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Slickdeals' best in tech for October 15th: 60-inch Sharp AQUOS LCD HDTV and a slew of components
Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long. If you're looking to get a jump on some of your holiday shopping, perhaps this round of tech deals will provide the necessary motivation to do just that. A 60-inch Sharp AQUOS 1080p LCD HDTV tops the group, and a smattering of components round out the lot. Keep and eye on those pesky discount codes and rebate links, though, because we'd hate for you to miss out. Head on past the break to peruse the whole list.
The first smartphone with a low-power IGZO display: the 4.9-inch Sharp Aquos Phone Zeta SH-02E
Japanese mega-operator NTT DoCoMo has just unveiled a interesting addition to its winter line-up: the Sharp Aquos Phone Zeta SH-02E, which is the first production smartphone we've seen with an IGZO display. If you hadn't heard, the indium gallium zinc oxide technology promises higher translucency compared to regular LCDs, which reduces the demand for backlighting and hence means less battery drain -- and you can learn more from our hands-on at IFA. Fortunately, in addition to its new-fangled 4.9-inch 1,280 x 720 panel, the SH-02E boasts a healthy spec sheet in other departments too, including a 16-megapixel camera, 1.5GHz S4 Pro quad-core engine with Adreno 320 graphics, NFC and compatibility with NTT's LTE network. The only slight downer is that it comes with Android 4.0 out of the box, but that's hardly going to be an issue by the time a model with this type of display lands stateside -- assuming it ever does.
Sharp 'Moth Eye' LCD Panel demo shows off future HDTVs with less glare
While its high pixel density mobile displays stole much of the attention at CEATEC 2012, Sharp also has tech destined for bigger screens like this "Moth Eye Panel" that Engadget Japanese took a look at during the show. Thanks to nanoscale irregularities on its surface similar to the eye of a moth it claims to give bright colors and high contrast while cutting down glare as seen above (moth eye panel on the left) The technology isn't in use yet, but Sharp says the film has been produced in 60-, 70- and 80-inch sizes already, so if you thought the company's extra large and Elite HDTVs couldn't get any better, next year's model will probably have at least one way to prove you wrong.
Sharp's new 443ppi 5-inch smartphone displays on show at CEATEC 2012 (update: 6.1-inch 498ppi panel spotted)
Here at CEATEC, the Japanese display maker is showing of its latest portable screens. Although the vivid 1080p displays were scurried away in the corner of Sharp's stand, we managed to grab a few photos of its 443ppi -- likely smartphone-bound -- tech. From these prototype samples (the screen will go into production later this month), it's looking pretty good, with Sharp's thinnest GS-Silicon technology reducing the layers between the LCD display and our eyes. Although we were told not to touch, viewing angles were also impressive -- we could see ourselves gazing at YouTube clips on this screen in whichever smartphone it ends up on. Sharp weren't talking manufacturers just yet, but you can take a closer look in our gallery below. Update: Sharp also quietly exhibited its 6.1-inch 498ppi panel on the other end of the booth, but we were told it won't be out in the market until next year.
Sharp begins production of 1080p smartphone displays: 443ppi crammed into a 5-inch LCD
Layoffs and loans may be dominating our Sharp coverage at the moment, but that just makes this type of news all the sweeter. The company has announced its LCD panel type 5 -- a 5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display packing a Retina-busting 443ppi (just trumping LG's similar 440ppi LCD). An outcome of its layer-reducing CG-Silicon technology, the smartphone-targeted screen goes into full-scale production this month and will be shown off at CEATEC Japan this very week. We'll try to give it eyes-on treatment at the show, but you can rub your hands together sinisterly in the meantime and just think about the glorious devices which will bear it.
Sharp takes out $4.6 billion loan while it continues restructuring
Much of the business news out of Japan from Sharp hasn't been good, but for now at least it's worked out a loan agreement to keep rolling. It's still pursuing a deal with manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry / Foxconn that would provide a much-needed injection of capital, but those talks have reportedly stalled. Until something happens there it has a 360 billion yen ($4.6 billion) syndicated loan worked out with a couple of Japanese banks that runs until June 30th 2013. We're still not sure how Sharp will proceed with all this, but hopefully an agreement can be reached that brings its sweet IGZO LCD tech and any other new screens it will be showing off at CEATEC next week to more devices.
