KDDI au rolls out 8 new (and partly awesome) cell phones

Japanese telecommunications giants SoftBank and Docomo unveiled their summer 2009 line-ups last week and were followed by the country’s No. 2 carrier, KDDI au, today. While SoftBank is to roll out 15 new cell phones this summer and Docomo even 17 presented models, KDDI au showed only 8 new candy bars [JP] in the morning. But some of these are amazing.

Here is au’s complete summer 2009 line-up:

Toshiba Biblio

(cell phone with integrated e-book reader, a 3.5-inch LCD screen featuring a 960×480 resolution, 7GB internal memory, QWERTY keyboard and Opera Mobile 9.5 including AJAX support)

Sharp Sportio Waterbeat

(waterproof cell phone with a 3-inch ASV touch screen (480×854), calorie tracker, weight controller, and other sports- and fitness related functions)

Hitachi Mobile Hi-Vision CAM Wooo

(yes, a cell phone that lets you record video in 720p and at 30fps, and also features microSDHC/HDMI Mini interfaces and a 3-inch IPS screen (480×854))

Sharp SOLAR PHONE SH002

(Sharp’s highly anticipated solar-powered cell phone with a 3-inch AVS screen, a 5MP CMOS AF camera and micro SD card support)

Toshiba T002

(GSM cell phone with slim body specifically designed for women in their 30s to 40s)

Casio G’zOne W62CA

(water proof cell phone with LED light, electronic compass and 2.7-inch WQVGA screen)

Kyocera K002

(extra-slim (10.9mm) cell phone targeted at men in their 30s and 40s)

Kyocera Kantan Keitai K003

(easy-to-use standard cell phone aimed at users over 60)