Fujitsu F-04B

Region

Japan

Associated With

Fujitsu Limited - developer and manufacturer; NTT DOCOMO - commissioner, seller and network operator

Defining Feature

A touchscreen display that detached from its Bluetooth-linked numeric and QWERTY keyboard, with an optional projector

Status

Discontinued - handset out of production; original FOMA and i-mode services ended on 31 March 2026

Overview

The Fujitsu F-04B was a Japanese phone whose touchscreen detached completely from its keyboard.

Released by NTT DOCOMO in Japan in March 2010, it joined a touchscreen display unit to a Bluetooth-linked keyboard with numeric and QWERTY layouts. The display could work as the principal handset when separated.

The separately sold Projector Unit F01 followed in April, adding compact image and video projection. The phone is out of production, and its original FOMA and i-mode services ended in March 2026.

Why It Mattered

The F-04B made one handset serve several physical roles: its detached keyboard supported QWERTY entry and remote camera control, while the display could be used on its own. The matching projector extended that modular idea to photographs, documents and video.

It captures a brief point in Japanese mobile design when elaborate feature phones and new Android models were reaching DOCOMO customers within days of one another.

How the Separable Handset Worked

• The assembled FOMA feature phone weighed approximately 169 g and divided into touchscreen display and keyboard units with separate batteries.
• The two units communicated through Bluetooth. The display could operate alone as the principal handset; the keyboard was not a second independent phone.
• Its configurations included closed basic use, a slider arrangement with numeric keys and separated operation with the compact QWERTY keyboard.

Projector Unit F01

• The approximately 88 g accessory used DLP projection, a three-colour LED source and 854×480 resolution, with a maximum listed brightness of about nine lumens in compatible modes.
• It could project images measuring approximately 5 to 66 inches from distances of about 23 to 320 cm.
• When attached to the F-04B, the projector offered approximately 120 minutes of continuous projection at standard brightness or 160 minutes at minimum brightness, according to Fujitsu's specifications.

Release, Manufacturer Claim and Closure

• Black and White F-04B handsets were released in Japan on 26 March 2010; Mat Black and Dark Silver versions followed on 10 September.
• Projector Unit F01 went on sale nationwide in Japan on 30 April 2010 as a separately sold accessory.
• Fujitsu promoted the F-04B as the world’s first separable handset, based on its research current to 10 November 2009.
• The handset is out of production, and its principal repair, enquiry and software-update routes have ended. DOCOMO closed FOMA and i-mode on 31 March 2026.

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