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KDDI did it as early as last month , and today it was NTT Docomo’s and SoftBank’s turn to unveil their line-ups of new cell phones for the Japanese market. Here are all of SoftBank’s 17 future models [JP], which will be sold in Japan from this fall through spring 2010. Sharp AQUOS 940SH (3.4-inch ASV screen with 480×854 resolution, Wi-Fi-enabled, 12MP CCD camera/pictured again at the top) Sharp AQUOS 941SH (4-inch screen with half XGA (480×1024) resolution, Wi-Fi-enabled, 8MP CCD camera, Blu-ray recorder connectivity) Sharp AQUOS 943SH (3.4-inch screen, Wi-Fi-enabled, double digital TV tuner, 8MP CCD camera, Blu-ray recorder connectivity, USB 2.0 port) NEC 940N (3.2-inch screen with 480×854 resolution, Wi-Fi-enabled, 8.1MP…

According to survey of 2,300 Japanese retail stores, the iPhone was #1 in customer popularity, beating out all of those crazy, wonky phones they sell in Tokyo with names like the WonderFetus 100 Softbank X200-900 and the Brad Pitt Special Edition E900 from Sanyo with built-in TV tuner, can-opener, and fishing lures. Smartphone sales are growing in Japan and customers like the 8 and 16GB 3G models and Apple has sold 1 million iPhones through Softbank, a major Japanese carrier. The BlackBerry Bold came in third and the rest of the list were phones by HTC.

SoftBank today not only announced six new cell phones made by Sharp but also nine other models from companies such as NEC, Panasonic, Samsung and Armani (well, the Armani handset is really made by Samsung). The carrier will start rolling out the handsets between May and October this year. Here is the rest of the SoftBank summer 2009 line-up (all models that are not made by Sharp): NEC 931N (Wi-Fi cell-phone featuring a maximum performance of 54MBps, a rotating 3-inch touch screen and a 8MP camera) NEC 930N (featuring a super-slim body (13.9mm) and a 8MP camera) NEC 831N (easy-to-use handset with earth quake information function) Panasonic 931P (VIERA handset …

Is it a phone? Is it a camera? Does it really matter anymore? If neither the mirumo 934SH nor the Solar Hybrid 936SH are quite to your liking, feast your eyes on this other wonder from Sharp that’s hitting SoftBank Mobile in Japan this summer, the AQUOS SHOT 933SH. The headlining feature on this sucker would be the massive optics combined with a 10 megapixel low-noise CCD sensor, which is made infinitely easier to use as an actual camera thanks to a rotating touchscreen display — just flip it around, snap it facing outwards, and voil