au introduced their "PENCK" designer phone yesterday, but I'm reporting o­n it today. Too bad.

The PENCK was designed by "Makoto Saito," though the name "PENCK" is actually from some German guy.

Interestingly enough, the design is strikingly similar to that of the A1403K, introduced by au in September. But frankly, I think the PENCK looks cooler. Plenty more details and enough pictures to shake a stick at inside.

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular will release the "PENCK," a CDMA 1X WIN handset with nary a single corner from its oval form, in late February. It is the fourth handset in the "au design project." (Translator's note: The other three being the INFOBAR, W11K, and Talby)

The "PENCK" is a CDMA 1X WIN handset of Hitachi make, and the fourth model from the "au design project." It has been assigned the "W31H" product code, and varies from the "ishicoro" concept model that was displayed at some previous au events.

The name "PENCK" comes from A.R Penck, a German modern artist, whose image revolves around the freedom of sound and echoes. The externals of the phone were designed by internationally-acclaimed creator "Makoto Saito," and use an entirely oval shape with no antenna jutting out. Metal, Milk (white), and Bitter (black) body colors will be available, where the Metal model features a plating created with evaporated coating technology. Three "holes" near the hinge contain lights, which serve to indicate incoming calls and such. Also, the included AC adapter is white, as are the stand and stereo earphones, giving the design an integrated feel. Accessories for all three models are the same.

The startup screen, menu icon, and idle images were also designed by Makoto Saito, and use Flash. Likewise, the internal ringers and sound effects were also created by Makoto Saito.

A 2.2" LCD display is furnished, offering a 240 x 320 dot resolution capable of displaying 260,000 colors. o­n the key side of the body lies a 1.24MP CCD camera. The phone has an internal 24MB of memory, and in addition to this memory, the PENCK also offers 6.1MB of dedicated space for BREW appli. It also furnishes a miniSD card slot, and the contents can be moved even when changing handsets; video playback is also supported with the SD-Video format (ASF). It has 3D surround sound stereo speakers. o­n the service side of the phone, modern au offerings such as Chaku Uta Full, EZ Navi Walker, and Flash are supported. ATOK for au + APOT (With support for Kansai dialect) is also used as Japanese input software.

The size of the phone is 57 x 98 x 28mm (W x H x D), and it weighs about 134g. The continuous talk time is about 210 minutes, and the continuous idle time about 250 hours.







Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/22511.html

Press Release:
http://www.kddi.com/corporate/news_release/2005/0207/