au Summer 2007 - W54T by Toshiba

when Toshiba and au announced the W52T in the spring, I thought I had found my next mobile. I was looking forward to trying my first slide style phone and was even going to forgive the fact that it was 22mm, exceeding my ideal limit of 20mm for the thickness of a phone. however when Toshiba and SoftBank simultaneously announced the 911T with pretty much all the same high-spec features in just 17.9mm, all of a sudden the upgrade didn't seem so tempting. so this time around I was eagerly awaiting what would follow, and I think the W54T was probably worth waiting for.

you have the same 1GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, 1seg digital TV, digital radio, 3 inch WVGA screen, PC site viewer, PC document viewer, AV output, but it has all been squeezed into a 18.5mm body, which is stainless steel - a first for an au phone.

Model	W54T
Maker	Toshiba
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	3 inch Wide VGA (480x800)
Camera	3.24 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	111 x 50 x 18.5 mm (19.7 at thickest)
Weight	151g
Felica	YES
Other	1GB memory, Bluetooth, 1seg, digital radio
Colours	brushed metal, black rose, malachite green

au Summer 2007 - W52P by Panasonic

when I was waiting for au to announce their summer models, I already kind of new what maker I would be leaning towards, but I also had a distant hope that Panasonic may come back with something that even comes close to DoCoMo's P. unfortunately, for their second au model of recent times, they have once again gone the 'design' / female route. you can see on the photo above, but the numberpad seems to be quite interesting in that it is just bumps in the material for each number. the phone also has the famous 'one-push open' button, changable front '+panel' and is a reasonable 18.4mm thin.

Model	W52P
Maker	Panasonic
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	2.7 inch Wide QVGA (240x400)
Camera	2.07 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	102 x 50 x 18.4 mm
Weight	120g
Felica	YES
Other	+panel customisable front panel
Colours	jewel gold, platinum white, indigo silver

au Summer 2007 - Walkman Ketai W52S by Sony Ericsson

continuing the branding theme, this latest handset from Sony is only the second in Japan to bear the Walkman name. it features 'clear audio technology', a generous 2GB of internal memory and improved 'stamina' playback which allows for 110 hours of music before charging. this model also keeps the 'music key' for easy control of music even when using other applications on the phone.

one more nice touch is the incorporated FM transmitter, meaning you could listen to your music through you home stereo, or even better, listen to the GPS navigation instructions through your car stereo. finally, just in case the Walkman brand is not enough for you, Sony also claim to have adopted BRAVIA technology into the mobiles display.

Model	W52S
Maker	Sony
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	2.7 inch Wide QVGA (240x432)
Camera	2.01 megapixels
External Memory	memory stick micro / microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	108 x 54 x 19.9 mm
Weight	130g
Felica	YES
Other	FM transmitter, 2GB internal memory
Colours	arpeggio blue, pizzicato pink, harmonics white

au Summer 2007 - EXILIM Ketai W53CA by Casio

they say it has the DNA of a digital camera and at 5.15 megapixels I don't doubt it for a minute. the design has followed the concepts of simple and minimal, and you can be sure that thinness of 18.9mm (23 at thickest part) was important before the mobile was awarded the use of Casio's EXILIM digital camera brand name which is known for its compact models.

on top of the image stabilising functionand Best Shot mode of the camera, the phone also comes equipped with a PC Site Viewer, PC Document Viewer and the 'real deal' Genius English-Japanese dictionary, the publisher that you find in most electronic dictionaries.

Model	EXILIM Ketai W53CA
Maker	Casio
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	2.8 inch Wide VGA (480x800)
Camera	5.15 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	103 x 50 x 18.9 mm (23mm at thickest)
Weight	125g
Felica	YES
Other	PC Document viewer, WVGA IPS display
Colours	flare red, iris white, veil black

au Summer 2007 - W52CA by Casio

this spring, Casio took the double hinge style W41CA and added 1seg digital terrestrial tv to get the W51CA. this time round they have gone one step further by making it waterproof. Casio was one of the firms known for designing waterproof mobiles, but instead of the tough image of the G'zOne series, this phone is perhaps aimed more at females.

the G'zOne W42CA was a massively fat 29mm, whereas this phone is described as 21mm. (although the small print explains how it is a not too slim 25mm at its thickest part.) the phone, which sees a new image character of 'Bonite' fish, not too dissimilar to the popular penguins, will be out in July at an estimated price somewhere around 15,000yen.

