Casio W53CA Exilim Mobile Phone Launched – Look Out Sony Ericsson Cybershot!!
By Will Park on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 1:19 PM PST In Announcements, Casio, Devices, KDDI, Technologies
 With the launch of their Casio W53CA, the digital camera manufacturer busts onto the high-end camera phone scene with abandon! Casio is going straight up against camera phone heavyweight Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s Cybershot brand with a high-quality, high-megapixel line of their own. T
he sleek new Casio W53CA sports a slim figure, large 2.8 inch VGA display, MP3 player, email client, IR port, microSD slot, 5MP (megapixel) high-quality shooter (Sony Ericsson doesn’t even offer this level of pixel density) with 9-point Auto-Focus, 28mm lens, color correction and anti-shake technology. This thing is just beautiful! Slim design, clean lines, swivel screen…but only in Japan. Those lucky KDDI Japan subscribers!
We’re serious when we say that Sony Ericsson and their Cybershot brand better watch their back – newcomer Casio is going to make sure that all high-end camera phone manufacturers bring their A-game from now on.
Check out this beauty in its high-res glory after the link…
via: mobilementalism
wow! that’s really nice
I am waiting in line here in Tokyo to upgrade my au service to this beauty. But I’m still wondering… does it feature bi-lingual menus?
Okay, I got mine on Saturday at Bic Camera in Ikebukuro (Tokyo). Yes, it does have English language menus. No, there isn’t an English manual for this product… yet (maybe by mid-Sept?).
It is a nice product, but there are a few disappointments. No external display! To check the time, you’ll have to open it everytime. Back to using a wrist watch!
When typing e-mail… Where’s the space key?
There are other disappointments, but I guess I’ll get over them.
Wow, thanks for the update Dee the Man!! That’s a really trick phone. How’s the picture quality?
I was wondering about not having an external display too. But, I figured that, with a twisting display, you could just have display flipped around all the time. That way you can check the time and be ready for that quick-picture.
Space key with the d-pad? That’s a shot in the dark.
Fill us in on the other disappointments.:smile:
Dee the Man, congrats on your new phone! (or, is that a camera?)
You should be able to get a PDF version of the English intro manual at the following URL:
http://www.au.kddi.com/torisetsu/pdf/w53ca/w53ca_simple_e.pdf
I use an older model by Casio (W21CA) and assuming the interface hasn’t changed much, you should be able to get the space character by pressing 0## (# traverses all the characters you can enter by pressing the 0 key (or any other key initially pressed, 0 in this example) in reverse order, ) assuming you’re entering text in 1 byte text entry mode for the alphabet.
Cheers!
Well, last night I did find the space key! Actually its in the “zero” key, at the end of the string (which is about 32 characters long!). Not very convenient compared to my old Sony-Ericcson, which was at the beginning of the string. Oh well, at least now I can go back into a sentence of my e-mail and add a missing word (which I’m prone to do!). While I’m on that subject… several freq’ly used (punct.) characters in the “zero” key string are too far down the line for convenience sake, and too many rarely used ones are at the beginning. I can only hope there will be a software update in the future to fix that.
There is even an LED flash for inside shots. Wow! 
I also tried turning the display around and closing the phone that way. It doesn’t really work out. First, when you do that, the W53CA automatically changes into camera mode, so you have to shut that disply off to get back to the standby screen. Then, when the standby screen times out, the whole display goes blank.
Camera picture quality is pretty good, as you would expect 5.1 megapix to be!
Thanks for the link to the simple manual, but those two pages are actually already in the back of the Japanese manual. Its real basic info only. The details will be in the real manual later.
Yeah, this is pretty much a digital camera, that happens to have a cell phone feature! Ha ha ha!
What else can I tell you about it? I’ll be happy to!
Cheers,
Dee
i just got mine as well! havent seen this forum before but found it when searching the model name. its pretty neat! one thing.. When i put the USB cord in my computer to download images and movies.. it can not find the phone.. and when i tell it to search the CD rom that followed for drivers it can not use it.. did anyone else have this problem?
