Here's what happens when you duck out of the news for a few days to study for exams, and write papers. Everything. In the past two days, new phones have been announced by DoCoMo, Willcom, and AU -- three of the four Japanese cellular carriers. Instead of getting bogged down with extraordinarily specific details about each handset (which is what we typically do for some reason), I'll just do a brief summary of each providers offerings in three articles called the "Phone Bonanza" series. Let's start things off with Willcom, who has announced the WX310K, WX300K, WX310J, and WX310SA.

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-WX310K

The WX310K is from Kyocera, and features the "Opera" browser. It is the successor to the AH-K3001V from May of last year. It also features Bluetooth, a 1MP camera, miniSD slot, music player with ATRAC3 and MP3 compatibility, Picsel Viewer (for PDFs, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files), a Flash player, video recording, QR code reading, and so o­n. The company also made it clear that the software for transferring the ATRAC3 files would not be Sony's "SonicStage." It also features a USB port, and compatibility with POP and SMTP mailing systems. It will be available in Bitter Orange, Silver, and Noble Pink.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/25796.html

Press Release (Willcom):
http://www.willcom-inc.com/ja/corporate/press/2005/09/27/index_01.html

Press Release (Kyocera):
http://www.kyocera.co.jp/news/2005/0902.html

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-WX300K

Kyocera's WX300K is a step down from the 310K, but still features Opera, POP/SMTP mail support, and other such basic functions. It drops the Java support, office document reading, camera, audio player, and miniSD slot of the 310K.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/25801.html

Press Release (Willcom):
http://www.willcom-inc.com/ja/corporate/press/2005/09/27/index_01.html

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-WX310J

The WX310J comes from Japan Wireless, and is aimed at business users. It has no camera, but is the first PHS handset to feature fingerprint-based security. It can also be used as a PBX extension while in the office, can synchronize with Outlook (through IntelliSync) and view other Office/PDF files, and supports POP/SMTP mailing. The miniSD card slot also allows it to be used as an IC recorder. The browser o­n this unit is "NetFront v3.3" from ACCESS.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/25799.html

Press Release (Willcom):
http://www.willcom-inc.com/ja/corporate/press/2005/09/27/index_01.html

Press Release (JRC):
http://www.jrc.co.jp/jp/whatsnew/20050927/

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-WX310SA

Sanyo's WX310SA also features ACCESS's "NetFront" browser. It has a megapixel camera, and can read QR codes. There's a miniSD card slot by the hinge. It retains many of the business-oriented features of the other 310 series handsets such as "NetFront Document Viewer" for Office files, "Adobe Reader LE" for PDF files, and the IC recorder. 

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/25798.html

Press Release (Willcom):
http://www.willcom-inc.com/ja/corporate/press/2005/09/27/index_01.html

Press Release (Sanyo):
http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4/0509news-j/0927-1.html