Report: Sharp increases layoffs number, aiming for profitability by March 2014
Japanese electronics giant Sharp is reportedly planning a major restructuring to bring the company back to profitability by 2014, as reported by Kyodo News. Said restructuring will see Sharp cut nearly 11,000 (10,966) jobs from its 57,170-person workforce by March 2014 -- just under 20 percent of all employees -- and sell off various assets, resulting in ¥213.1 billion ($2.7 billion) of much needed capital from lenders. Named assets to be sold include international manufacturing plants, and shares in other Japanese electronics company, Toshiba. The company also plans on shuttering its international manufacturing plants, as well as once again cutting employee wages. So, what's gonna save Sharp from more turmoil? A rethinking of its LCD TV business, apparently, as well as a "strengthening" of the company's smartphone LCD offerings. Sharp's also moving away from solar batteries, selling off its US-based solar firm Recurrent Energy LLC. Company prez Takashi Okuda will head up the massive restructuring, leading an "emergency management committee" starting in October. All of this adds up to Sharp expecting a return to profitability by next April. You'll forgive us if we're a bit wary of that prediction, but our best wishes are with those impacted by the chaos.
Sharp and Fujitsu join PlayStation Certified program, PS Mobile SDK available this November
Move over HTC -- both Sharp and Fujitsu are joining Sony's PlayStation Certified program, allowing games in the PlayStation Mobile marketplace to be purchased and played on various portable devices from the two hardware manufacturers. In Fujitsu's case, its ARROW series of smartphones and tablets will carry the PlayStation Mobile titles, while Sharp isn't getting specific just yet. Beyond the partnership announcement, Sony's PlayStation Mobile SDK comes out of beta this November and becomes available for any developer. Licences cost $100/year, and the SDK becomes available on a region-by-region basis starting with Japan, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, allowing for cross platform development on PlayStation Certified devices and the Vita. Update: The PlayStation Mobile store will launch on October 3rd in nine countries, including Japan, the US, Canada and the UK, carrying 30 titles on the opening day, with more coming as they roll off the production line.
Sharp further cuts bonuses and salaries to stay above water, save $180 million
Sharp is already in full-on belt-tightening mode, and it's not just cutting jobs to keep its staffing costs in line with shrinking finances. The sinking tech giant is doubling the size of executives' salary cuts to 10 percent for a year-long period, all the while slashing planned 2013 bonuses to half of what they were in June. Sadly, everyday workers will have to take some of the same medicine. They're facing similar bonus cuts and will have to take a 7 percent drop in salary for the same year. Between these steps and cuts to extras like travel allowances, Sharp hopes to save ¥14 billion in the current fiscal year, or about $180 million -- a small amount next to the $2 billion in credit the company just recently obtained, but also a sign of just how much penny-pinching is involved in keeping the corporate ship afloat. Let's hope the sacrifice pays off.
iPhone 5: the rumor roundup
We're on the cusp of Apple's sixth iPhone launch, and there's very different expectations than there were last year. The 2011 rumor cycle left more than a few people burned: the later-than-usual October launch and repeated claims of a heavily-remade design led some to a disappointment when the iPhone 4S arrived, even though the final product had a slew of camera, speed and voice command upgrades. This year, the rumors have been grounded well before there was an event date in our hands. There have been fewer instances of wild rumors. Instead, it's been based more around pragmatism, using either tangible leaks or sources that have a solid track record. Think of the perennial leaks from the Wall Street Journal or the increasingly well-established sourcing from iMore and The Loop. Whether you're conspiracy-minded or not, it's been hard to ignore the sheer number of claims that have tamped down expectations rather than inflated them. It's as though there's a collective fear we'll see a repeat of the 2011 hysteria and deal with fans (or detractors) complaining about missing features that were never promised in the first place. Where last summer was full of uncertainty, this year there's a mounting consensus as to what we'll see, how we'll get it, and when. Tracking everything that's been mentioned may be a handful, however. With that in mind, we'll dive in and gauge what's likely to emerge from behind Apple's curtain on September 12th -- as well as what we can rule out from the get-go.
Sharp mortgages itself to the hilt just to keep going
Sharp has mortgaged its offices and factory buildings in order to raise the cash it needs to stay in business, according to Reuters. It's cut a deal with banks for nearly $2 billion in short-term credit secured on its assets -- including the factory that reportedly produces displays for the iPhone. Sharp had pinned its hopes on cash from Hon Hai, but the Chinese giant is apparently delaying the money with the aim of gaining more control over Sharp's business. In response, Sharp has pledged to send president Takashi Okuda to meet Hon Hai's Terry Gou in Taipei -- just as soon as it's scraped together the air-fare.
