Category archives: sharp

 

 

Hon Hai Precision snaps up 10 percent of Sharp in display tie-up

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For those unaware, going at it alone in the cutthroat display business isn’t exactly a recommended business approach. To wit, Sharp — once a mainstay in the LCD industry — has just sold an approximate 10 percent stake of itself to Taiwan’s Hon Hai Group. Sharp will be issuing new shares worth $808 million to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and we’re told that it’ll go down as the largest investment ever in a Japanese company by a Taiwanese one. Moreover, Hon Hai will grab half of Sharp’s 92.96 percent stake in its LCD panel factory in Sakai, Japan. Though it may not be obvious, seeing Sharp accept this fate is hugely symbolic, and it’s happening just as the company gets ready to eat “multibillion-dollar losses” for this fiscal year — which just so happens to be the 100th anniversary of its founding. Sharp executive managing officer Takashi Okuda said this during a news conference in Tokyo: “We have tried to do everything by ourselves, but the environment is tough.” Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow, though. Continue reading Hon Hai Precision snaps up 10 percent of Sharp in display tie-up Hon Hai Precision snaps up 10 percent of Sharp in display tie-up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink Reuters | Marketwatch | Email this | Comments

 

Sharp's bigger and better HDTVs for 2012 start hitting store shelves

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Right on schedule , Sharp let us know it’s begun shipments of Aquos 7-series LED HDTVs in 60- and 70-inch sizes. With MSRPs of $2,300 and $3,300, respectively, the 745U models have edge LED lighting, 3D, WiFi and SmartCentral UI built in featuring apps including Netflix, Hulu and Facebook. The 8-series models will bring the company’s latest Quad Pixel Plus 2 Quattron tech when they start shipping towards the end of this month as well as full-array LED backlighting and an ultra-slim bezel design. Check after the break for sizes, specs and prices, and let us know if these models have shown up in your neck of the woods yet. Continue reading Sharp’s bigger and better HDTVs for 2012 start hitting store shelves Sharp’s bigger and better HDTVs for 2012 start hitting store shelves originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | | Email this | Comments

 

Sharp intros underwhelming RW-T110 Gingerbread tablet with NFC, not much else on board

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Last year, we saw Sharp bust out an array of 7-inch Android slates, including that NFC-packing RW-T107 . Now, the Japanese company is adding a slightly larger member to the family, dubbed RW-T110. This 10.1-inch Gingerbread slab (sorry, Ice Creamers ) is sporting a 1GHz TI OMAP processor alongside 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, a 1280 x 800 display as well as an NFC chip. Additionally, the biz-oriented slate is powered by a 6,240mAh battery, which promises to get you up to nine hours of continuous video payback time. The RW-T110 will be hitting Japanese shelves on March 27th, and while there’s no info on whether Sharp plans to launch it in other markets, we doubt you’ll miss this run-of-the-mill “Big Pad.” Sharp intros underwhelming RW-T110 Gingerbread tablet with NFC, not much else on board originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink Akihabara News | Sharp (Translated) | Email this | Comments

 

Sharp executive officer Takashi Okuda to take over as president next month

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In a move similar to the ones seen at fellow struggling Japanese electronics giants Sony and Panasonic , Sharp has announced a change at the top, swapping out president Mikio Katayama (kicked upstairs to the position of Director, Chairman) for current executive officer Takashi Okuda. The move will go into effect April 1st, giving him the keys after a fiscal year 2012 to forget comes to an end. According to his biography he’s been with the company since 1978, although your guess is as good as ours about what he can do to turn around the company’s fortunes — although getting that 8K Super Hi-Vision LCD into production ASAP would be a great start. Sharp executive officer Takashi Okuda to take over as president next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Sharp | Email this | Comments

 

Super High Aperture: it's why the new iPad's Retina display is so dense

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Super High Aperture. Heard of it? Probably not, but thanks to Apple, you’ll probably long for days when you didn’t in just a few months. According to an in-depth look from the folks at DisplaySearch , the aforesaid technique is the primary reason that Apple was able to shove 2,048 x 1,536 pixels into the 9.7-inch panel on the new iPad . Not surprisingly, it wasn’t Apple that conjured up the magic; instead, it was crafted by engineers at Sharp and JSR (a display materials maker from Japan), but it’ll be the iPad that makes an otherwise geeky achievement something that the mainstream covets. According to the science behind it, SHA is “a method of increasing aperture ratio by applying approximately a 3 [micrometer] thick photo-definable acrylic resin layer to planarize the device and increase the vertical gap between the [indium tin oxide] pixel electrodes and signal lines.” Reportedly, there are also “at least twice as many” LEDs in the panel compared to that on the iPad 2, further suggesting that there’s way more battery within the new guy than the last. Technophiles need only dig into the links below to find plenty more where this came from. Super High Aperture: it’s why the new iPad’s Retina display is so dense originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 05:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink GigaOM | DisplaySearch | Email this | Comments

