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Mar

Nexus 7 Arrives In The Play Store In South Korea, Nexus 4 May Be Launching In Japan Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News, Nexus 4, Nexus 7

Nexus 7 in South Korea

The international rollout continues as Google has announced that the Nexus 7 is now on sale in South Korea. This marks the ninth country the tablet can be purchased in and the widest availability of any Play Store hardware to date. The first runner up is the Nexus 10 with a whopping 8 countries.

Nexus 4 in Japan

The Nexus 4, however, wants to catch up in that list with a possible Japanese launch. We've previously heard reports that the handset had already appeared, but multiple Japan residents have confirmed to us the phone is not actually on sale yet.

Jan

HTC-Made Au Infobar A02 Set To Hit Japan In Mid-February, Marrying A Highly Stylized Android UI With Playful Hardware Design

Posted by Liam Spradlin in HTC, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Au's Infobar phone line has been around since 2001, always featuring plenty of color and hoping to bring innovative ideas to the smartphone world through eye-popping, unique design. Bringing another stylized entry to the lineup, Au has posted a brief dossier on the new Infobar A02, designed by Naoto Fukasawa and manufactured by HTC.

One of the device's main claims to fame is its apparent use of HTC's ImageSense chip, allowing for smooth burst capture. It's also waterproof and dustproof, and has plenty of specs to ogle. Among them are its 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 4.7" 720p display, 8MP camera, LTE support, and microSD slot.

Jan

The Rest Of NTT DoCoMo's Spring Lineup: Fujitsu ARROWS X F-02E, Huawei dtab, Sharp Aquos Phone EX, And More

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Huawei, News, NTT DoCoMo, Sharp

We've been taking a close look at some of Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo's 2013 offerings: LG's flagship Optimus G Pro, Panasonic's similar Eluga X, and the dual-screen NEC MEDIAS W. DoCoMo announced three other phones at the same time, all of which are at the head of their manufacturer's lineups. We've already seen Sony's Xperia Z, Xperia Tablet Z, and Huawei's Ascend D2. Fujitsu's ARROWS X F-02E matches up to both, more or less. In the more mid-range areas are Sharp's Aquos Phone EX and a new 10-inch tablet from Huawei.

Fujitsu ARROWS X F-02E

The ARROWS X F-02E (not to be confused with the earlier F-10D and F-05D models) is the latest in a smartphone family that hasn't seen much action outside of Japan.

Jan

NTT DoCoMo Shows Off The 5-inch, 1080p, Quad-Core Panasonic ELUGA X In Its NEXT 2013 Series

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Eluga X, News, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic

In case there was any doubt that 5 inches is the new standard for Android superphones, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has removed all of it with a new hardware series. Right at the top of the list is a new device from Panasonic in their relatively young Eluga family, this one christened the ELUGA X P-O2E. The 5-inch LCD screen is naturally 1080p, and hides a 1.5Ghz quad-core Snapdragon Pro processor, and a 13.2 megapixel camera. Colors are a flat black and a more interesting teal, as seen below.

Other specifications include an increasingly pedestrian battery capacity of 2320mAh, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (with a little over 8 dedicated to the system), LTE, and Android 4.1.

Jan

LG Optimus G Pro Announced For Japan: 5-Inch 1080p LCD, 3000mAh Battery, And 1.7GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon S4 Pro

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, LG, News, NTT DoCoMo, Optimus G Pro

When the specs of the supposed LG Optimus G Pro leaked last week, it seemed almost too good to be true – like one of those fanboy wishlists you see populating forums and sub-Reddits across the web. Now Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has announced the device as part of its DoCoMo Next 2013 Spring lineup, and the reality matches the leak quite well.

The LG Optimus G Pro will be following the trend of big and beautiful screens. It's another 5-inch 1080p display, and the bezel is razor thin. There is a faster 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro inside to push all those pixels, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with a microSDXC card slot, and a massive 3000mAh battery to keep it all chugging along well into the night (well, maybe the late afternoon).

Nov

今日は! The Amazon Appstore Is Officially Available In Japan

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

As part of the company's continued international expansion efforts, Amazon is now announcing that its Appstore is available in Japanese markets. Not a moment too soon, either, as in a couple of weeks, the Kindle Fire HD family will start selling in Japan (December 16th). Without an app market, it would be an even harder sell than a not-quite-Android tablet is now.

^{Image via Mitchey}

The Appstore will be bringing paid apps (good news, developers!) as well as Amazon's typical Free App of the Day promotion. One-click payments and access to Amazon Web Services also round out the list of features available to developers.

Oct

Sprint Is In Talks With Softbank For A "Substantial Investment" That "Could Involve A Change Of Control"

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sprint

We've heard rumors that Sprint is considering outbidding T-Mobile for MetroPCS's affection. Just in case that doesn't work, though, Sprint wants us to know that there is another plan in the works: being purchased by Softbank. Since most of you likely aren't up to date on Japanese telecoms, here's the deal: Softbank is a Japanese telecom. The third largest wireless carrier in the country, so a bit of a kindred spirit with Sprint. Now, the Japanese company may be interested in purchasing big yellow. Rumors broke earlier today, and now Sprint has sent out this brief press release to confirm:

Sprint (NYSE: S) today confirmed that it is currently engaged in discussions with Softbank regarding a potential substantial investment by Softbank in Sprint.

Oct

Square Enix Releases Chaos Rings In The US, An RPG Designed For Mobile That's Not Final Fantasy, Still Pricey At $13

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

If you can say nothing else about Square Enix, the company sure is raising the bar on both Android game prices and scope. With the recent Final Fantasy ports, mobile gamers with some cash to spare have had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time in mythical lands leveling up and fighting outlandish enemies. If you're looking for something in that neighborhood that you haven't played before, though, Chaos Rings has finally been ported to Android, and it looks fantastic.

Chaos Rings centers around teams of characters that all join the Ark Arena to do battle. Each person has their own plot (one, it seems, really likes the idea of immortality!) and the overall plot of the arena itself only unfolds if you've completed the individual storyline for all the combatants.

Oct

Amazon Appstore Headed For Japan 'Later This Year'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Amazon, Android OS, Applications, News

Amazon, in an effort to continue expanding its services globally, announced today that its Android app distribution service, the Amazon Appstore, is heading for Japan.

The shopping and media giant is now inviting developers to submit their apps and games for distribution in Japan, giving them the chance to participate in a new market with Amazon and "expand their business." Jim Adkins, VP of the Appstore, explained:

Opening our portal to app and game developers looking to reach Japanese customers is an important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally. Many of our existing developers are anxious to localize their apps and games for Japanese consumers, and we look forward to working with new developers that have been waiting for a chance to bring their Japanese content to the Amazon platform.

Aug

Tokyo District Court Delivers Win To Samsung, Dismissing Apple Patent Claims And Call For ¥100 Million Damages

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Legal, News, Samsung

A court in Tokyo returned a favorable ruling for Samsung Friday, finding that Samsung's mobile devices were not in violation of an Apple patent related to inter-device media transfer.

This news comes one week after Samsung lost in what was (and continues to be) one of the most compelling trials tech has seen in a long time, with a San Jose jury ruling that Sammy owed Apple over $1 billion in damages over various trade dress and patent claims levied by Apple. By contrast, the jury awarded no damages to Samsung, finding that Apple didn't violate any of Samsung's patents and that all of Apple's patents retained validity.