Rumor Roundup: Case not quite closed
The calendar pages are flipping away rapidly now that the Labor Day break is done; September 12th is right around the corner. As is the way of such things, the wilder speculation and left-field rumors of the fallow months between product introductions gradually give way to the reality of shipping gadgets and actual features. The closer we get to iPhone Day, the more concrete things get; we begin to see the bright line between "rumor" and "news" get fuzzy and soft. That's why this week's Roundup splits its focus between things we think we know, and things we know are fake. German Carriers Receiving Nano SIMs (iFun.de, AppleInsider) The tiny, controversial Nano SIM cards essential for the next-generation iPhone are reportedly showing up at Telekom stores in Germany. As Steve pointed out earlier today, these cards don't have a specific phone associated with them... yet. The other interesting point in this story is that the carrier reps are supposedly also seeing a new 10-euro LTE plan add-on. Right now only one HTC handset is LTE-enabled for Telekom, so it's a fair bet that the next one on the list will be le iPhone nouveau (or, properly, iPhone 5). Sharp Lagging On iPhone Displays (Reuters) A source "familiar with operations" at the Japanese manufacturer told Reuters that production on screens for iPhone 5 is not keeping up with demand, and that the company's profit margins are being squeezed by the high costs of making the new screens. While it's certainly possible that Sharp is running into issues with the newer, thinner in-cell screens that supposedly will front the iPhone 5, the other two manufacturers tasked with building the screens haven't yet said a peep about issues they might be having. In this case, since Apple will be building these widgets as fast as they possibly can, having 1/3 of the screen suppliers struggling to keep up isn't great, but it's not necessarily catastrophic. Video Of Assembled iPhone Next-Gen Parts (MacOtakara, iLab Factory) Proving again that the whole does not equal the sum of its parts, several Japanese sites posted videos of an assembled mockup built from leaked iPhone components. The mockup shows all the rumored features: longer screen, next-gen dock connector, two-tone back panel, and so forth. If the parts are legit -- and at this stage in manufacturing, there's no reason to think they'd be fake -- then the assembly does give some sense of what the iPhone 5 will look like in hand. iPhone 5 Dummy at IFA 2012 (iMore, GSM Israel News) There's an iPhone at IFA! There's an iPhone at IFA! Well, actually, there's not. What was showing up at the European trade show was a dummy iPhone that case makers are "confident" represents the dimensions of the next-gen device. According to the Italian site HDblog.it, similar "mockups" are readily available at retail in China. (Apparently the word "fake" means the same thing in Italian that it does in English.) Nevertheless, the same deal as the Japanese parts assembly above: assuming that the pieces fit together as expected, this should be a reasonable proxy for the finished device. The Verge put together a video hands-on that shows the mockup next to an iPhone 4. Video Shows Redesigned "iPhone 5" Headphones (Tinhte.vn via MacRumors & BGR) Those are some seriously funky earbuds. Are your ears shaped that way? Mine aren't -- but then again, they're also not shaped like the original iPhone earbuds, which I find downright impossible to use. If the Vietnamese site's pictures and video are accurate, Apple's next-gen earbits will be tapered and sleek. That's a pretty big "if," however. As BGR points out, the headphones as pictured lack an in-line remote control -- so they can't possibly be intended for an iPhone in their current build state. iPhone Board Shows A6 CPU Branding (iMore) Given that the ARM chips powering the iPhone and iPad are Apple's own to brand as it sees fit, there wouldn't be much surprise if the next phone carries an "A6" chip versus the A5X quad-core currently found in the Retina-equipped iPad. As iMore points out, the phone version doesn't need four cores, and if it's trying to run LTE it definitely doesn't need the battery drain of that class of CPU. New iPad Model Identifiers Show Up In Logs (Marco.org) Instapaper's head honcho believes he's spotted the telltale signs of the iPad micro in two model identifiers that appeared in his server logs. One would be the WiFi version, the other the LTE or 3G build. Although in theory they could be die shrinks or other modifications of existing models, that's not what Arment's gut tells him. We know from past experience that these browser strings can be forged, but in this case it's plausible that the real devices are really hitting the Instapaper servers. Unfortunately, if the other rumors are true, that won't be confirmed for a month or so.
Sharp's IGZO low-power, high-res display technology gets its time to shine at IFA
Alongside the slew of 90-inch TVs, Sharp also used this year's IFA to show off something a little less glamorous. Its IGZO technology (that's indium gallium zinc oxide, kids) was developed in conjunction with the Semiconductor Energy Laboratory. According to Sharp, the displays "have a significantly higher translucency [compared to traditional LCD TFT displays]. This improvement means that smaller or fewer LEDs are needed for the backlighting." The result is less power consumption for high-res displays and higher sensitivity on touchscreens, with far less noise to contend with. The company plans to create three panel sizes to start: 10-inch (2560 x 1600), seven-inch (1280 x 800) and 32-inch (3840 x 2160). Sharp was also demoing a prototype seven-inch tablet (which you can see in the gallery below) alongside the displays. The representative we spoke with wouldn't reveal anything about specific products the company plans to produce using the technology, but did tell us that we can expect to see some IGZO products in 2013. Check out an explanatory video after the break.%Gallery-163988%
Sources claim Sharp's production of iPhone screens delayed
Not even a full moon cycle has passed since Sharp's president, Takashi Okuda, trumpeted the fact that his firm was one of the chosen few selected to provide screens for the new iPhone. Now, according to Reuters the troubled company has slipped behind on production, with The Wall Street Journal going as far to say mass production hasn't started at all. The nearest thing to a reason given for the situation is "manufacturing difficulties." If you were worried this might delay the reveal of Apple's next flagship, the WSJ also reminds us that Sharp is still one of three suppliers, though it's unclear just how big a slice of the production-pie Okuda's brigade has been given. At the very least, those on the production line can likely enjoy some much appreciated overtime.
