Tech News and Reviews
Posts tagged Sharp
Sharp plans 3D smartphones for US, China and India in 2011
Nov 18th
It might be all Japanese to you now, but Sharp’s autostereoscopic 3D is coming to a smartphone near you next year. The tech will debut next month on the Softbank-bound Galapagos 003SH and 005SH Android handsets, but now Sharp has confirmed its intention to also bring it Stateside as well as to two of the world’s most populous nations in China and India. It’s not yet exactly clear what handsets those markets will be getting, but if you’re looking for further signs of Sharp’s expanding international ambition, the company’s reported to also be contemplating extending its e-reading tablet platform out to the US and China. Taken alongside Panasonic’s recently announced plans to start selling Android smartphones globally in 2012, this does suggest we might soon be watching a neat little resurgence from our buddies from the land of the rising sun.
Sharp Touch Wood concept turns real with limited run of 15,000 handsets on NTT DoCoMo
Nov 9th
You might have expected Sharp’s pebble-shaped Touch Wood concept to remain just that, a concept, but the eclectic Japanese market has found a spot in its heart to fit 15,000 units of the curvy, wood-trimmed cellphone. Built from locally sourced cypress timber, each handset will have its own unique pattern and color, while the innards will be filled with a five megapixel imager, a 3.4-inch (854 x 480) display, a MicroSDHC expansion slot, and your usual GSM and 3G wireless radios. You can get yours through NTT DoCoMo some time around February or March.
Sharp quits the PC business reminding us that Sharp still makes PCs
Oct 23rd
It’s no secret that Japanese consumer electronics companies are having a tough time competing right now (damn Yen). Now Sharp becomes the latest casualty with the announcement that it will exit the cut-throat personal computer business to focus on market segments where it can be profitable. You know, like tablets, where Sharp hopes to have more success with its new Galapagos and related e-book, music, and video services.
Sharp shows off 35mm thin BDXL recorder at CEATEC, world doesn’t stop to wonder why
Oct 11th
Thinness in a portable device is an attribute worth coveting. Thinness of yet another layer in your home entertainment center hoagie, however, is a little bit less attractive — at least it is when it comes with a big compromise. Such is the case with Sharp‘s thinnest Blu-ray recorder, just 35mm thick yet capable of writing to BD-R discs or the newer, pricier, 100GB BDXL discs. So far so good, but rather sadly to make that magic happen in a package so svelte the company has had to ditch the internal HDD that’s common in these devices, the idea being you’ll just write to BDXL’s instead. Even with a stack of re-writeables at your disposal that’s going to be a lot less convenient and a lot more expensive than having a good ‘ol pile of platters spinning inside. Of course, with no price or release date given, it’s possible that this reduction of internal hardware also comes with a reduction in cost, but as we all know it’s pretty rare that a skinnier device costs less than its bigger boned brethren.
Sharp’s twin-lens 3D prototype camera isn’t a smartphone, yet
Sep 7th
Regardless of its ability to present a 3D image without glasses, we just weren’t very impressed with Sharp’s 10.6-inch display at the IFA show. That’s not to say that its parallax barrier technology doesn’t perform well at smaller sizes, like say, oh, the Ninentdo 3DS. In fact, Sharp’s 3.8-inch switchable 3D (400 x 480) / 2D (800 x 480) display did a decent job of tricking our eyes into seeing a 3D image by exposing different pixels to each eye though tiny slits placed in front of a normal LCD. What we didn’t see, though, was this smartphone-looking prototype (lacking radios, unfortunately) that combines that 3.8-inch parallax barrier panel with Sharp’s twin-lens 3D camera module. So unlike some other 3D prototype cameras we’ve seen, Sharp’s pup will present the 720p/30fps video in 3D immediately after taking the snap — no special glasses required. Of course, with Sharp promising a 3D cameraphone before the end of the year, well, you’ve now got a pretty good idea how it will look. Backside, front, after the break.
Sharp to launch glasses-free 3D smartphone with 3D camera globally this year
Aug 5th
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming. After wooing us with a number of glasses-free 3D displays — including the one that gives Nintendo 3DS its magic — and 3D HD cameras for mobile devices, the company has finally laid down the gauntlet. It’s promising to release a smartphone with such an autostereoscopic screen and 3D camera, just like we always wanted, before New Year’s Day 2011. It certainly wouldn’t be the first 3D phone in the market — Hitachi touted one early last year for Japanese carrier KDDI, and NTT docomo has had a prototype 3D display — but a Sharp spokeswoman said that this 3D smartphone would be going international. The more the merrier, we say. Now, how about some more details and a pretty picture or two, eh Sharp?
Sharp’s Brain PW-AC10 e-dictionary attempts to fool you with its phoney looks
Jul 29th
We’ve seen Sharp e-dictionaries aplenty here, but with the exception of a couple of models, that same ol’ clamshell form factor’s bound to send you to snoozefest sooner or later. To keep the Japanese bookworms interested, Sharp’s latest offering — dubbed the Brain PW-AC10 — has packaged itself in a BlackBerry-esque candybar, which it claims makes it the industry’s lightest e-dictionary while carrying two AAA batteries that keep it going for 110 hours. You’ll obviously have to make do with a shrunken color LCD (2.4-inch QVGA) and keyboard, but the device still packs the usual English-Japanese translator, flashcard feature, and a seven-language traveling phrase book (with color images). ¥13,000 ($149) and it’s yours early next month.
Sharp’s NetWalker PC-T1 is the very definition of a MID, coming in May
Apr 22nd
You’ll recall, wise and knowledgeable as you are, that we weren’t exactly bowled over by Sharp’s keyboard-equipped PC-Z1 portable when we got to play with it at IFA last year. Coming back for another bite at the cherry, the Japanese company has just announced the NetWalker PC-T1, which does away with the disappointing keyboard but retains the crazy pixel density (1024 x 600 resolution on a 5-inch display) and Freescale i.MX515 CPU of its predecessor. Also on offer are Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless options, Ubuntu 9.04 as the OS, and USB and MicroSD ports for a nice bit of expandability. An Anglo-Japanese dictionary comes pre-installed plus you’ll get access to Sharp’s e-bookstore, which has over 25,000 titles on offer. Of course, all that good stuff is tempered by a mediocre 6-hour battery life and a ¥47,000 ($510) price tag. Look for this MID archetype to hit stores in Japan next month.