Daniel
I’ve got mine today
…and can’t read the Japanese manual either 
here’s the English manual: http://www.au.kddi.com/torisetsu/pdf/w53ca/w53ca_basic_e.pdf
I picked up one of these a few weeks ago and I can’t get my computer to find it either. I also can’t get any music to play because I can’t get the software to run. I was a bit disappointed with the bilingual part…the dictionary, “Touch Message” and “EZ Felica” features are all Japanese only. I love the two page English manual, it’s like sitting someone down in the Space Shuttle and just telling them “This button makes it launch!”
I like it despite all the drawbacks, and living in Japan I have gotten used to not being able to read much. Not to mention that my poor old Sony DSC-N1 has been collecting dust lately…the camera is great and I can quickly and easily e-mail up to 1MP pics to friends anywhere instantly, which I love!
Will they be available in the U.K, if not then could you order one from any websites?
So presumably it has xenon flash and vga video recording
stylish and effective phone/camera! huge problem having it interface via USB. When you ty to install the drivers it doesn’t complete the install and gives you an error saying not vista compatable, even thoguht the cd says the divers are. I haven’t bought an micro sd card yet, but if I do then I will have to get a card reader that supports micro sd. I like the user friendly menus. I had a AU G’z one Type-R and found the interface about the same. I agree on the not having a face window to check the time and message traffic. Just the WIN LED is your medium. If any one finds a work around for the usb situtation, please post it!!
ELECTRON CHASER OUT
help. i have this phone. i have mac g4 laptop. i cant get software to run . i want to get pictures off phone onto laptop. do i need to buy sd card adaptor???
just bought w53ca cellphone…so confusing! don’t know how to use the usb cable for pix to be transfered on pc…and one more thing is “how could i make my own email address? waaaaaaaahh! i really need an english manual to figure it out!
Hi caprigurl! Welcome to the club with your new camera (phone!).
The USB setup on the phone is a big disappointment. First, you have to have a PC that runs Japanese Windows XP. No exceptions! Thats the only way you’ll get the drivers to load off the CD. If you get that far, you must place the phone in the battery charger stand and use the included USB cable between the stand and your PC (USB 2.0 only!). I have found that its far, far easier to use the SD Micro cards along with the card reader (there cheap!) for transferring the photos to the PC.
There is a PDF e-manual available now for download from the AU website. It has much more info than that useless 2 page document in the back of the Japanese manual. The file name is “w53ca_basic_e.pdf” and its about a 14MB download. Good Luck!
Dee
Hey everyone!
Got a W53a too but does anyone know how to get images onto the phone? When I add them to the SD card via PC the images don’t even show up when I place the SD card back in the phone.
If the images do show up they still cannot be registered to the phone.
It’s the same thing with the MP3’s I’ve tried to put on the SD card.
Is this their way of having people buy music/images through them?
If anyone knows of any other software that can tweak images or mp3’s for the w53a please post it!
Thanks again!
Riki
Hi,
First about the music. It will not play MP3 music (I felt burned about this too). It will only play music in the KMF format. There is a way to convert your own CD music into this format and upload it onto the phone using the included CD that comes with the phone kit. But!!! The programs and drivers on that CD will only work on a PC running the Japanese version of WinXP. It seems just plain dumb to me that Casio didn’t allow the use of MP3 music on the W53CA. What were they thinking? Possibly you are correct, that au (KDDI) wanted to make more money from music downloads.
Next, about pictures. You should be able to load JPEG (.jpg) picture files onto the Micro-SD card from your PC using any commercial USB style card-reader. The photo files must be of a size that the phone can display, and you must put the pictures into the correct folder. The folders can only be created on the phone (when the Micro-SD card is installed in the phone, the card is formatted and the correct folders created). Any folder you create on the Micro-SD card from your PC is not recognized by the phone. And you’re correct, the photos on the Micro-SD can not be register. You’ll have to move /copy them onto the phone for that.
Hope that helps.
Dee (the man)
Hi,
Thanks for the information. I got a W53CA cellphone too from my girlfriend.
“There is a way to convert your own CD music into this format and upload it onto the phone using the included CD that comes with the phone kit.”
My girlfriend’s pc has Japanese windows xp OS so I can install the programs and drivers on that CD that comes with the phone kit. Do you know how to convert CD music into KMS format and then upload it onto the phone? Does the CD that comes with the phone kit has a software to convert CD music to a format that can be recognized by the phone (e.g. kmf, 3g2, etc.)? If this is the case, then I can convert MP3 to CD music format and then convert to kmf format?