 

Sharp working with Japanese government on Home Energy Management System standard (video)

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Sharp is partnering, not with another major player in the consumer electronics field but, with the Japanese government to create a standard based on its Home Energy Management System or HEMS . The platform allows users to not only monitor their energy consumption, but also reduce their electrical burden through home automation tools. With the aid of a tablet or smartphone, home owners can dim lighting and televisions or control thermostats, while monitoring how such changes affect energy consumption in real time. Sharp plans offer the system commercially with a router and WiFi modules that sit between appliances and your electrical outlet. The next step is getting regulators to agree to the standard so that non-Sharp products can become part of the ecosystem. Check out the video after the break. Continue reading Sharp working with Japanese government on Home Energy Management System standard (video) Sharp working with Japanese government on Home Energy Management System standard (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink The Verge | DigInfo TV | Email this | Comments

 

FCC Fridays: February 10, 2012

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We here at Engadget tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol’ Federal Communications Commission’s site. Since we couldn’t possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there individually, we’ve gathered up an exhaustive listing of every phone and / or tablet getting the stamp of approval over the last week. Enjoy! Continue reading FCC Fridays: February 10, 2012 FCC Fridays: February 10, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | | Email this | Comments

 

2012 HDTV pricing leaks out for Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Samsung

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The madness of CES 2012 is long over and now that we’ve seen all of the new HDTVs , it’s time to find out when they’re actually going on sale, and for how much. HDGuru has just dug up advertised pricing for some of the new models from Sony (BX, EX and HX lines) and Sharp (640, 745, 844, 847 and 945), while US pricing and ship dates for Panasonic’s new plasmas have been revealed by Value Electronics. For Samsung, some of the new HDTVs have already showed up for preorders at retailers like Vanns, including the top of the line 75-inch ES8000 priced at $7,999, while a more reasonably sized 46-inch model is $2,699. Sony’s prices range from $399 for the KDL-32BX320 to $2299 for the KDL-55HX750, while Sharp’s range from LC-46-L540U for $1,099 to the LC-80LE844U for $6,499. Most of the ship dates are still TBA, although Panasonic is planning to unleash the ST50 later this month, followed by the UT50 and GT50, then the top of the line VT50 in May. While we wait for official announcements, you can hit the source links below for more details, and let us know if you’ve seen any other 2012 model information peeking out early. 2012 HDTV pricing leaks out for Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | HDGuru (Sony, Sharp) , Panasonic , Value electronics | Email this | Comments

 

Panasonic 2012 Q3: $9 billion loss, Sanyo writedowns, restructuring

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Panasonic’s released its 2012 quarterly report (its financial year runs from summer to summer) and concedes it’s been as bad for them as it was for Sony and Sharp . It’s blaming the Japanese Earthquake for damaging its supply chain, a strong yen for keeping prices high, plus having to write-down the costs for its acquisition of Sanyo . The company’s promising to restructure (in the face of stern competition from Samsung and LG) to become a “green innovation” business as well as to streamline its operating costs. It’s predicting a quarterly loss of $9.2 billion as it takes the hit for this turmoil, and it doesn’t look like things will improve with an anticipated further loss of another $2 billion at the end of the (financial) year. Continue reading Panasonic 2012 Q3: $9 billion loss, Sanyo writedowns, restructuring Panasonic 2012 Q3: $9 billion loss, Sanyo writedowns, restructuring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | | Email this | Comments

 

Sharp struggles with TV competition, Q3 2011 results reveal 86 percent drop in profit

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It’s pretty tough out there for TV manufacturers. Sharp ‘s reporting its financial results for April-December last year, announcing a profit of 9.14 billion yen ($120 million), a drop of 57.37 billion yen since the same period in 2010. Despite announcing a whole gang of new displays for the year, Sharp has cut its profit forecast correspondingly, down to zero for March 2012. According to Reuters , the company was expected to post healthier results, having recently finished a new manufacturing plant and apparently strong demand for its high-end AQUOS TVs, although it’s perhaps not strong enough . Sharp struggles with TV competition, Q3 2011 results reveal 86 percent drop in profit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink Reuters | Sharp (Japanese, PDF) | Email this | Comments