So this was a small blip because of some impressive claims, but could we potentially see this coming to the USA soon?
Softbank took the wraps off of the Fujitsu Arrows A smartphone. On the whole we’re seeing pretty standard specs for a premier handset. A 5″ 1080p screen will be powered by Qualcomm’s monster Snapdragon 800 chipset. It’ll be joining the ranks of other phones like the LG G2 as a high end alternative to the Galaxies and the Ones in the Android ecosystem.
What was a little fresh however was the claim that thanks to its custom charger (and some internal whizbangery) the Arrows A can charge “a full days use” in about 10 minutes. The next audacious claim is that even though the phone has a decently sized battery (2600 mAh) Fujitsu says the device will run for three days on a full charge. That’s something I’d certainly be interested in testing, but even if it doesn’t meet that kind of run time, fast recharging could be a benefit to many mobile users.
Also of note, the Arrows A will include a fingerprint reader. It looks like even though it’s not terribly secure tech, biometrics will be coming to many smartphones over the next year.
Now. Why do we care about a Japanese phone announcement? Well, Softbank is the company which pretty much owns Sprint. They completed the merger back in July, and Softbank has poured Billions into Sprint’s coffers. In strengthening Sprint’s handset portfolio, we could maybe start to see a little cross-pollination of devices which used to be exclusive to specific countries/markets.
Likely? Probably not right away, but an interesting possibility to shake up the mid and high end smartphone segments. Expect to see Arrows A in Japan this December.
Hit the jump for the full PR (translated).
ARROWS A (ace) SoftBank 301F
Overview (Fujitsu Mobile Communications Ltd.)
1. Key Features (planned)
- Day with a charge of 10 minutes ※ 1 , and three days on a full charge ※ 2battery has to be able to use
- Support for ultra-fast charging that can be used day in charge of 10 minutes.Even forget the charge, it is safe one day just to charge a short time before going out. Also, I realized the battery has three days on a full charge. In addition, in order to perform the automatic power saving which is optimized for usage by the “Human-centric engine ®”, and can be used for a long time without worrying about running out of battery.
- It is equipped with a 13.1 million pixel camera, and night backlight also captured beautifully in a variety of functions
- It is equipped with a high-resolution camera of number 13.1 million effective pixels in the main camera. The “perfect tuning” feature, so do the best color correction to match the environment, and the camera does the rest a bright picture in vivid colors. In addition to automatic adjustment in accordance with the distance to the subject brightness of the flash by “intelligent flash” function, in order to focus the camera on the subject quickly and accurately by detecting the posture when he set up the camera in the “Quick Focus” function further It is possible to leave the beautiful photos in any scene.
It is equipped with Fujitsu’s own “smart fingerprint sensor ®”. “Hybrid 4G LTE” further ※ 3 Supports, specs of enhancement in the 2.2GHz quad-core CPU with- I realize the robust security of Fujitsu unique “smart fingerprint sensor ®”. You can easily switch between a long press of the fingerprint sensor to hide and pictures phone book you also specify “Privacy Mode ®”. In addition, in response that can be connected to the network of both high-speed and “SoftBank 4G LTE” and “SoftBank 4G” and “Hybrid 4G LTE”, maximum downlink 110Mbps ※ 4capable of high-speed communication. In the CPU, and quad-core with 2.2GHz CPU with a high-speed processing performance the “MSM8974”, high-quality movies also can watch smoothly. The board is equipped with a ROM of 64GB, videos of your favorite images and also can save many.
- body also scratch resistant design yet comfortably so as to use it, in the “diamond tough coat”
- Because it is designed with a smooth form, I am familiar in hand, it is easy to fit to the pocket, you can use comfortably. In addition, it can be hard to hurt because it painted the body resistant to friction 3.5 times the normal paint, using the diamond particles in the “diamond tough coat”, can be kept longer a clean state just bought. In addition, the pre-installed sound source by Mr. Nakamura Koji sound artist, and has realized the sound pleasant to the sound effects. In addition, we plan to hard case from “SoftBank SELECTION”, can be charged on a desk holder included even putting it will be released.
2. Main support services and functions (planned)
| Hybrid 4G LTE | â—‹ | ULTRA SPEED | – | Platinum band | â—‹ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Roaming | â—‹ | Tethering | â—‹ | Early warning mail | â—‹ |
| S! Mail (MMS) | â—‹ | Graphic Mail | â—‹ | Smart Security | â—‹ |
| NFC | ○ | Mobile Wallet ® | ○ | GPS | ○ |
| Wi-Fi | ○ | Bluetooth ® | ○ | Infrared (IrDA) | ○ |
| Fullseg | ○※ 5 | Seg | ○※ 5 | Waterproof (IPX5/IPX8) ※ 6 | ○ |
The 3. Main Specifications (planned)
| Communication system | Internal | The W-CDMA system (900MHz/2.1GHz) FDD-LTE system (900MHz/1.7GHz/2.1GHz) AXGP system (2.5GHz) |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign countries | The W-CDMA system, GSM system (900MHz/1800MHz/1900MHz) | |
| Weight / (thickness × height width ×) size | About 70 × 141 × 10.3mm [provisional] / about 157g [provisional] | |
| Continuous talk time / Continuous standby time | W-CDMA network | Undecided |
| GSM network | Undecided | |
| AXGP network | Undecided | |
| Display | About 5.0 inch full HD (1,920 × 1,080 dot) (16,770,000 colors maximum) TFT LCD |
|
| Mobile camera (number of pixels / type) | Main | (AF · correction shake hand) approximately 13.1 million pixels / CMOS Effective Pixels |
| Sub | About 125 million pixels / CMOS Effective Pixels | |
| External memory / recommended capacity | microSDXC card (sold separately) / 64GB | |
| Built-in memory | ROM | 64GB |
| RAM | 2GB | |
| CPU (clock number / chip) | 2.2GHz Quad-Core / MSM8974 | |
| Battery capacity | 2,600 mAh | |
| (Corresponding standard, frequency) Wi-Fi | IEEE 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac (2.4GHz, 5GHz) | |
| Bluetooth ® | Ver.4.0 | |
| Platform | Android 4.2 | |
| Color variations | Comfort white, black, pink | |
4. Release date
Since early December 2013
- ※ 1When charging with AC adapter and desktop holder that comes with the after this message appears prompting you to charge (Fujitsu investigation). Visit our Web site of the Fujitsu Limited (http://www.fmworld.net/product/phone/301f/) for more information.
- ※ 2This is a provisional value that assumes the usage of customers, was calculated based on the specification under development. You may depending on the network environment and operating conditions of the application, undergo a lot of changes. I will let you know the website of the manufacturer at the time, such as an announcement and release for update information.
- ※ 3The response of FDD-LTE system and “SoftBank 4G LTE” of AXGP method to “SoftBank 4G” to connect preferentially to “SoftBank 4G”.
- ※ 4for best-effort basis, you may for example, because of a communications environment and network congestion, you will not be able to communicate the communication speed is reduced or,. Depending on the utilization area, maximum communication speed varies.
- ※ 5you can watch by taking advantage of the TV antenna cable included.
- ※ 6and IPX5, even if I put a jet from any direction under the conditions using a water injection nozzle with an inner diameter of 6.3mm, and irrigate for 3 minutes water of about 12.5 liters / minute from a distance of about 3m, the function of the phone it means that it has.It means that Immerse mobile phone at the depth of 1.5m of tap water at room temperature, and has a function as a phone when it is taken out after leaving for about 30 minutes and IPX8.