Sharp’s new FULLTOUCH Aquos handset does HD in style
It looks like the HTC Touch HD won’t be the only high-definition mobile handset in town. Sharp today unveiled an impressive new device with Japanese carrier Softbank. The FULLTOUCH 931SH has a resolution of 1024 x 480, all packed into a gorgeous 3.8″ touchscreen chassis. That’s a whole lotta pixels in a pretty small space, so we’re expecting this baby to shine. Other specs include a 5.2 megapixel camera, GPS, HSDPA, accelerometer, Bluetooth, a magnetic compass and on-board support for wireless payment systems. Sadly, very little on-board storage is present, with most of the media duties set to be handled by the microSD slot. No word on price, but we don’t expect to see this thing come stateside until… well, probably ever, so we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath. That said, it’s good to see manufacturers pushing the envelop with stunning displays.
Why do you need lots of onboard memory when there are cheap microSD cards to be had anyway?
To Jeremiah: Certain programs, utilities and all firmware need to be put on internal storage. That’s why it’s nice to have a phone like the Touch Pro with 512MB of ROM along with the MicroSD slot.
This phone looks sick though, if it had Android and a capacitive screen I’d consider it.
But he said storage–not memory. Storage is for storing pictures, videos, music, etc., while memory/RAM is for running various processes. I definitely know that a phone should have lots of RAM available firsthand with my underpowered Curve that requires multiple resets to refresh its memory.
WHY DONT WE HAVE GREAT PHONES LIKE THIS IN THE US!!!!! Its pathetic how the best resolution of our us phones is the iphone’s which is nothing to get happy about and the touch diamond which has a screen thats too small. Not to mention, the best camera phone we has is the lg dare with a pathetic 3.2mp. We might get the 5mp omnia by christmas but thats nothing compared to the fact that europe and asia already have 8mp camera phones and are working on 12. Why can’t we get this phone, that new casio with the 8mp camera, or even the touch hd???
The displays on the new BlackBerry are beautiful as well. Apple, watch out!
Questionmark you really want to know why we dont get such great phones in the US? Its because we f*ckin Americans are pathetic and cheap! We want everything given to us for FREE!! We dont want spend anything on a phone if anything! I was recently in Dubai and was impressed, every electronics store carried phones priced $800-$1200, and they sold alot too! People here in the US would rather buy 500 Big Macs then spend $800 on a phone. So to make things short, we get what we pay for! We don’t want to pay anything and we dont get anything!
J Man, I agree. If we in the US were willing to pay for it, we’d get those cream of the crop phones. It was amazing to see people in “3rd world countries” carrying $600 local price Nokias during my travels.
Well, it’s also that we Americans like to buy more things, so we’d rather spread our income over many new things than invest in one or ome new things. Rather than spend $800 on a new phone, it seems like people would rather spend $150 on a new phone and use the other $650 to buy new clothes and eat out many times during the week. It’s a cultural things too, ya know.
I disagree about the free phones comment. The cellular services in the US are the root cause. They try to hang on to one model (RAZR ring a bell?) and sell it in 500 different colors. Another issue is the frequencies that are used to deliver the cell signal. Why can’t we use the same as other countries? The technologies are practically the same (cdma/gsm) just different frequencies. CDMA had a great advantage with EVDV but the CDMA powers decided that voice and data at the same time wasn’t worth it. It has only been recently where AT&T has began to roll out HSDPA which does support voice and data at the same time. The carriers in my opinion are what is holding back the phone options by trying to nickel and dime every customer and not caring about their network. Example, please explain to me why a 160k text message that is a twenty year old technology doubled in price over the past year? Greed is my guess. Sure we can buy packages for a certain amount or unlimited, but if its because their networks can’t handle the small transmission, then use the money were paying for all of the other over priced services and upgrade your equipment. I skip the crap discounts the providers try to entice customers to buy newer phones because I don’t want a contract. I have always bought the flagship phones for full price as they were available and have been royally screwed by the providers. Took Sprint well over a year to fix the data problems with the Blackberry 8830, the HTC-6800 is another example. Promises of EVDO Rev.A and GPS took months upon months before it was actually delivered to the underpowered device (ram specifically) and all of the other problems with reception, bluetooth, and the other bugs. HTC basically telling the users to deal with the lack of 3D drivers on the phone where the chipset supports it (off topic but a valid point for selling crap as their top notch equipment). GSM has the best advantage since they receive new phones months before CDMA proviers (look at every Blackberry). There is not one single problem but the lack of quality smartphones and the fact it took so long for them to really reach the masses has a lot to do with the problem. The US is way behind with celluar technology and the only way to fix it is to bring it here and let us buy it, and the providers to support it. I’m so tired of hearing about how much data is used by consumers so now they cap it and charge even more for it. Cry me a river. Upgrade the networks to support the users. When I pay over $250/mo for my service, I want call quality, fast data speeds, and no threats of my speed being possibly being throttled. I don’t use bittorrent, I don’t abuse the system, but when I work remotely and want to remote connect to my desktop at work, well they can just kiss my ass. There are way more people with cell phones and data service now than two years ago which means more income for the provider. Most people don’t even use all of the services they pay for so stop feeding the CEOs and the stockholders and give us better quality. Like I care if someone doesn’t make an extra $10 at the end of they year. Restructre the plans and add-on at a more reasonable price, people will buy more and the revenue generated would offset the lowered costs.
