Sharp & Vodafone to Unveil New VGA Cell Phone at 3GSM World Congress

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/10/75259_HNvgacellphone_1.html?HARDWARE' target='_blank'>http://www.infoworld.com/article/06...1.html?HARDWARE</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Sharp will unveil a new cell phone at next week's 3GSM World Congress that boasts a screen resolution about four times that of today's high-end models, it said Friday. The phone, which was developed with Japan's Vodafone (Profile, Products, Articles) KK, features a 2.4-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) with VGA (640 pixels by 480 pixels) resolution. No other details of the phone were available."</i><br /><br />Details are sketchy right now; hopefully, Darius will be able to shed more light on this in short time. What makes this announcement interesting is that Sharp had been more known for their <a href="http://www.sharpusa.com/products/TypeLanding/0,1056,112,00.html">Zaurus</a> line of Linux-powered PDAs before recently introducing their Windows Mobile 5.0-powered <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=45319">W-Zero3</a>. So could this be another Windows Mobile 5.0 device with a VGA-class screen? Will this ever see the light of day in the US (it would obviously have to be a different carrier than Vodafone)? Stay tuned as we get more updates from the 3GSM World Congress!

[Darius Wey]

Details are still sketchy, but there are some fresh pictures available here: http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0602/13/news085.html

It appears to be a tri-band GSM + UMTS (2100MHz) phone with GPS. I don't think it runs Windows Mobile. :(

[nobody]

Man, that phone is huge! Or the hand is small :D

[signothefish]

2.4"? Is it time to get that phone monocle yet? :mrgreen:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Man, that phone is huge! Or the hand is small :D
Well, first it's not clear that the VGA device shown in the first couple of shots is the same as the phone sitting on the man's hand (I notice that the words QVGA is written directly above the latter as well) though it's clear that both phones are associated to Vodafone. Also, the phone sitting on the man's hand appears to be mostly resting on the man's fingers with only a small portion sitting on the palm. So even then, it *might* not be as big as it appears.

Hard to tell though...

[SteveHoward999]

&lt;scratching head>

I's still trying to work out the value of a 2.4 inch VGA screen ...

[Mark Johnson]

This would be GREAT! The irony is that the smaller the screen, the MORE you need a high pixel count to make the fonts smooth enough to read clearly.

It's about time. Way to go!

[SteveHoward999]

This would be GREAT! The irony is that the smaller the screen, the MORE you need a high pixel count to make the fonts smooth enough to read clearly.!


Er, no. A 2.6 inch QVGA screen has about the same pixel density as 5 inch VGA screen. So it should be just as clear as the 5 inch VGA screen. A 2.5 inch VGA screen has even more pixel density. Unless you have a manifyig glass handy, or abnormally fine eyesight you'd never be able to take advantage of the pixel density of such a small screen.

[Mark Johnson]

Er, no. A 2.6 inch QVGA screen has about the same pixel density as 5 inch VGA screen. So it should be just as clear as the 5 inch VGA screen.


When were talking about the "Pixels Per Inch" issue, I'd definitely contend that QVGA inadequate (at any size, including 2.6 inches.)

This is much like when laser printers were at 300 dpi and 600 dpi models started arriving on the market. There were some who said: "it's not worth the cost, I can't see any difference." Yet there were plenty of us (even without "extraordinary" vision) that not only preferred 600 dpi, but drove the market to 1200dpi and beyond.

I, for one, have been extremely disappointed by QVGA and as much as I like my VGA x50v, it is a FAR larger device than I want. My 1910 had a 3.5 inch QVGA screen and couldn't get close to displaying the smallest font I wanted to use.

Usability on QVGA devices has always been very frustrating because the low resolution forces 6-point fonts to be comprised of too few dots to be usable, so you are forced to stick with 8-point fonts (which is why it's the lowest the PPC would offer) and that leaves a huge amount of "effective display area" entirely wasted.

I would be ecstatic to see some sub-3-inch displays in VGA and I know I'll be choosing to use smaller fonts than I've ever used before.

Place me firmly in the "you can never have too many pixels" camp! :)

[SteveHoward999]

I guess you've not seen a VGA screen yet? Of course the pixels on a 4 inch QVGA screen are huge, but that's not what I was comparing to. I remain firmly in the camp of - I bet that's a typo and should say 2.6 inch QVGA ;-)