Sharp has promised to release its TV-branded Aquos phone worldwide.

Well, that's what how the press release is headlined, though it only mentions Japan and China in the text itself.

The Aquos connection is literal: the phone has an HDMI port so it can be hooked up to one of Sharp's LCD TVs - or anyone else's for that matter.

It also has a DLNA receiver for picking and playing network-hosted content.

So is it really due a global launch? We suspect not. By the looks of it, it's a straight-down-the-line Japanese handset: large and festooned with buttons, and clearly of the type that makes Westerners shake their heads in bamboozlement when they see the handsets at shows. ®

Related stories

• Japanese boffins build internet kissing machine (3 May 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/05/03/japanese_internet_kissing_machine/

• Glasses-free 3D TV sales stumble (7 February 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/02/07/toshiba_3dtv_sales_are_poor/

• Toshiba intros laptop that CHANGES COLOUR (28 January 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/01/28/toshiba_colour_change_laptop/

• Softbank gets sticky over iPhone proximity payments (11 January 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/01/11/nfc_iphone/

• Sharp launches Galapagos tablets (29 November 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/29/sharp_launches_galapagos/