relating to new services etc.

for your reference, the three that you will have to wait until winter for are the W47T, DRAPE and W44K. also from the new models, EV-DO Rev.A compatible handsets will arrive in the winter with the W47T and DRAPE. services using BCMCS (Broadcast Multicast Services), which I also mentioned in the previous post will be available on the W43H, W47T, DRAPE and W43CA.

i like to be complete, so here goes with news releases 1 through 9!

1. EZ Channel Plus - utilizing BCMCS multicast technology, EZ Channel Plus is an improvement on EZ Channel which has been around since November 2003. For a fixed fee of 315 yen a month, programme contents are automatically sent to you mobile overnight. Video contents will be H.264 format as opposed to MPEG4 and there will be 4 channels starting September, including LISMO Channel.

2. au My Page - a new personal portal site, accessible from your keitai or PC. save up to 100mb of e-mails and photos and customise your own page. starts mid-September. the W43H, W47T, DRAPE and W43CA will have a option in the phone's menu to save different data to this service. it replaces 'EZ memory pocket' and DUOGATE's DUOALBUM.

3. EZ News Flash - a telop (ticker) style new and weather information service, using BCMCS that is free to use. another item allowing au to catch up with DoCoMo. once again, compatible handsets are the W43H, W47T, DRAPE and W43CA.

4. EZ keitai Arrange - up until now it was possible to individually cutomise things like stand-by screen and ring-tones, but using software developed by InnoPath, you will be able to customise your whole phone including stand-by screen, menus, ring-tones and even small details like the battery and reception indicators to a chosen theme. compatible handsets are the W41SH and W43SA and themes announced yesterday include Disney, Barbie, Hello Kitty, Pingu and Pro-Wrestling. Nice!

5. Address Book Storage Service - so not really a totally a new service, more just that yet again the 4 models; the W43H, W47T, DRAPE and W43CA will have this functin incorporated right into the address book. other models will be able to use this service after downloading an EZ-apli.

6. Decoration Mail - using the HTML format, it will become possible to change font size, change background and text colour, add pictures and animations to your keitai email. this is another service already available with DoCoMo for some time now. compatible handsets are the W43H, W47T, DRAPE, W43CA and W43SA.

7. TV Denwa (Video Calling) - starting December up to 5 people can simultaneously make group video phone calls. of course it uses the recently announced EV-DO Rev.A and so compatible handsets are the W47T and DRAPE, due out in the winter. the areas in which you can call via video will also be limited to the rollout of EV-DO Rev.A. The price for a video call is set at 1.8 times the price of a normal voice call.

8. e shaberi mail (talking picture email) - using technology from Pulse Entertainment, it is possible to send pictures that move to added sound, so as to look like the picture is talking. it costs 105 yen per month and is available on the W47T, DRAPE and W43SA.

9. Hayami Mokomichi - last but not least, au's new male image character was announced today. from his list of dramas i only ever watched Densha Otoko, but he also turned up as support at a televised boxing match at Yokohama Arena the one and only night i have gone to see a fight. he will work along with Nakam Yukie and replaces Tsumabuki Satoshi.

KDDI announces rollout of EV-DO Rev.A

KDDI, who operate the au branded mobile phone network, this week announced their latest 3.5G infrastructure upgrade plans. 'Evolution-Data Optimised Revision A' is an enhancement of the current EV-DO Rev.0, developed by Qualcomm, improving possible download speeds to 3.1Mbps and upload speeds of 1.8Mbps.

This compares with speeds of 3.6Mbps down and 384kbps upload for DoCoMo's HSDPA which it is launching this summer. It also comes after the announcement of BCMCS (Broadcast/Multicast Service) which is due in September and is a software improvement to KDDI's existing infrastructure that allows more efficient use of frequency bands while distributing contents.

The new technology will make it easier for au to offer 'real time services'. For starters one new service that they plan to adopt is TV denwa or video calling. They also envisage better and improved mail and blog services and eventually voice calling services that use VoIP.

The service is to begin in December in the 3 major cities of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. All major cities should be covered by the end of the 2006 financial year with the whole country covered within 3 years.

new softbank logo

SoftBank have announced the new brand logo that will replace the vodafone "speechmark". The official change-over is October 1st, but certain handsets, shop signs and printed materials will be changed starting this month.

