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Huawei GL07S revealed for Japan, looks like the Ascend P2
This one's a little puzzling. Japanese carrier Emobile has announced a new phone from Huawei, the memorably-named GL07S. The confusing part is that it looks almost identical to the black-colored Ascend P2, with the same three-line menu button differentiating it from another handset leak. It's hard to say just yet, but Huawei might be readying two devices like it did during CES, where it unveiled the P2's predecessor alongside an even thinner S model. This Japan-bound offering measures up a 8.6mm thick, which while certainly no porker, is a bit more than those promises of a 6.5mm smartphone. However, there's still enough here to intrigue us, with a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 13-megapixel camera, 32GB of built-in storage and a 2,350mAh battery rounding out a pretty respectable spec sheet. It's also going to be an important phone for the relatively small phone network too -- it's their first LTE smartphone.
Xcom Global launches LTE data for travelers at $18 a day, starting in Japan
Xcom Global has been busy carving out a reputation as the world traveler's best friend, but that globetrotter has always had to make do with 3G even if there was 4G back home. As of September 20th, frequent roamers of the sort will have access to LTE when abroad -- at least, if they're planning a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. A deal between Xcom and EMOBILE will let visitors to Japan get up to 75Mbps by renting a Huawei GL01P hotspot to the tune of $18 a day, up slightly from Xcom's usual $15. The pocket router won't work in other countries, but it will supply dual-carrier HSPA+ 3G if travelers wander outside of the fastest coverage areas. Not planning a trip to Osaka? We're told Xcom plans to expand its LTE option to Europe at some point in the future, starting with the UK -- good timing, that.
Smart Bar from eAccess combines Gingerbread with traditional numpad for old-school enthusiasts
Well, you don't see this too often. A new phone dubbed the Smart Bar is set for sale in Japan on September 22nd that combines the retro styling of a candybar with a modern 3-inch touchscreen. We're undeniably intrigued by the numerical keypad (for obvious reasons), and the WVGA display sports an admirable pixel density of 311ppi, although the rest of the specs are decidedly mundane. The handset is manufactured by Huawei and features an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 SoC, 512MB of RAM, a 5 megapixel camera and Gingerbread. There's also support for 802.11n (which allows tethering for up to five simultaneous devices), Bluetooth 2.1 and IrDA. It features 3G support on the 2100 and 1700MHz spectra, along with tri-band 1900 / 1800 / 900MHz GSM capability. The Smart Bar will sell for approximately ¥29,800 ($385), where fans of vintage fusion may select from black, white and brown variants.
eMobile claims it has Japan's first commercial HSPA+ network
How many Japanese carriers would have guessed already have 100 percent HSPA+ coverage? 3? 5? 17? Believe it or not, the answer was a big, fat goose egg until up-and-comer eMobile stepped up to the plate and upgraded its back end in recent days. Customers with properly-equipped hardware are now cruising along at up to 21Mbps (well, theoretically, anyhow), which should be more than enough to take 'em into the LTE-based next phase of their plans for world domination. It's said that since garnering its spectrum license back in 2005, eMobile has already managed to capture some 15 percent of Japan's HSPA market -- an impressive stat, considering they've got to go head-to-head with giants NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank Mobile -- and HSPA+ certainly won't hurt their cause.
Japan signs off on carriers' LTE plans
It's not often that we have an opportunity to point and laugh at the crushing antiquity of anything in Japan. Look, don't get your hopes up, we can't really do it here either -- but with LTE, it seems like the rest of the world has finally reached technological parity. Japan has just gotten around to approving its 4G carriers' game plans, with NTT DoCoMo likely first out of the gate thanks to deployments in 2010 (around the same time that Verizon expects to have some markets in action). eMobile, Softbank, and current CDMA carrier KDDI will follow on through 2011, with a grand total of over a trillion yen (about $10.4B) being spent in the next half decade. Don't get us wrong -- we're sure the handsets will still be cooler than anything we can get, and they'll likely have the entire country blanketed in 4G before most others have just a handful of cities live, but at least they're not on 5G. Yet.[Via IntoMobile, thanks Lauren]
Japanese officials to allocate LTE frequencies in June
Just last month we heard that Japan's CDMA giant (that'd be KDDI) would be throwing its weight behind LTE, and now we have every idea that it'll be filling out an application to prove as much in April. According to a new report in The Mainichi Daily News, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has decided to begin taking applications for 4G frequency allocation beginning in around three months, while approvals are expected to start in June. NTT Docomo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and Emobile have all been granted permission to apply, and if we had to bet, we'd say the entire foursome will do just that. Ah, 4G -- so close, yet so far away.[Thanks, Vagrant]
Japanese carrier EMOBILE announces first two voice handsets
Up until today, Japan's EMOBILE was up and running, sure, but there was a catch: it didn't offer any phones. It had been offering Sharp's lovely EM-ONE, yes, but the device wasn't voice capable. The low-cost GSM carrier is movin' on up in the world now, though, with the introduction of the Toshiba-sourced H11T clamshell and the Windows Mobile 6-powered S11HT "EMONSTER" from HTC, which should look very familiar to anyone with a TyTN II or Tilt. EMOBILE's got a fairly small footprint that's restricted primarily to densely populated areas, so anyone looking to jet set across Japan is probably going to want the H11T, which is capable of roaming on DoCoMo's airwaves and features a 3.2 megapixel camera, one-seg tuner, and a QVGA display. The company's going to start taking preorders on March 1, with the official voice launch going down on March 28.
Sharp shows EM-ONE Pocket PC for Japan's EMOBILE
Goodbye W-ZERO3, hello EM-ONE. As lust for Japan-only Windows Mobile devices goes, Sharp's W-ZERO3 for Willcom (along with its various spinoffs) has always held a very special place in our hearts, but it looks like there's a new sheriff in town. The EM-ONE, also from Sharp, will be a launch device for Japan's new GSM carrier EMOBILE next month, rocking HSDPA, WiFi, and one-seg TV tuning in a 18.9mm-thin package. "But wait," as they say, "that's not all." Nope, not hardly. The madness continues with a dual-slide design, providing what Sharp calls "Control Style," "Input Style," and "View Style." And just what will you be viewing, you ask? A true wide VGA (800 x 480) display showing Windows Mobile 5 in all its glory sitting atop a 520MHz XScale. Throw in a little Bluetooth here, 512MB of onboard Flash there, and you have pretty much the hottest thing going (at least among the outgoing batch of WinMo 5 devices). It'll apparently run ¥95,000 (about $796) contract-free, but tack on the requisite 2 year agreement and you're only looking at ¥39,800 ($333) -- not bad at all, considering the package.[Via Unwired View]
