File this one under "curious", but it looks like Japanese carrier KDDI may be not only getting their first Windows Phone this August, but it'll be the first phone with "Mango" on board. The phone itself is a Toshiba-Fujitsu IS12T (catchy name!) which sports a 3.7" LCD screen and a water-resistant case. In fact, it looks to be the same phone first shown a few days ago at WPC11 by Microsoft.
The device also has FCC & Bluetooth clearance, which could mean a U.S. release at some point, but seeing a Fujitsu has little presence here, we're not too confident on that one.
Regarding that "first phone with Mango" bit, we would be a bit cautious on that as the OS hasn't gone gold yet and there are no firm dates yet for any release, let alone hardware. Microsoft for certain has projected "windows for release" but we would be surprised to see this actually happen by August. Then again, it could validate the whole Mango-in-September tweet from a few days ago, so who knows.
Comments
This completely validates Microsoft's tweet that promised to give the ImagineCup finalists a new WP7 Mango headset in September. Meaning, WP7 Mango devices are indeed closer than we thought. Also, it appears that Microsoft is ready to take on the next iPhone head on, which from a marketing standpoint makes perfect sense. I mean, why let impulsive buyers use up their upgrades and be locked to 2 year contracts buying a competitors phone?
Yup, it does.
Can it really launch in Japan with NoDo? I didn't think that was a supported language.In fact, I thought that even Mango didn't really support Japanese...
Ah, good point! Yes on the NoDo part, but Mango does support Japanese.
mango supports Japanese and then some.
Hopefully this phone will catch on like the Razr did.
I didn't understand the hype behind that phone it had tons of issues.
It was a god aweful phone. But they were extremely popular for some odd reason.
I expect Windows Phone to be a huge hit in Japan. I took my phone there in February and had tons of people commenting on how smooth it was. People even wanted me to send them unlocked phones that wouldn't even work properly on the networks over there!
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So in theory, if this phone hits japan next month with Mango PreInstalled, does that mean that mango would be ready,if not, very very close to being ready for release??
Yea, all I got out of this article was Mango final in August ???Can't wait !