Willcom shows off 1seg-equipped Willcom 03 smartphone

It looks like those wanting something a bit more capable but just as brightly-colored as Willcom's most recent candybar phones could soon be getting their fix, as the company has just announced its new Willcom 03 smartphone, which packs a bundle of features into an eye-catching package. Up front and center on this one is a 3-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen display, which should complement the built-in 1seg mobile TV tuner quite nicely. Otherwise, you can expect built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, along with 256MB of flash memory, a microSD card slot for expansion, a 2 megapixel camera, and Windows Mobile 6.1 for an OS, to name but a few features. Look for this one to hit Japan by the end of June.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

[Craig @ May 26th 2008 4:18PM]

"3-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen display"?????

*drool*

Seriously...them's some teeensy pixels.

[Sean @ May 26th 2008 4:36PM]

WVGA is becoming standard in Japan, a $300 phone with WVGA is not "big" at all there, but they just wouldn't give it to the world.

[Ray @ May 26th 2008 5:13PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGufvgxI0AY&feature=related

Is this a really large phone, or are those really small hands?

[Jack @ May 26th 2008 4:24PM]

The specs and look remind of Sony's Xperia....minus the bright colours

[j_g_puff @ May 26th 2008 5:03PM]

The specs make it smell like an N96...but with a proper keyboard and touchscreen. Very nice. The photos say Sharp though - what's that about?

[Jamar @ May 26th 2008 6:34PM]

Yep- it's Sharp. Now this would make a great Sidekick.

[helloUser @ May 26th 2008 4:24PM]

Ah, nice, a tactile keyboard. So much more efficient than touchscreen.

[loosely_coupled @ May 26th 2008 5:56PM]

I would have to disagree with you there. A tactile hardware keyboard is more efficient than *MOST* touchscreen keyboards, although I've only tried a couple of cellphones with them. Also, I've haven't tried every high-end phone in existence, but I have had multiple blackberry QWERTYs and two Treos, and I have tried many popular "smartphones" like the Moto Q, T-mobile Edge, Samsung i760, HTC Tytn, etc.

That said, the touchscreen keyboard on the Apple iPhone / iPod Touch is actually perfectly usable and practical. Within a few weeks of owning one, I was literally 50% faster at typing emails than I was on my Treo 700wx.

I'm not trying to start an Apple flame war, i just want people to know that the iPhone keyboard actually works really well if you are open to trying it. However, I'm sure there are just as many people who will not like using it and will stay with QWERTY phones.

[TareX @ May 26th 2008 4:39PM]

it...has....EVERYTHING.

The numpad + qwerty is super fantastic..... EVERYTHING.

It even has Opera Mobile 9.5 as its default browser....EVERYTHING. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uq07R0IX7A

Where was this phone all that time? Phones like those deserve screenshots, early previews... in the wild... hands-on.... launch conferences and then a release!

Great, great phone.

[Ignatius @ May 26th 2008 4:44PM]

Here at Engadget, only the iPhone gets that treatment. Along with dozens of posts about 3G rumors in every post remotely about phones.

[TareX @ May 26th 2008 5:06PM]

I agree... 3G rumors, iPhone 3G rumors, and iPhone rumors took way more than their fair share. Especially when phones like those get the silent treatment...

I'm loving this phone esp. after seeing Opera Mobile 9.5 on it.

Does it have an accelerometer?

[poematik14 @ May 26th 2008 4:45PM]

...pl-please bring this to US.

please?

[Genjinaro @ May 26th 2008 10:08PM]

Ditto that one, sweet mercy this phone is loaded.

[helloUser @ May 26th 2008 4:59PM]

This thing even has adobe reader. Im guessing it displays PDF files? It also reads word, excel, and powerpoint. This would be rather nice for business oriented users.

When you list all of its features, it packs a huge punch:

-Tactile QWERTY keyboard
-touch screen
-bluetooth
-wifi
-microSD
-2mp camera
-6hrs talk time (very decent actually)

[loosely_coupled @ May 26th 2008 5:59PM]

Yea, except for the shitty fact that it runs Windows mobile, which is utter useless crap.

[DestroyerMTL @ May 26th 2008 5:03PM]

What kind of frequencies would these use? Are they GSM?