Model	W52CA
Maker	Casio
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	2.6 inch Wide QVGA ASV (240x400)
Camera	2.07 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	104 x 49 x 21 mm
Weight	139g
Felica	YES
Other	waterproof, 1seg
Colours	koraiyu green, plage white, palmier brown

au Summer 2007 - W53SA by Sanyo

the first of 2 phones that are best summed up as a waterproof 1seg phone. au have came up with the line 'enjoy 1seg, music and email wherever, like the kitchen or bathroom'. the phone does all right by squeezing the 1seg function into a 20mm thick waterproof body.

it meets the IPX waterproof specifications of IPX5 and IPX7:

IPX5 - Protected against water jets - Water projected at all angles through a 6.3mm nozzle at a flow rate of 12.5 liters/min at a pressure of 30kN/m2 for 3 minutes from a distance of 3 meters.

IPX7 - Protected against water immersion - Immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter.

Model	W53SA
Maker	Sanyo
Network	au - CDMA 1X WIN
Display	2.6 inch Wide QVGA ASV (240x400)
Camera	1.97 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	104 x 50 x 20 mm
Weight	146g
Felica	YES
Other	waterproof, 1seg
Colours	jasmine white, lylic pink, camellia red

au and SoftBank announce summer models

between them, au and SoftBank yesterday announced 28 new handsets that will start to go on sale from beginning next month.

• au

highlights include an Exilim branded phone from Casio that has a 5.1 megapixel camera, an improved Walkman keitai with 2GB of internal memory and also not one but two waterproof phones that also come equiped with 1seg digital terrestrial TV tuners.

• SoftBank

depending on whether or not you include the 805SC which was already partly announced along with the spring models, SoftBank were not far behind au, announcing 12, or 13, new models. of these, 6 of them are from Sharp, including a new AQUOS keitai. there is also the first domestic slide design handset from Panasonic and a Toshiba smartphone featuring Windows Mobile 6.my schedule is pretty packed for the next while but I am going to try and get through at least 2 phones a day so that I am still not introducing them this time next month!

mobile wallet becomes a little more convenient

I was told that they stopped giving out stamps at Subway at home because people started to make counterfeit stamps. here in Japan, I still carry my 'Sub Club Sandwich Card' in my wallet every day. Subway use QR codes on their packaging and offer a mobile phone based mailing service, but I will never be content that the mobile wallet has really taken off until i can pay and collect points for a free sanwich using my keitai. last week two promising osaifu-keitai stories emergd.

firstly Exxon Mobil will be the first among the petrol stations to accept multiple IC chip based payment services at their express branded self-service stations. (currently at 720 locations) the petrol company, who pioneered with their own key-ring 'speed pass' since 2003 (currently at over 1 million users), has teamed up with JCB (QUICPay), Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos (Visa Touch) and Mitsui Sumitomo Card (iD) to roll out the services starting this month.

secondly, Lawson, who had already prepared to accept multiple services by installing multi-readers since last year, announced that they have finally sorted out all the details and will add QUICPay (JCB) and Edy to the already up and running iD. this piece of news is of particular interest to me because Lawson are in the basement of my building.

in other news....

• the three companys; JR East, JR West and JR Central will make their IC electric money / fare cards compatible from the spring of 2008.
• au and SoftBank will both launch their summer models next week on the 22nd.

DoCoMo Summer 2007 - SH904i by Sharp

Sharps latest phone for DoCoMo continues with a similar design - large ASV display using AQUOS technology. actually the screen has improved from the 2.8 inch size in the SH903i to 3 inches this time round. another main feature is the 'TOUCH CRUISER' which brings PC touch pad-like control to the phone, using the + shaped sensor positioned above the number pad. (see middle right of picture below.) each of the four colour variations comes with a differently designed aluminium front panel. a final feature i like is the OCR 'Business Card Reader' which uses the camera to scan the details directly to the phone's address book.

Model	SH904i
Maker	Sharp
Network	DoCoMo - FOMA
Display	3 inch Wide QVGA ASV (240x400)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	107 x 50 x 19.9 mm
Weight	130g
Felica	YES
Other	'TOUCH CRUISER', 3 inch ASV display
Colours	solid black, crystal white, premium pink, line blue

DoCoMo Summer 2007 - P904i by Panasonic

the Panasonic 'P' is back. new, smaller and thinner than before. having resisted any major changes in the last few incarnations, this time sees quite a change in the external design. they have moved the camera from the back of the display part to the back of the number pad part and so the custom jacket now covers the whole front of the phone.

the phone is designed with an asymmetric front panel, which looks perfectly fine in its bare state should you choose not to fit a removable cover. without the cover the phone is 17.9 mm in thickness, which compares quite favourably to the 23 mm of the P903i. of course the phone keeps traditional 'P' features like illuminations on the front panel and the convenient Bluetooth capability.

