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The Sharp IGZO displays Apple is rumored to be using for the iPad 3 might still be in short supply. Rumors late Thursday from Digitimes had Taiwan supplier sources saying they could technically make the advanced displays, but that the useful production yields were still a "major concern." The claims echoed views that Sharp was shifting TV production to tablets to help meet targets.
LightSquared landed a key deal Monday for Sharp to supply devices. Carriers using LightSquared's LTE-based 4G network will have optimized smartphones and tablets. The newcomer didn't mention which devices, but Android hardware such as the seven-inch Galapagos tablet and high-end smartphones like the Aquos 104SH are candidates.
Sharp on Thursday checked its ambitions in the tablet arena with word that it was dropping its original two Galapagos tablets. Both the 5.5-inch and 10.8-inch models will exit the market at the end of September, about 10 months after they went on sale. Only the seven-inch A01SH launched last month will stay on sale.
Sharp has launched its 7-inch Galapagos A01SH tablet in Japan. The Wi-Fi-only version of the tablet has a Tegra 2 processor and 1GB RAM. It also has Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS, a 5-megapixel rear camera with flash and a 2-megapixel front camera. It runs Android 3.2.
Sharp and EAccess picked Wednesday to unveil their tablet running Android 3. The seven-inch Galapagos A01SH runs off of Android 3.2 to get a true tablet-native OS in a smaller size. While its 1024x600 display isn't as exotic as the 5.5- and 10.8-inch slates, it will come bundled with a 42Mbps 3G mobile router to hop online.
The latest Sharp Galapagos tablet has passed though the FCC certification process. The new 7-inch tablet fits between a 5.5-inch and a 10.8-inch in Sharp’s Android tablet range. The only details to emerge from the FCC testing reveal, unsurprisingly, that it is equipped with an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi radio.
Android successfully pushed past the iPhone for the top smartphone platform in Japan last fiscal year, according to MM Research Institute. Google shot up from just 250,000 phones and 11 percent of the market at the end of March 2010 to 4.91 million phones at the end of March this year, or 57.4 percent. Apple moved 3.23 million iPhones over the same period and was 37.8 percent; BlackBerry and Windows Mobile were virtually non-existent.
Sharp said Thursday that it was shifting some of the production at its second TV plant in Kameyama to smartphone and tablet displays. Both medium and small displays would be made side-by-side with TVs later this year. The development was coming along with a world-first use of new "oxide semiconductor material" for thin film transistor (TFT) LCDs that would shrink the transistors to allow much more light from a given pixel, leading to either a brighter mobile device display or lower power use for the same brightness.
Disney took an unusual direction in Japan with word it was launching its own smartphone using Android. The phone will be a rebadging of the Sharp Galapagos 003SH and will focus mostly on its inclusion of glasses-free 3D on the 3.8-inch display. Owners will get their own Disney e-mail address, exclusive content and the option of six custom cases themed loosely around Disney characters.
Two Sharp Galapagos tablets have hit the FCC. First unveiled in Japan last July and then launched September, the two Android tablets looks to be headed Stateside. Sharp has previously indicated that it planned to release the tablets in the US after its December release in Japan, but has not outlined a timeframe. Their appearance at the FCC is the first evidence that the Sharp plans on bringing the tablets to the US in early 2011.
Sharp today committed to Japanese ship dates and pricing for its Galapagos tablets, widely considered the first domestic rivals to the iPad in Japan. The slates ship December 10 and are both relatively expensive, as the 5.5-inch model will cost 39,800 yen ($473) and the periodical-friendly 10.8-inch model will cost 54,800 yen ($651). Pre-orders start December 3.
Sony Japan today said it would return to e-readers in Japan by launching the Reader in the country. The recently updated all-touch line will come to the country on December 10, starting at the equivalent of $239 for the five-inch Pocket Edition and moving to $299 for a six-inch Touch Edition. The 3G- and Wi-Fi-capable Daily Edition won't be part of the first round of models.
Sharp has launched a pair of glasses-free Galapagos handsets on Japan’s Softbank network. The 003SH and 005SH Galapagos handsets both feature autostereoscopic displays and run Android 2.2 (Froyo). While the 003SH adopts a candbar/slate form factor and the 005SH packs a sliding QWERTY keyboard, both include the same 3.8-inch 800x480 3D display.
Toshiba will bring tablet PCs to the US and Japanese markets early in 2011, said a company engineer at CEATEC in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Hideo Kasuya said Toshiba tablets will also arrive in other markets, but didn’t specify. The company introduced its Folio 100 last month, though this tablet may not reach the US or Japan. It was said to arrive in Europe, the Middle East and Africa instead.
Sharp started the week by detailing the launches of its Android tablets and their accompanying e-book store. Both called Galapagos, the combination focuses on a Kindle-style automatic subscription download service that pushes new issues in the background. The tablets are based on full LCDs and support color images as well as complex layouts for books, including XMDF.
