Sharp's SH-01A 8 megapixel flip packs a 28-mm wide angle lens and Dolby Pro Logic II

Sure, the US has fancy-pants capacitive touchscreen phones out the wazoo, but Japan's superphones still dominate when boiled down to a base, spec-for-spec comparison. Take this new Sharp SH-01A clamshell for example, just revealed by the FCC. It sports a 28mm wide-angle lens with 8 megapixel CCD sensor and, according to rumor, Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound for your microSD stored media. Remember, FCC testing doesn't mean it'll be sold between the left and right coasts -- this flip is likely just being certified for US roaming whenever it's finally announced for NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

[Timerider @ Oct 15th 2008 10:15AM]

How does surround sound work in a cellphone?

[Bellzebub @ Oct 15th 2008 10:29AM]

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/prologic_II.html

'nuff said.

[iEye @ Oct 15th 2008 10:34AM]

So basically these guys cannot make a good cell phone, so they are reduced to taking a camera and adding a phone to it... Yea good luck going anywhere with these phones...

Any business (any place non-public) would ask you not to take a picture with a high res camera like these.... that is why the iPhone knows how to tone it down...

How about making a good all in one device first instead of taking another device and slapping a phone into it...
heck I could go out and get a tablet PC and install VOIP and call it a phone...

overdone. get a real camera.

[Ebzy @ Oct 15th 2008 10:50AM]

I dont know if this phone is good or not, but defending the iphone by defending its camera feature is ...









...er ... unique!?!

[Ondskan @ Oct 15th 2008 10:53AM]

"So basically these guys cannot make a good cell phone, so they are reduced to taking a camera and adding a phone to it..." "instead of taking another device and slapping a phone into it..."


Is not the iphone that?Ipod touch+phone? my teacher and other people i know that bought the iphone are really disappointed with it as a phone, for example, the low volume when talking to someone, many times he have to go outside of the class to hear the people on the other side, normally with is other phones he can hear it clearly in the class.

[Dev1ant @ Oct 15th 2008 10:58AM]

Ya. The dude's a troll.
He's trying to lure out all the Apple haters by glorifying Apple products. The only thing good about the iPhone is its UI as well as its browser (which isn't special anymore considering the new Opera is just as good if not better). It's more like Apple couldn't make a good phone overall. But who cares? If Apple included a VGA camera, people would still flock to the iPhone and say it's the best phone ever because who would need anything more than a VGA camera?

Pff. What an idiotic comment. If you're requested to not take pictures in a private area, it's regardless of whatever resolution/camera you use. No pictures period.

[Aaron @ Oct 15th 2008 11:04AM]

"So basically these guys cannot make a good cell phone"

They're the biggest selling phone manufacturer in Japan. They obviously know what the market wants.

I'm still trying to figure out whether you're an Apple fanboy or a Microsoft employee trying to make all Apple fans look like idiots....

[Esat Dedezade @ Oct 15th 2008 11:38AM]

My IQ just dropped 10 points having regretablly read your comment.

[asg84 @ Oct 15th 2008 12:12PM]

this one of the most idiotic comments i have ever seen in this site , wonder u ever gone to school iEye

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th Account Happy @ Oct 15th 2008 1:57PM]

i think ieye's right, my iphones perfect for proffessional photography

[POW! @ Oct 15th 2008 7:03PM]

APPLE TROLL, BEGONE!

[noyp @ Oct 15th 2008 8:04PM]

Stop feeding him!

[neuralien @ Oct 15th 2008 11:07AM]

wow, that's some pretty creative fanboy ranting right there... like Ebzy said, defending the iPhone by saying that it's good because its camera sucks is pretty unique...

[Shinigami @ Oct 15th 2008 11:11AM]

Japanese get a CCD camera again... this time its wide lens and 8 megapixel... Too bad it won't work in my country - no network to connect this device to...

[kb2zuz @ Oct 15th 2008 1:29PM]

To Engadget: Please, please, please stop saying something "sports a 28mm wide-angle lens" it's obviously not a 28mm lens, it may be a "28mm (35mm equivalent) lens" but if it was a real 28mm lens 1) the camera would have to have a sensor the size of a DSLR for the lens to be wide angle and 2) the phone would be over an inch (closer to 3cm) thick. It may seem stupid, but that little "(35mm equivalant)" makes a big difference.

[Jeff @ Oct 15th 2008 3:48PM]

Why should Engadget say something other than what's, you know, actually WRITTEN ON THE PHONE?

Look at the picture.

Now, Sharp themselves may be full of it, but this isn't a product review. It's just a little blurb saying the phone is in the FCC database. I don't see why Engadget should be expected to make judgments here, especially without any hands-on experience. For all they know it could be 2 inches thick and have a full frame sensor. (We know it probably doesn't, but again, we have no real evidence of that.)

btw, this phone is actually the Sharp SH-907i. I'm not sure why it's labeled SH-01A here, but it is the SH-907i if you want to look for it on NTT DoCoMo's web site when it's released. It's not there yet.

[yui @ Oct 15th 2008 11:31PM]

@jeff

for your information docomo's naming system will be changed starting from the "907i" series.
There will be no more 907i but something like SH-01A, SH-02A, F-01A etc.
They try not to differentiate high-end (90xi) and low-end (70xi) as in the past.

@kb2zuz

probably it wont be 3cm thinckness. ppl already spot a "masked ver." of this phone in Tokyo Game Show. It wont be that thick, more or less just like the SH906i.

[p3ngwin @ Oct 16th 2008 2:22AM]

"Sure, the US has fancy-pants capacitive touchscreen phones out the wazoo..."

of all the mobile phones and MID's,etc launched, the US has the Iphone, the....err....the iphone and the....
how many Capacitance devices?

one.
just one.
that's not many.
in fact that single device stands quite alone with it's unique screen yes?

hardly "capacitive touchscreen phones out the wazoo...", is it?

[abubasim @ Oct 27th 2008 10:37AM]

Don't you people see that iEye was being sarcastic? He was just poking fun at Apple and their mediocre phone.