Model	P904i
Maker	Panasonic
Network	DoCoMo - FOMA
Display	2.8 inch Wide QVGA TFT (240x400)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	102 x 49 x 17.9 mm (w/o custom jacket)
Weight	115g (w/o custom jacket)
Felica	YES
Other	Bluetooth, 6 axis image stabilizer camera
Colours	champagne, platinum, asphalt, rose

DoCoMo Summer 2007 - N904i by NEC

the N904i from NEC is the only one of the 5 new models from DoCoMo to support the 3.6 Mbps downloads of HSDPA. previously announced in Milan, this handset was designed in collaboration with Stefano Giovannoni. it also comes with a better than average Yamaha audio chip inside to go along nicely with DoCoMo's new subscription music service. also the camera differentiates itself from the rest with face recognition and a 6 way 'ultra digital image stabilizer'.

Model	N904i
Maker	NEC
Network	DoCoMo - FOMA
Display	3 inch Wide VGA LTPS TFT (480x854)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	104 x 49 x 18.9 mm
Weight	113g
Felica	YES
Other	HSDPA, ultra digital image stabilizer
Colours	Day and Night, Orange Cut, Urban Blue, Pink Soda

DoCoMo Summer 2007 - F904i by Fujitsu

the D904i is Fujitsu's first go at a 1seg phone. somewhat reminiscent of Sharp's AQUOS keitai, with a thing DoCoMo are calling 'Yoko-motion', swinging it left or right will launch set functions. the screen has a 170 degree viewing angle so several people should be able to see the TV at one time. functions like the document viewer, email and internet can all be viewed in horizontal mode, even at the same time as watching the TV.

i say it in every review of a Fujitsu phone, and I will say again, I love the finger print security incorporated in their phones. one other nice feature is the reduction mode in the full browser that will let you view a 800x600 pixel web page on the display without the need for scrolling. though i reckon it would be pretty hard to read any small text at that size.

up until now DoCoMo had the suffix of 'iTV' on the end of the model number for 1seg handsets. the fact that this 1seg model from Fujitsu has dropped this pattern is recognition that 1seg will become a common enough feature so as to not merit its distinction in the model name. you only have to look at the current au range to see why.

Model	F904i
Maker	Fujitsu
Network	DoCoMo - FOMA
Display	3.1 inch Wide QVGA TFT (240x432)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	108 x 50 x 22 mm
Weight	138g
Felica	YES
Other	1seg TV, finger print security
Colours	bordeaux, noir, blanche, champagne

DoCoMo Summer 2007 - D904i by Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi continue the slide type phone with 'speed selector' useful for internet browsing in the D904i. this time it becomes the thinnest D so far and also the thinnest handset of the 904i series at 16.8 mm. just for reference the D903i was 18.2 mm. another main feature of the phone is the motion control sensor, or as DoCoMo call it on their english site, the 'accelerometer sensor'. you can shake the phone to start applications like email or music, and the display will change to horizontal by tilting the phone. one last feature that i also like is the voice recognition to unlock the phone.

Model	D904i
Maker	Mitsubishi
Network	DoCoMo - FOMA
Display	2.8 inch Wide QVGA TFT (240x400)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	110 x 49 x 16.8 mm
Weight	114g
Felica	YES
Other	motion control sensor, voice recognition
Colours	mirror wine, mirror black, super white, brilliant pink

DoCoMo Summer 2007 models announced

a bit before Golden Week, DoCoMo announced 5 new models that will be the first phones to hit the streets of this summers 904i series. in the photos above and below, they are from left to right; D904i by Mitsubishi, F904i from Fujitsu, NEC's N904i, P904i by Panasonic and SH904i from Sharp.
some highlights of the series include a motion control sensor, a PC-like touchpad, 1seg, HSDPA, and more customizable jackets. (got to love DoCoMo's 'P'!)

the following list of features is common to all of these 5 904i series models:

• 2.8 inch screen or bigger
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• full browser
• uta-hodai
• 2in1
• WMA - Napster
• GPS
• osaifu-keitai

most of the spotlight was put on the uta-hodai service. a flat rate monthly subscription music service, it seems as though it will go into competition with the Napster-To-Go service, which although had plenty of western music, may have lacked choice when it comes to Japanese music.

another new feature - 2in1 is an improvement on a service that was called 'multinumber' up until now. it involves getting 2 phone numbers and 2 email addresses on the one FOMA card. you can switch between the 2 or switch it to dual mode. this service costs 945 yen per month.

NTTDoCoMo.com english press release