Check it out, 'cause you're looking at what must be the world's smallest QWERTY device capable of running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1. At least it will be when it makes its debut in Japan come June. Measuring just 188 x 84 x 25.9mm and 470grams, all that power / battery conservation / smallness of the Willcom D4 (aka, Sharp-built WS016SH) comes courtesy of a 1.3-GHz Atom processor pumping away beneath that sliding / tilting 5-inch, 262k color, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen hiding a 64-key QWERTY keyboard. Inside you'll find 1GB of memory, a 1.8-inch 40GB disk, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microSD slot, HD audio codec with mono-speaker, and Opera browser riding atop Japanese PHS (
W-SIM) or 802.11b/g WiFi. Hitting Japan for ¥128,600 (about $1,254) -- a lot less with 2 year contract. And with Willcom
experimenting with Android, don't be surprised to find this released in an alternate form later in the year or early '09.
Engadget Japanese is at the launch event with plenty of hands-on images in the gallery below.
Update: Whoa, weird. Our Japanese colleagues are telling us that there's an optional Bluetooth, companion handset for making calls over W-SIM. Gallery updated with new pics.
[Via
Engadget Japanese]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Draaaainage! @ Apr 14th 2008 3:53AM
Any details on when / if this device is Eddie Murphying? (read: Coming to America)
Esat Dedezade @ Apr 14th 2008 4:32AM
I see what you did there!
This device looks sweet. Any news on battery life, because if it sucks, it kind of nullifies the sweetness of this device.
Kind of like eating chocolate then drinking coffee.
Why do I always want things I can never afford?
Oh wait:
the $£$£ of products I want > my income
That's why.
Mark @ Apr 14th 2008 5:53AM
UP AND ATOM!
canr @ Apr 14th 2008 3:55AM
Holy mother of vista-runnishness, what a device!
Flashpoint @ Apr 14th 2008 8:04AM
I'm looking for the smallest Qwerty device that can play CRYSIS.
evenSong @ Apr 14th 2008 4:09AM
The fugly keyboard aside, thats a pretty feature packed device. The price is also packed...
linuxamp @ Apr 14th 2008 4:11AM
This actual device is highly unlikely to ever make it to the US due to the w-sim card used which is a Japan only thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-SIM
The w-zero3's never came, I doubt these will.
http://www.engadget.com/tag/W-ZERO3/
For those of you thinking "Skype"... Willcom has several data networks to choose from, a few of which offer unlimited data but none are fast/stable enough for quality Skype calls at the time of this writing.
parasite_evil @ Apr 14th 2008 4:41AM
*fap* *fap* *fap*
Esat Dedezade @ Apr 14th 2008 5:25AM
0_o
You could at least have the courtesy to do that a little quieter.
I mean, REALLY.
Benhur @ Apr 14th 2008 4:44AM
Can someone please explain what is there to do with such a machine? I mean, screen size is on the verge of non usable (for vista), forget excel/word, ergonomics are horrible (for a cell phone), this simply takes the worst of all worlds, combined.
Mark @ Apr 14th 2008 5:13AM
At the rate these devices are going, I can look forward to getting bifocals within a couple of years. And I'm not even old.
Johan S @ Apr 14th 2008 5:04AM
Wtf-SIM ??
All handheld devices that cost over $150 should have GSM and GPS built in.
DiscoCat5 @ Apr 14th 2008 5:08AM
How does vista run on little machines like this anyway?
Mark @ Apr 14th 2008 5:15AM
Miniaturization. Vista (Windows) can run on anything that supports it. They use x86 processors and the rest is easy.
DiscoCat5 @ Apr 14th 2008 9:06AM
nah what i meant was like performance wise, is it good?, slow?, or what but thanks for the info anyway
Dubb @ Apr 14th 2008 3:09PM
Vista has an optional "effects" (I guess is the best word) setting which you can disable Aero on. Which includes 3D Flip, transparent windows, and other special graphical features. I would imagine that none of these devices could handle it.
And if it can handle it, it will only be with so many applications open, as soon as you open too many with the addition of Aero I would imagine things might come to a crawl.
substance90 @ Apr 14th 2008 5:47AM
Wow, this is a great device! If I import one from Japan, I can set it up with XP, this would be great!
