Hasta La Gadget!

Price fixing is nothing new in the LCD panel business. Hell, collusion is pretty common across the entire consumer electronics industry though it’s difficult (and costly) to prove. Now Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cellphones, is suing a who’s who of Asian LCD manufacturers alleging a ploy to fix prices on handset LCDs. The November 25th filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division, names Samsung Electronics, LG Display, Sharp, Hitachi, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes as co-conspirators. Nokia, of course, is seeking cash and injunctive relief to remedy damages incurred and has the dubious honor of following another high-profile move launched against Apple just last month. With Nokia’s high-margin smartphone sales waning against stiff competition, it’s easy to understand why its execs would be miffed if they paid artificially high prices for panels considering the sheer volume of lower-priced handsets Nokia sells at razor thin margins.

Update: Just dawned on us that this lawsuit (which we now know claims an 11 company cartel operating from “at least” January 1, 1996 until Dec 11, 2006) joins the AT&T action kicked off in October. Pile on! Nokia has also filed suit in the UK against both LCD and CRT makers.

Nokia sues LCD manufacturers for alleged price fixing (update: joins AT&T) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When two of Japan’s largest mobile carriers conspire to release nearly 40 phones in the span of 24 hours, editors covering the story are sure to lose hair and a solid year of lifespan — but for consumers in the local market, it’s nothing but good news. Here are some of the highlights from NTT DoCoMo:

• Fujtsu F-02B: Described as a “jewelry quality” phone with a snap-on perfume holder for “an air of elegance.”
• LG L-03B: Has support for Korean, Japanese, and English for frequent travelers (in other words, English speakers, if you find yourself on this archipelago and you don’t speak a lick of the local tongue, seek out this phone).
• Sharp SH-04B: Designed to look like a melting chocolate bar by food-themed wardrobe accessory maker Q-Pot — for some reason we don’t fully comprehend.
• Fujitsu F-04B: Realizing the concept shown off at CEATEC last year, this one features a removable keyboard that operates via Bluetooth and a 12.1 megapixel camera.
• Panasonic P-01B: This flip looks like pretty much every other in the lineup, but its got a secret — the keypad doubles as a touchpad. Clever.
• Samsung SC-01B: Samsung’s Windows Mobile 6.5-powered entry here appears to be a remix of the B7330 sold globally, which makes it about 1,000 times weaker than every other phone in the lineup.

And from Softbank:

• Sharp AQUOS Mobile FULLTOUCH 941SH: All we need to say about this one is “4-inch 1024 x 480 display,” which, as you might be able to imagine, is a world’s first.
• Sharp AQUOS Mobile 943SH: Dual one-seg tuners let you watch one program and record another, and a mention of transferring Blu-ray content has us thinking that Managed Copy is along for the ride.
• Toshiba dynapocket X02T: Remember how NTT DoCoMo had previously gotten the TG01 as the T01A? Yeah, well, now it’s Softbank’s turn — and this time, it’s called the X02A. Not much more to it than that.
• Samsung X01SC: This looks to be a localized version of AT&T’s Samsung Jack, of all phones, meaning that it’s a Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard phone (no touchscreen) with a QVGA display and portrait QWERTY keyboard.
• Sharp 942SH KT: No lineup would be complete without the obligatory Hello Kitty marketing tie-in, and the 942SH KT does the honors this time around with a black shell featuring stylized pink text and graphics.
• Samsung OMNIA VISION 940SC: Samsung’s now-famous OMNIA brand comes to Softbank on the wings of a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, one-seg tuner, and kickstand for desktop viewing.
• Sharp Jelly Beans 840SH: We don’t think you’d want to try eating it, but the 840SH comes in seven colors — hence the name, we think.
• Android: The simply-named Android runs — you guessed it — Android with a 3.7 inch AMOLED display and 1GHz Snapdragon processor; unfortunately, it won’t be available until next Spring and the manufacturer isn’t being revealed right now.

Both companies are also adding wireless digital photo frames to the lineup, and in Softbank’s case, a pair of data modems with support for 7.2Mbps on the downlink. We’ll admit — we didn’t think we’d live to see the day when Canada had three live networks with data rates trouncing Japan’s.

Read – Softbank Winter ’09 / Spring ’10 collection
Read – NTT DoCoMo’s new series

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo, Softbank announce grand total of 37 phones: Android, perfume holders, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen the iPhone 3GS handily win an ARM Cortex A8-powered browsing bakeoff against the Palm Pre, but now that a few more devices have hit the scene with the processor it’s time for another round, don’t you think? Pocketables certainly does, and they’ve pitted the 3GS against a pretty eclectic group of devices, including the Sharp NetWalker Android “smartbook,” the Archos 5 IMT, and the Archos 5 Android PMP. That’s two Android devices, one funky proprietary OS, and the iPhone, all running different browsers on different variants of the same chip design, so there are obviously a lot of variables at play here, but the results are still interesting: the 800MHz Android Archos 5’s WebKit browser was just a tick faster than the 600MHz iPhone 3GS, turning in an average page-load time of 9.0 seconds as opposed to 9.6, while the 800MHz NetWalker and 600MHz Archos 5 IMT trailed at 10.3 and 11.6 seconds. All we’re taking away from that is that WebKit-based mobile browsers still seem to be the speed champs, but we’re sure you have a different opinion.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iPhone 3GS bested by Android Archos 5 tablet in browsing benchmarks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming straight out of a brand new 10G production facility in Sakai, Sharp’s line of LX HDTVs (in 60-, 52-, 46- and 40-inch sizes) are all sporting the latest in LCD technology with UV²A panels and LED backlighting. Unfortunately, like Sony, these new screens abandon the higher quality RGB LED technology of the pricey XS1 series for cheaper white LEDs. Still, with a price of around $5,000 for a 52-inch compared to the $12,000 sticker shock of the XS1, it’s easy to see why the switch was made. Other improvements include a light sensor for auto-calibration, a six speaker (5 speakers on the 40-inch) integrated 2.1 channel sound system with “Duo Bass” subwoofer and the usual assortment of VOD and AQUOS network support in store for Japanese buyers this November. While already available on a few U.S. models expect the new tech to spread across Sharp’s U.S. lineup shortly, not to mention Sony and anyone other parties interested in a piece of the company’s suddenly expanded manufacturing muscle.

[Via AV Watch & Akihabara News]

Filed under: HDTV

Sharp combines its latest LCD improvements in LX series HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still not entirely sold on the intersection of gadgets and wood. Nevertheless, companies keep pumping out the concepts in response to our greener times. Here’s NTT DOCOMO’s effort using surplus wood leftover from Pacific culling operations. The Touch Wood prototype was developed in tandem with Sharp and Olympus and is based on the SH-04A slider. A Touch Wood mockup (pictured above) resembling a more feminine bean was also announced. In either case, the Touch Wood body is made of cypress without adding any artificial coloring or paint. And by using Olympus’ 3D compression molding technique, they’ve manage to maintain the kind of durability, and resistance to water, insects, and mildew that you’d expect from, well, a tree. With any luck, these handsets will be on exhibit in October at the ITU Telecom World and CEATEC Japan shows… touch wood. SH-04A prototype pictured after the break.

[Thanks, Stop Spamming]

Continue reading NTT DOCOMO’s Touch Wood mockups make naughty puns easy

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DOCOMO’s Touch Wood mockups make naughty puns easy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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