A phone with more features than the iPhone; a phone more expensive than the iPhone; a phone better than the iPhone.

Having only owned the phone for a couple of days, I have yet to experience the entire feature list. This review will mainly be first impressions.

First of all the size of the phone; phones in Japan tend not to be the ultra slim, lightweight type as the extensive features are near impossible to pack into anything lighter than 100g. The 923SH is no exception with a considerable weight of around 130g. However, the weight and dimensions of the phone are more than made up for by the large AQUOS display.

The AQUOS display with the ability to flip the screen into landscape mode is the main selling point of the phone. Most phones have the capability to watch TV, called OneSeg and the 923SH is no exception.

The phone also has an impressive 5.2MP camera, which I have yet to fully test.

A pedometer, Bluetooth, irDA, 3G internet access, java applications are all included but are minor features.

GPS is also built-in but I have yet to test it out as I believe it may be a subscription service to access route planning, service finding, etc.

Motion control, light colours, vibration patterns, ring tones, etc can all be customised to individual contacts or categories, such as family, friends, etc. The motion control is especially useful when the phone is not in silent mode and you receive a call in a quiet area; by flipping the phone over by 180 degrees, the phone is automatically put into silent mode. Other motion controls include shaking horizontally to activate the camera, or towards you for zooming in and out of web pages, etc. I assume it can be used in games too.

There is also an RFID tag for electronic transactions. The two main usages are as an Oystercard and to buy stuff! Both are really useful.

As with all Japanese phones, email is used instead of SMS. You can still send SMS msgs but as it’s limited to 70 characters, it’s not very useful except when sending to a GSM phone. My phone number and mail address are posted up on fb for your convenience!

Hmm, I suppose I should explain why it only got 3.5 stars rather than my usual 4+. I suppose it’s simply because I have yet to master all the features or actually even use it to make phone calls!