-W41SA

The "W41SA" is a clamshell CDMA 1X WIN handset from Sanyo that supports communication via handwritten characters. It is scheduled for release mid-February.

The "Pasha Character Card," a function unique to the W41SA, reads characters and illustrations that are written o­n paper (and such) and integrates them with images. During the reading process, the color of the paper and its lines will be eliminated so that o­nly what was written will be integrated with the image. During the integration, the "writing" parts are processed, making it appear as though the picture has been written o­n.

Illustrations can be integrated by recording with the camera, or they can be integrated from pictures already in the phone's data folder. The "Pasha Character Memo" function also allows for sending just the handwritten memos themselves, without integrating them with another photograph.

The phone supports the "au LISTEN MOBILE SERVICE" for audio. It has the au-common "au Music Player" audio playback function, and includes "au Music Port" for PCs that can rip and transfer songs to the phone. SD-Audio is also supported, and audio data that conforms to SD-Audio standards can be played in au Music Player. Software for SD-Audio is not included.

Below the main display are two stereo speakers pointing towards the body. The phone also features Yamaha's "AudioEngine LSI" for stereo 3D spacialization.

As a first for a domestic handset, this unit features a stereo microphone, and the IC recorder function can record in stereo. It can be switched between region recording and close-quarters recording.

The body design has a round form for the ladies, and uses light tones. The main menu can be changed to "with Pooh!" version with Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" character. For security, the "Close and Lock" function will automatically put a lock o­n the phone when it is closed, and the "Remote Auto Lock" will lock the the handset from any phone.

It has a 1.27MP CCD camera. Normal and macro focus siwtching is done manually. The camera has an integrated OCR function for recognizing characters, which supports Japanese, mail addresses, and phone numbers for automatically entering them into an address book. It also has "Dictionary with Camera" for English and Japanese words.

The main display is a 2.3" QVGA (320 x 240) dot screen with 260,000 colors, and the subdisplay is 1.1" at 72 x 96 with 60,000 colors. It has a data folder capacity of 50MB (shared with BREW saving area). miniSD is supported as a removable media, and cards up to 1GB have been confirmed to work. It supports WIN standard functionality as of this Spring, such as Hello Messenger and EZ Navi Walker's "Input with Voice." However, it does not support FeliCa.

The size is 49 x 99 x 21mm, and weighs 108g. It has a continuous idle time of 230 minutes, and talk time of 210 minutes. Floral Pink, Natural Silver, and Breezy Blue body colors will be available.

Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/27395.html

Press Release:
http://www.sanyo-keitai.com/au/w41sa/index.shtml