You can read more here at Crisscross. The colour is based on SoftBanks existing company logo, which itself is based on a Meiji era flag, but instead of "Revolution Yellow" it is Silver in colour.

You have to admit it is kind of a boring logo, silver/grey it looks all the same to me. But I imagine if done right a silver logo could look half decent, especially thinking of what it will look like on the handsets.

Also I was wandering whether me might see SoftBank utulize the talents of Ueto Aya (pictured below) to promote SoftBank Mobile. She has been the face of SoftBank's Yahoo BB for quite some years now.

Docomo 702ix series

Exactly one month ago Docomo announced 6 new models as the 702ix series. So although only one of them is already in the shops, I think it was about time that I introduced them here. You can find the press release with a pdf file outlining both the services and specification of each handset here. None of the six are osaifu-keitai.
They are from left to right: D702iF from Mitubishi, Panasonic's P702iD, SH702iS by Sharp, N702iS from NEC, M702iG and M702iS both from Motorola. D702iF from Mitubishi
The F on the end of the model name stands for Fashion. It is a collaboration with fashion designer Momoko Ikuta and was designed for female users. The colours are all pastille and when closed are supposed to resemble a precious stone. There is also plenty of preinstalled contents for the ladies with things like a bio-rhythm memo function, cooking timer, recipes and also the clock features a different flower each month.

Its not particularly small, however it is quite lightest of the six at 100g. Generally the 702 series has a lot less features than the 902 series, for example this model has no external memory and no push-talk, yet this model does have the convenience of a full browser.

Panasonic's P702iD
As a continuation of P701iD that came out in October of 2005, this phone is a collaboration with graphical designer Taku Sato. Not only does it come in 4 colours but also 2 shapes. Black and white are a square design with sharper edges while pink and silver are a more rounded design. It also has a light feature on the front that illuminates from inside in different patterns.

It uses miniSD, and benefitting from the fact that the handset is based on the P902, it is compatible with PushTalk and also has a SD-Audio music player that plays AAC format files.

SH702iS by Sharp
Last time back in January when Docomo introduced the 702i series, one of the selling points was that they were relatively small and lightweight (an average of 103 grams). This phone from Sharp has the biggest display of the series at 2.4 inches of ASV LCD.

Outside of mobile phones, Sharp are well known for the quality of their displays and this also seems to have become a main feature in their keitais. It is one of the more feature loaded from the series supporting PushTalk, a full browser and a music player.

N702iS from NEC
This is the third of the three collaboration keitais, this time they have teamed up with interior designer Oki Sato. The phone resembles a glass full of drink and comes in a choice of 3 colours; Mineral Water, Strawberry Milk and Cafe Latte. Both the front and back covers can be exchanged for other flavours colours; Soda, Orange Juice, Cranberry, Matcha and Hot Chocolate.

It has least of all the specs in the series but makes novel use of a internal motion sensor. For example; tilt the phone and liquid on the screen will also tilt, you can shake the phone to turn of the alarm, and turn it upside-down and back to start a timer. Needless to say that there are not many useful functions.

M702iG from Motorola
So you would expect that the two models from Motorola are the ones I need to introduce the least. Which is handy, because although many friends (mostly female) at home have one, I know very little about Motorolas. This, the chunkier of the two is said to be based on the RAZR V3x, but Docomo stated that it has been designed for the Japanese market with original and additional features so it is not correct to say that it is based on any certain model.

It is the first of the 700 series to be compatible with Docomo's World Wing roaming service, allowing for use in W-CDMA, GSM(900/1800/1900MHz) and GPRS. Other features include a QR Code reader, microSD, infra-red and bluetooth (which I get the impression was very popular back in the UK when I went home last month).

M702iS from Motorola
Based on the RAZR V3, once released this phone will become the thinnest FOMA model at 14.9mm. Like the M702iG it is capable of 3G roaming, but this time limited to W-CDMA areas only. These two RAZRs do lack some of the typical Docomo functions, but then again who really cares about things like chaku-moji and deco-mail signature.

This handset weighs in at 105 grams, supports Bluetooth and packs a microSD under the bonnet battery.