By the way, does the player on this phone recognize WMA, WMV, M4A format?
Thanks,
Gyver
Hi!
According to the information I got from the au help desk, it is possible to transfer music data of AAc(m4a), WMA, and WAV format from your PC to “au Music Port” (the software program on the CD from the phone kit). That software program will convert the music data into the KMF format and allow it to be uploaded to the phone. Music data in mp3 and atrac format cannot be transfered into the “au Music Port” software program (as well as data directly from CDs). There are several freeware utilities on the internet that you can download that will convert music data from your CDs into WAV format. As I mentioned in the beginning, the WAV files can be transfered to “au Music Port”.
As far as I know, there are not any freeware utilities to convert music files into KMF format. Because KMF is a proprietary format, there seems to be only one company that sells a utility for working with it. KDDI apparently has a licence to use it for their lismo phones.
Except for this issue, I like my W53CA phone. However, if I had this information before purchasing it, I probably would not have purchased it.
Dee
my friends back from Japan and brought me this phone… does anyone know how to crack it… will be a big help thanx
Thanks Dee… I have a software that can convert MP3 to WAV format. I was able to download all the songs (WAV format) to my phone using AU Music Port. I guess AU MUSIC port works only in Japanese Windows XP. I have problem transferring the songs in English Windows XP. Or maybe I did something wrong. Anyway, I love this phone especially that it was given to me by my girlfriend.
Gyver
how about with Vista Japanese OS ????? I got this phone too…love the camera the most. but!!! gosh !!! big problem with the music port.
Can anyone tell me sequencely how it should be done for listening the music from this phone.
Thanks.
hello there,
I just got the same phone and it seems like it is not possible to display the address book by groups. I can display the phone numbers only in sequence by the ID number that the phone assigns to each entry. There is the option to assign each number to scene 1 or 2 but that’s it…Anyone knows how to display the records by groups?
It’s one of the negative points of this phone together with the missing front display.
kalaw: I don’t think the CD works correctly in Windows Vista. I was told by KDDI’s help desk that its only Japanese Windows XP.
Kele:
The closest function this phone has to what you are wanting is the “Pair Function”. See page 48 and 49 of the Basic English manual.
Nope.
Dee (the man!)
Thanks Dee for your quick reply..
1- Press “address book” button
2- Press “MENU”
3- “Add Book Setup” (option number 7)
4- “Switch Search” (option number 1)
5- “Group” (option number 3)
it was indeed wired to think that such an option was not available…
Hope it can help
Any one want to sell it to me???? I really want to have it.. im willing to buy it at all cost…. pls E-mail me if any one willing to sell me… pls….
Thanks
pikachu…
Where in Japan are you
Dee (the man!)
im in singapore… Any one wanted to sell to me… $$ can be still ……. (:
kalaw, I don’t know what kind of problem you have faced with Vista in Japanese.
In my case everything worked correctly, the only thing I needed to do was to?save the driver .EXE file from the CD on the laptop and check one the properties of the file. The second tab of the properties gives the possibility to set the mode for the file..set WindowsXP service pack2. Then install it.
Once you have installed it you will need to set the phone for the communication by usb with the laptop.
Go to the menu…then press 5 to M5 menu…and then option 9 “Data Comm” and set the option 4 for communication via USB…that’s it..
it should work..
hope it can help
Will this ever come to america prefrubly california and at&t?
question needs an answer people!
I have one for sale. I’m back from Japan and in Los Angeles now and won’t be able to use it here. Only used it for 8 months and kept everything in excellent condition with original box and docs.
Color: Black with original screen cover(never removed it).
Please let me know.
Frank
Hi Frank, where u do stay? how much do u want to sell???
Purchasing a mobile phones is not an easy task. There are various varieties of Mobile Phones in market. Sony Erecssion and samsunch launch different models in market with great feature. All the latest feature you can find in latest version.
is there a way to unlock this phone so you can use it here in the U.S.
Hello there I purchase a mobile phone too but i cant use here in the philippines because i don’t have a driver how to download a driver for this phone?cloudherrera@gmail.com can you sent me a site?
can anybody here help me?
i thing my W53CA is locked..
the problem is, it is in Japanese language.
how can i unlock it? i can’t either enter the menu..
i have a friend that translate the words, and it says its been locked inside.
i really need help right now.. (T.T)..
please help me