Ohayo minna-san! Woke up early as usual today to study even though I reached home pretty late close to 4am last night due to the KTV session I had with my clique. Yesterday was also Timothy’s farewell dinner, we had zi char at somewhere near Boon Keng, it was pretty oishii man. So after dinner, we headed to Boat Quay’s Partyworld for KTV with the guys, had a pretty good singing session with them. Really enjoyed myself, and I think Timothy enjoyed himself too. Oh and he’s finally an owner of a Pink Nintendo DS, thanks to Deli and Jac as well as the rest of them who chipped in for his present. As for me and the rest of the guys, we will be presenting our present (still a secret lol) to him on the 27th which will also be the day when he’s flying off to Perth, to re-unite with his family and also part of his migration and study plans. (sob sob) Anyway good things will always come to an end, so let’s cherish the memories we all had together all these while, and may our friendship last forever. Here’s to our friendship; May it be reckoned long as a lifetime, close as a second.

Anyway, I had some spare time to do up the review for my new phone this morning, so I decided to get on with it and present to you guys some pictures of my new toy as well as a mini-review of the phone. First and foremost, may I present to you the official press release and full specifications of the Sharp 903SH, by Vodafone Japan (now officially known as Softbank Mobile Corp).

Official Press Release on 11th of August, 2005.
Vodafone K.K. today announced that, as part of its new 3G lineup, from mid August 2005 it will offer the Vodafone 903SH handset by Sharp, it features the industry’s first 3.2 megapixel auto focus mobile camera with 2X optical zoom.

The 903SH’s best-in-class*1 3.20 megapixel mobile CCD camera can bring both the foreground and background clearly into focus with its 5 high-performance aspheric glass lenses. The camera also uses the Frame Interline Transfer process, the same type used in professional-quality broadcast video cameras, to prevent the “smear”*2 phenomenon. Vodafone 903SH customers can also enjoy advanced photography with picture sizes of up to QXGA sizes (1,536 x 2,048 pixel).

*1: As of 28 July 2005 in the Japanese market (according to Vodafone K.K.).

*2: Smear phenomenon: phenomenon typical of CCDs, for example, when headlights or light from the sun causes vertical streaks of light to appear on the image.

3D Surround Stereo Side Speakers for realistic sound enjoyment
The Vodafone 903SH comes equipped with 3D Surround Stereo Side Speakers on the left and right of the handset display panel so customers can experience unprecedented audio realism. The 903SH has pre-installed ringtones and games that support 3D sound.

2.4-inch Mobile ASV LCD for superior display and wide-angle viewing
The Vodafone 903SH’s 180 degree reversible Swivel Style 2.4-inch giant LCD display uses Mobile ASV, which is based on ASV (Advanced Super View) liquid crystal display technology found in Sharp’s AQUOS line of LCD TVs. The handset offers remarkably clear viewing in bright locations outside and in dark spots indoors, as well as wide views of 160 degrees* from all angles without any colour distortion. As a result customers can freely enjoy photography or image viewing at a variety of angles.
*In conformance with JEITA standards (5:1 contrast ratio)

Fully supports Vodafone K.K. 3G services
The Vodafone 903SH fully supports Vodafone K.K. 3G services such as Vodafone live! BB, which lets customers enjoy rich music and video content by downloading large files via their PCs, video calls, international roaming and Chaku-Uta Full® full track music downloads.

View Full Specifications: here.

View Product Features: here.

And here are some pictures of my new and shiny black Sharp 903SH.

And here are some side by side comparison pictures between my black Sharp 903SH and my sis’ pink Panasonic VS2, which she has just bought last month.

Now, here’s my initial impressions and personal take on this phone from Japan. (not to forget this was actually my first true japanese keitai purchase so far)

After spending about two weeks with my new toy, I’m pretty happy to say that this phone is truly worth it for it’s money spent on it, and really opened up my eyes to a whole new world and perspective of the current mobile technology in Japan. Sharp has always been at the forefront in the mobile industry with their excellent ASV LCD screen technology (also known as Advanced Super V, the same kind of technology that’s been used in their AQUOS line-up of LCD TV displays) , as well as their camera-sensor technology for their mobile phones (a 3.2MP CCD-sensor with Autofocus & 2x Optical Zoom features), so in this aspect I can say I’m really impressed with their phones and technology, it’s truly something to behold and own.

And as of now, with the current rage of those 2MP camera-phones locally here on the market, especially with the Sony Ericsson K750i and W800i Walkman-phone respectively, honestly they don’t even come close if they were to square off against the Sharp 903SH, cause it’s really a different league above all on its own. For this pretty bold statement to come from me, you can definitely take my words for it since I don’t usually hold camera-phones in high regards these days in terms of picture quality-wise, even though the current range of 2MP camera-phones on the market right now can actually take pretty decent photos at resolutions high enough for some decent 4R size printouts.

That said, the Sharp 903SH must truly be seen to believe; it’s huge 2.4″ AQUOS ASV LCD coupled with 3D stereo surround speakers as well as it’s astounding 3.2MP Autofocus with 2x Optical Zoom camera (yes you heard that right, probably the first for a camera-phone so far) with up to 50x digital zoom. Though this isn’t a smartphone, making the switch from my Nokia 7610 Symbian-smartphone to this was quite a breeze for me, since the phone’s menu interface was pretty intuitive and easy to use, and has a set of applications installed on the phone which are pretty darn useful, one of which is the unique QR barcode scanner which generally can only be found on japanese phones in Japan these days.

Also, been a 3G-enabled handset itself, you can use it in more than 150 countries over the world via international roaming. This was actually my first 3G handset out of all my phones I had owned so far, though I have yet to try out those video-calls with anyone else. I’m currently a 3G-subscriber with my telco phone provider, which is Singtel. Will definitely try out the video-calls function one day, though to be honest I don’t really have much friends with 3G-enabled handsets, since majority of people are still using GSM handsets which is considered a common (and normal?) feat here in my country, Singapore. But I believe all’s set to change one day, afterall we’re one of the few countries in SE Asia with one of the highest mobile penetration rates, to say the least.

Well that’s all for today I guess. I’m off to mug my books and have a hell of a weekend, take care and have a nice weekend everyone! (^ ^)