Panasonic DoCoMo P901i: The phone for a Y2K Frutiger Aero enthusiast
The fun keitai from 2005
People said that the 90's really ended in 2005, because the more I think about it, the more it rings true.
And this offering from Japan's current second most popular telecom DoCoMo barely hangs on at the tail end of that bygone era.
For starters, the P901i, commissioned by the telecom to Panasonic, was launched way back in 2005 in four colors: White and Pearl Stripes, the classic Silver and Pointed Black, a Casio G'Zone Type X inspired Black and Clear Rose, and the rarest of them all, and the one I have today: the Green and Lime Wave variant.
When it was released, a number of custom jackets (or 'housing' term here in the Philippines), are also made available including the already said colorways with new additions such as Clear Jacket (transparent, very Y2K feels), ColorBlock, LayerLine, Layer Kachofu, Layer Shofu, Pink Butterfly, and Mistic Swallowtail. Odd naming schemes, but that's the Japanese for you.
It weighs around 124 grams (104 grams without the housing) which is pretty light, but it feels sturdy and rigid— rather than flimsy and brittle. The display on the P901i is a 2.2-inch 240x320 QVGA TFT LCD with 65,356 colors. Enough for Java gaming. The sub-LCD found on the opposite of the phone has a 1-inch, 96x64 STN LCD with approximately 4,000 colors.
Surprisingly, it takes miniSD cards. Mine has a 51MB card in it, perfect for picture taking. The cameras on the other hand has a 2MP resolution, while the selfie cam (yes, it has one way before anyone else) has a CMOS camera in it. So basically, below 1 megapixel.
The best thing about this phone is the ability to send your pictures via Decomail after you capture one, via the DoCoMo network on demand.
Did I tell you about the games? Yes, it has Final Fantasy II pre-installed in this device. It’s in Japanese only though. The P901i can only be acquired through a DoCoMo plan which costs you around 10,000 yen or around 5,000 pesos back in 2005. An extra battery pack costs you another 1,470 yen, 630 yen for a battery charging cradle, and another thousand more for each custom jacket or housing. But during its release, prices may vary from prefecture to prefecture.
Obviously I can't tell anything about the call quality, text or browsing since all these functions rely on Japan's DoCoMo network exclusively, even on an open line one.
What I can tell you about is the camera quality: to be frank, the resolution is comparable today to a kid's toy. But back in 2005, this was the cutting edge in phone technology. The selfies required lots of light to produce good photos, or the photos will end up dark and hazy. The MIDI ringtones are pretty good too, and there are several '3D melodies' as well, which contains real song samples from popular Japanese tunes.
In addition, the phone is also highly customizable software-wise. Mix and match however you like with ease, or download via DoCoMo (which obviously, I cannot do now).
Overall, this piece of tech shows how Japan was heralded as the future of technology during their heydays to a crumbling empire with people resistant to new innovation or so. And you can't blame them for that. Because if it ain't broke, why fix it. Why upgrade it?
As for the Frutiger Aero/Y2K enthusiast in you, it's a fine addition to any cosplay events. And the bonus fact is: it still works.