Sharp reports 2,000 job cuts in Japan, more changes expected
There was little doubt jobs would be on the line after Sharp's significant Q1 losses, but now it's official. Following a board meeting today, the company has joined the likes of RIM, Sony and HP, announcing the "voluntary retirement" of around 2,000 staff in Japan before the year's out. The layoffs are part of a wider, textbook reorganization plan, and are expected to cost a sizeable 27 billion yen (approximately $344 million). Neither figure is set in stone, however, so when everything is finalized we could see more jobs impacted and those costs soar. Whether this puts off potential investment from Hon Hai Precision Industry is unknown, but while Sharp's TVs get ever bigger, its wallet continues to get thinner.
Reserve the Sharp AQUOS SH-10D on NTT DoCoMo from tomorrow, full launch next week
We knew the Sharp AQUOS SH-10D was due to hit NTT DoCoMo at some point this summer, and now we've got the full details. You can reserve yours through the carrier from tomorrow, and the proper launch will take place the following week on August 30th. The device will be available in the three colors you see above, and as it recently passed through the FCC, a trip to the US could also be in the cards. But unfortunately, that orange wallpaper is all too harsh a reminder of one that never ventured outside Japan.
Engadget's back to school guide 2012: HDTV
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn't nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we're settling down in front of a few of our favorite HDTVs, but you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the series we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Students today can catch high-quality video on a variety of screens -- computers, phones and tablets are probably always within reach -- but nothing can truly replace a TV's role as the center of entertainment. Whether it's a quick Madden or Call of Duty session, inviting a friend over to catch a flick or just zoning out after class, having the proper setup makes all the difference, and there are plenty of options at every price point. Of course, walking into any big-box electronics store to peer down aisles of seemingly identical flat screens could drive anyone mad before they ever step on campus, so we've narrowed down the list for you, and even suggested a few other items to plug into those HDTVs. Expanding feature sets and universal pricing have raised average prices a bit over last year, but we can find something to fit whether your budget ranges from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars.
Microsoft and Sharp strike licensing deal for use of exFAT technology in Android-based devices
Microsoft already has licensing agreements with the companies accounting for the vast majority of Android devices on the market, but it's not done just yet. The latest to come on board is Sharp, which has signed a deal that will allow it to use Microsoft's Extended File Allocation Table file system (otherwise known as exFAT) on its Android-based devices -- that's a slightly more specific agreement than most others, where the contents haven't been disclosed. While Sharp isn't exactly a major smartphone player here in North America, it is in Japan, where it had a market share of 17.5 percent in 2011 (second only to Apple). As with other similar deals, this agreement will see Microsoft receive royalties on all Sharp Android devices sold, although neither party has commented on the specific terms. You can find the official word after the break.
Foxconn investment in Sharp looking less likely due to LCD manufacturer's shrinking stock value
Foxconn's parent, Hon Hai Precision Industry, partnered up with Sharp earlier this year, taking a stake in Sharp's Sakai LCD manufacturing plant and investing another $850 million in the company. Unfortunately, that latter investment deal is in danger of dissolving due to Sharp's financial troubles. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sharp's shares have fallen enough in the months since the aforementioned agreement was consummated in March -- due to flagging sales and excess inventory -- that Sharp's given Hon Hai the option to back out of the deal. However, Hon Hai's still interested in buying ten percent of the Japanese company, and has expressed an interest in renegotiating the terms of the investment. So, it seems we'll have to wait and see if Sharp accepts Hon Hai's continued advances, but you can read more about the company's financial woes right now at the source below.
Aussie regulator raps TV makers for touting 'WiFi ready' products
Sony, LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sharp will no longer be marketing their TVs and Blu-Ray players as "WiFi ready" in Australia unless they're actually ready to connect to a WiFi network. Many products labeled as such often require the additional purchase of a $100-$120 AUD ($80-$100) dongle, and the ACCC, the country's US FTC doppelgänger, has ordered the makers to stop the practice. It all started when a customer complained to the watchdog after feeling burned when his "WiFi ready" TV... wasn't. The fact that similar terms were being used on products that actually have built-in adapters was another strike against the practice, according to the regulator from down under. However, if you happen to reside somewhere else in the world, it's caveat emptor, as usual.