But with a 1,3Ghz CPU and 470grams... not very high hopes about battery life... :(
Daza @ Apr 14th 2008 6:43AM
No idea why you'd want to run Windows XP on this thing, there's a good reason why it's already got Vista on it. Apart from the fact XP is hard to get from MS (ASUS still managed to do it), Vista has a lot more support for tablet PCs such as this. You'd really be shooting yourself in the foot if you were to run XP on this.
Vista SP1 is now far more mature and stable than ever before, and devices like this which are purpose built for Vista will run it flawlessly. Honestly, what advantage would you have with XP on this?
substance90 @ Apr 14th 2008 12:37PM
I haven`t really tried SP1, but as far as my Vista and XP experience goes, a 1Ghz CPU and 1Gig RAM is even near enough for Vista..
I hope you`re right, cause I like the device!
Simon @ Apr 14th 2008 7:14AM
Pretty nice, i wonder what the cost will be with a 2 year contract. The Zero-3's were about ¥40,000 if I recall correctly.
I also wonder if when the iphone ever comes here, will I actually want it when I can something like this, that I can run any windows software on and not have to Hack in order to load my documents easily onto it.
ssed @ Apr 14th 2008 8:03AM
yeah, that's right.
W-SIM is Japan-Original SIM style, so other countries' user never use this machine in network.
Actually, W-SIM is bigger than any popular SIM-cards.
Labrador @ Apr 14th 2008 8:56AM
OK it's very impressive technically, but I really don't want to mess with the Vista user interface while I'm on the road. Apple and Nokia have much more convenient interfaces.
syno @ Apr 14th 2008 9:18AM
it can't be running Vista so faster according to it's hardware..
and,the battery will be a problem too...
Victor @ Apr 14th 2008 11:59AM
so, is this umpc or a phone???
phone sites list it as a umpc and most tech sites list it as a phone.
i say umpc
Vance @ Apr 14th 2008 12:27PM
Funny how a couple of years back when UMPC's were being floated as a concept, everyone was snickering and bashing the idea. Now here they are again and suddenly they are "the cool".
I guess timing is everything. Is it too late for Palm to revive the Folio?
Loonie @ Apr 14th 2008 1:31PM
But will it run Reason?
jspan @ Apr 14th 2008 1:40PM
Yes
saq @ Apr 14th 2008 2:28PM
A 1.3ghz Atom will certainly run vista fine and dandy (I have a 1.2ghz C2D ULV, and I crank it down to 25% max CPU and it still runs fine) and with the power of the Atom it should get some incredible battery life. I want!
Alternatively, I hope the OQO model 3 gets the Atom and thins it down a bit.
Loonie @ Apr 14th 2008 4:41PM
It is good to see a CPU giant making such efforts to seriously improve power per watt processing. Props to Intel on this one.
But I must prop VIA the most in this category from a longer term historical viewpoint. They have been focusing on extremely small and efficient x86 processing while the other players seemed mostly fixated with how many more rockets they could strap onto their designs.
Garst @ Apr 14th 2008 5:26PM
Let's get the HD audio pumping from that mono-speaker!
Sachin @ Apr 14th 2008 5:41PM
I want Japanese colleagues...
senior @ Apr 14th 2008 10:47PM
GeekStuff4U already have it in pre-order for $1,566.00
http://www.geekstuff4u.com/product_info.php?currency=USD&manufacturers_id=&products_id=742
Cassini @ Apr 15th 2008 8:22AM
Great device. Now all they need to do is upgrade the WiFi to b/g/n, add in SiRFstar Prima GPS, make sure the keyboard is backlit (otherwise, definitely no sale), and integrate Quad GSM/3.5G. Then bring it to the States.
If they made those changes and added those features, they'd sell these things like hotcakes.
Tim @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:24PM
God that’s ugly, kinda reminds me of the Nokia E90 all be it far more powerful. Trouble is though like the E90 it'll probably be a jack of all trades, master of none. devices like these look cool to geeks but never to the main stream, still im sure the japs will love it and that’s why it'll stay there. For me though i'd much rather have a decent midsize lappy that i can work sensibly at and phone that doesn’t make me look like a plonker when i answer it!