This article was published on June 26, 2013

Fujitsu enters the high-end Android smartphone market in Japan with the ARROWS A SoftBank 202F


Fujitsu enters the high-end Android smartphone market in Japan with the ARROWS A SoftBank 202F

Fujitsu isn’t the first hardware manufacturer that springs to mind when debating high-end Android smartphones, but the company is hoping to change its rather lacklustre reputation with the ‘ARROWS A SoftBank 202F’ in Japan.

The device sports a 5-inch, 1080p display and a hefty 3,000 mAh battery, the latter of which is a huge improvement on the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. In fact, very few devices surpass this size at moment – the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Mega spring to mind – and only because they have a much larger body to stow it in.

Fujitsu claims that the handset will last over two days on a single charge – presumably through consistent use, and not just being left on standby – due in part to the company’s energy-saving Human Centric Engine. That’s bound to drop off rather rapidly depending on the applications that the user has running, but it’s a promising sign nonetheless.

fujitsu

The ARROWS A SoftBank 202F runs on a 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, although Fujitsu has emphasized that some of the cores will be put in stasis from time to time to help conserve power.

The handset also comes equipped with a 13.1-megapixel rear-facing camera, with Fujitsu’s own ‘Perfect Tuning’ software to help users snap clear, detailed images with very little effort. There’s also HDR functionality out of the box, as well as a ‘Zero Shutter Capture’ mode for reducing lag in low-light conditions.

Other details are scarce, although Fujitsu confirmed that the handset boasts 64GB of internal storage as standard – 52GB of which is actually available to the consumer – and is also mildly water-resistant and dust-resistant. The ARROWS A SoftBank 202F will be sold in Japan through SoftBank retailers (no surprises there) from June 28 in four colors: Grace Blue, Pink, Black and White.

There’s no word on an international release, although the SoftBank partnership suggests that it won’t be launched in its current form outside of Japan. Nevertheless, it’s admirable to see another hardware manufacturer taking a stab at the high-end Android space, adding some variety to the near endless deluge of Samsung handsets flooding the market recently.

Image Credit: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images

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