LOL 3rd world garbage with a $600 phone is still 3rd world garbage.
rc, do you think people in 3rd world countries and culutres buy a $600 phone and run around but naked?!? No!! We may think we are ahead of the world, but I can name atleast 20 countries that are more advanced and civilized than we are. Also, the countries these fancy and expensive phones are sold are unsubsidized and the phone services are prepaid and at a a very reasonable price.
@CDMA user…. Why don’t we in america have the same standards as overseas. In a capitalist society, if big business doesn’t see them dolla signs in it it ain’t getting done. No one is gonna make a move if it ain’t profitable. They don’t care about what makes people happy, or whats better for the country. They care about greenbacks, profit margins, and staying in the black. They aren’t gonna spend millions, billions, and trillions updating towers to handle increased data traffic just so lil johnny can get a hot new phone. No they’re gonna get lil johnny hooked with a $50 razr3G that they probably spent fiddy cents on. Slap a 30 buck unlimited data plan on him even though he lives in the sticks and can’t get service at his own damn house. And they’re gonna stick HIM with every tariff increase THEY have to pay and they’re gonna do it for the next two years. Plus everyone else is right too. Americans have to eat out, buy clothes and food, we’re not willing or ready to sacrifice subsidized prices in order to get cool new shit. Ain’t Capitalism grand…
LOL… i guess none of you knew that the phone bounce rate for Iphone users in Asia is 80%? Out of 10 Iphone purchasers here in Asia, 8 are sold, kept away or ditched. Why? I don’t even understand why they decided to purchase it in the first place… one word sums it all… CONSUMERISM…
While you guys are still enjoying cam whoring with your 2MP cameras, i’m already shooting short films with my mobile phone that records DVD quality like footage together (60FPS) with 8MP carl zeiss lens equipped with dual Xenon flash IN THE DARK…
MMS and Camera Flash? Geez, i had that on my 2nd Nokia phone back in 2000. WTF!! It played MP3 back then with no.. what do they call it? .. DRM?
Sorry i just had to rub it in
Lol… oh and my new 10 Megapixel 2d/3d barcoded mobile phone with the NFC chip is arriving in 9 days time.. the NFC chip allows me to pay for stuff at counters, vending machines, toll booths and at shopping arcades… Lol… sorry i had to rub it in again.
But having said that, nothing beats the Blackberry when it comes to email management
*wink*
@j man I see your point but I don’t really think it’s because we Americans are too “cheap” to get these phones. $800 for a cell phone is ridiculous but thats for unlocked. Im talking about how in Europe and Asia, phones like the touch HD sell for $199 with a 2yr contract and you can even get the Nokia N96 for free with a data plan. In US, a free phone with a contract usually is pretty shitty, has a horrible, low-res screen, and lacks many features. In US, $199 with a contract will get you a phone that cant even record video or send picture messages (*starts with an “i” ends with a “phone”). US carriers are starting to step their cell phone game up but we’re still way behing Europe and Asia
Oh well .. from design, i think it’s a good enough