New iPhone-ish Sharp and Extra-slim Panasonic Phones

After announcing Nokia N95, SoftBank, the third largest mobile operator in Japan, reveals new phones for the Japanese market, launched in an attempt to catch-up with the other two Japanese carriers, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.

One of the best looking phones to come via SoftBank is Sharp 921SH, a W-CDMA device released under the name of FullFace 2 and coming with a design that resembles Apple's iPhone. But, unlike the iPhone, FullFace 2 doesn't support touch-screen and comes with an elegant sliding keypad. Its display is a 3.2 inch, 480 × 854 pixels one (from the AQUOS line) that allows users to watch TV programs at a good quality via the integrated 1-Seg TV tuner. Among the nice specs of Sharp 921SH, we have motion control sensor to adjust the screen from horizontal to vertical, a 3.2 Megapixel camera with Auto focus, 3G, Media player, Bluetooth, e-mail, Internet capabilities and microSD card support for up to 4 GB of extended memory. The phone will be available in 5 color schemes (white, black, blue, pink and gold) starting March 2008.

Another Sharp handset that will get a SoftBank release is Sharp 922SH, a clamshell that offers a full QWERTY keyboard, reminding me of Toshiba G910 / G920 and Nokia E90 Communicator (although it looks far from being able to compete against them). The phone has a wide 3.5 inch internal AQUOS screen with a 480 x 854 pixel resolution, an external 1.18 inch display, 3G connectivity, Multimedia player, Bluetooth, 2 Megapixel camera and, of course, Mobile TV capability. Weighing 132 grams and measuring 116 x 56 x 17 millimeters (when closed), Sharp 922SH will be sold in white, black, bronze and pink, starting late March 2008.

SoftBank will also release the new Panasonic 822P, a super-slim handset that only measures 8.9 millimeters in thickness. The phone comes in a candybar form factor and sports a 2.2 inch, 240 x 320 pixels display, a 2 Megapixel camera with Auto focus, Media player, Bluetooth, global roaming support and microSD card slot for up to 2 GB. The good looking Panasonic will be available in February 2008 for an unknown price and unfortunately it won't be released in other countries. Not too soon at least.