I seem to recall that Japan had its own variety of CDMA

[Cesar Cardoso @ May 26th 2008 5:28PM]

WILLCOM uses PHS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Handy-phone_System

[Kev @ May 26th 2008 5:29PM]

It's not GSM nor CDMA, Willcom uses PHS, as far as I know, only used in urban areas in Japan, Taiwan & Thailand.

Yet, Willcom uses it's own uniquely modified/updated version of PHS.

[Kris S. @ May 26th 2008 5:18PM]

very smexy, me want.

[NightBlade @ May 26th 2008 5:32PM]

Meh, XPERIA's better.

[TareX @ May 26th 2008 5:44PM]

Xperia's thicker, and doesn't have front keypad (so it's a strictly 2-hand device), which is a limitation.

But I'm excited about the panels so yeah Xperia is better... but not "meh" better at all.

[Vidit Bhargava @ May 26th 2008 8:09PM]

dude...xperia is not thicker...it is slimmer by 0.9mm
and xperia has the same set of keys on the front pad...which would offer more or less the same functionality...so whats the limitation???

[TareX @ May 27th 2008 5:30AM]

The Xperia does NOT have a fron numpad (with numbers and "abc" keyboard)...

This, on the other hand, is fully operable single-handedly without even sliding open the qwerty.

[Charly @ May 26th 2008 5:59PM]

Too bad no one uses Willcom here in Japan. I only know about one person who's got a Willcome phone as a second mobile and she can only use it at university in certain rooms, where small PHS transmitters are installed.

[Wonderkid @ May 26th 2008 6:56PM]

Agreed, be nice without Windows. Problem is, the Japanese are great at hardware but pants at software. If they could hire some top interaction designers and put a sexy face on Linux, then we would be talking.

[James Cameron @ May 26th 2008 7:12PM]

That's a damn big/thick phone. The touchscreen look pretty impressive from the Youtube.

[James Cameron @ May 26th 2008 7:20PM]

Damn, this phone is sexy!
http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Sharp-Willcom-03-The-Japanese-Diamond-5.jpg

[Travis @ May 26th 2008 8:56PM]

Why can't we have TV (ATSC please) on our phones here in the US?

[Nick Santella @ May 26th 2008 8:19PM]

It looks like the samsung mp3 players but a phone....


Very sexy

[Richard Lai @ May 26th 2008 8:22PM]

Wow, the numpad is actually virtual so you can also switch it to navpad mode. Nice!

[Travis @ May 26th 2008 9:03PM]

Why do we have to have a password and confirmation email to comment here?

[Genjinaro @ May 26th 2008 10:10PM]

Make it easy and have your browser save it. Or if you have Opera, wand it.

[Reader @ May 27th 2008 12:49AM]

Can Has Willcomz Plz??

[Suggymoto @ May 27th 2008 3:48PM]

Does this look like a K850 to anyone else? (with the exception of much better spec and a slide out keyboard)

[Bernie @ Oct 13th 2008 8:13AM]

Just bought this phone here in Japan two days ago.

It is awesome!! The only downside is, they don't add bilingual functionality to this phone.
I speak and read Japanese, so that's not really a problem for me, but for many others it is.
The ease of use is better than I anticipated, with Windows providing all the tools such as Word, Excel, OneNote & even Powerpoint!
Internet browsing is a breeze, but works better through the 'Menu' function instead of directly through Internet Explorer and Opera Browser.
There are two negative points about this phone: the first being there are no parentheses ( that's 'brackets' to us Brits ) and secondly, it doesn't allow for YouTube video download. However, the latter problem can be overcome by downloading and using a DRM removal tool found on http://www.download.com to enable download to this device.
Using 'Active Sync' from Microsoft, you are able to download various software packages, such as iPhone apps to give it that iPhone look and feel (if you're really sad and think iPhone is the in thing that is).

Sending text messages is easy but a little slower than regular cell phones, but hey, we could all use a little more patience!

The 1-seg TV provides awesome picture quality with matching sound, and the body of the phone is tough as was evident from the fact that it was knocked on the floor by a member of staff in the store, without so much as a single scratch.

This phone will be hard to beat for quite some time, but as the normal requirement is a two-year contract for services, I guarantee anyone owning this phone will get more than enough use from it before deciding to upgrade within a year or two.

[ann.green @ Oct 31st 2008 6:45PM]

hi everyone
i fell in love from a first look on this phone.
but...would it work in Canada?can anyone help me plz!!!!!!!!