Sharp Willcom D4 video

The Sharp Willcom D4 announced yesterday has gotten a lot of people buzzing as it is a unique UMPC that has a slightly large phone form.  It is also the first device we've seen that is running Vista on the Intel Atom chipset and a lot of folks are excited to see that.  Akihabara News has a video of the D4 that was recorded in a booth and there is no question it looks pretty sexy.  Let's see how well the Atom really runs Vista with limited memory.

Willcom D4 WSO16SH Hands-on !
by AkihabaraNews

Comments

[ArchiMark]

I've already received reply from Conics.net in Japan. They should be selling it when it's available....

Everyone should note that this has special custom SIM card, so no phone functions will work outside of Japan, this device is meant for Japanese market only. However, the other functions will work anywhere.

Haven't heard back yet on when they expect to have this available.....

HTH,

Mark

[Bob Kawaratani]

To supplement the previous comment, the phone unit in this device is the latest version of PHS, a system that is not used in the U.S. or Europe. It will work in Taiwan, China and some areas in Thailand as well as Japan.

With regards to the memory, Sharp's FAQ for the device states that the memory cannot be removed or upgraded. Too bad. Also, the device has a one seg digital TV tuner and can record video from the tuner. Something that should be really useful on a device with a 40 GB HDD.

[Mike Cane]

Seems to move as fast as a rock garden.

[Jake]

@Mike: that's not really fair considering that they didn't really use it that much and just stood around it taking pictures and talking. Although it seemed to reactive pretty quickly when they tapped the screen properly I'm sure it's no supercomputer but it's a pretty cool looking device.

[Scoobie]

Hold on, it seems to have no trackstick or anyway of moving the cursors.The user seems confused on this aspect in the first minute and gets handed a pen. Why are they using the pen for everything?
Surely they haven't excluded soething to move the cursor. You can't use touch for everything on a 5 inch screen and hope to be accurate

[zunq]

Scoobie: Actually you can see the cursor move without the use of the touchscreen.

[scoobie]

Yes you're right, my eyesights not good today and I missed it. Watching it in HD i see the cursor is moving on its own without the pen. Looks to be the first device with such an interface as the mouse pointer, as the pointer seems to cover a wide part of the right of the device

[John in Norway]

This was way more detailed than your own video shows!!!

Just kidding, you do a great job. :)

[Al]

I think this is finally a UMPC worth a purchase for me. I would hope though that Sharp makes one designed for a US cell carrier say AT&T which is GSM based making it compatible in many places in the world?

When you mean a "custom SIM card" does that mean it is not possible to remove the SIM card and put a US SIM card if the unit was unlocked? I take my SIM card out of my GSM US phone and replace it with local SIM cards traveling to Europe with no problem.