Japan will see 3 new telephone operators in 2007. EM Mobile is the first one ahead with their EM ONE, a Sharp PDA with Windows Mobile 5 (what a shame, Windows Mobile 6 is already available), a removable keyboard, a 1.3Mpix camera, Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 1.2, a 4.1” screen (800×480), a 520MHz PXA CPU, a NVidia GoForceTM5500 chipset, and a data only HSDPA connection (several are flat fee). Even if the product seems to shine and sparkle, I also see far too many drawbacks:

1) No Windows Mobile 6
2) No voice (from what I understood)
3) Japanese manufacturers never update their ROMs
4) A hefty price tag of €635 (when outside a contract)
5) A product that cannot be unlocked cannot be used with another operator

Nice try, but with the mentality of Japanese operators being close to the mentality of Neanderthal men, I’m not interested. Being a fan of Microsoft mobile solutions, I’m always outraged to see how Japanese operators offer flanged solutions, compared to the same models used in Europe or the USA.