Sharp AQUOS Crystal hands-on

US consumers know Sharp for its line of AQUOS high-definition television sets, but in the smartphone space, we’re inclined to say that most people wouldn’t even have the slightest inkling to think of them as a brand they’d consider choosing. Why’s that? Well, it’s plainly obvious that Sharp has no presence in the US smartphone market. However, when we look overseas at Japan, Sharp is highly regarded as a formidable contender.



Seeing that Sharp is attempting to get its feet into the door here in the US smartphone space, it doesn’t surprise us to find out that the company is partnering with Sprint for its first major smartphone release in the US. It’s not a juggernaut as we look deep and down into its specs sheet, but for the Sharp AQUOS Crystal, it’s astounding us for the mere fact that it’s sporting a unique quality that’s hard to find in other phones – a phone that packs along a 5-inch edgeless display.

Design

For a player that has no concrete foundation in the US smartphone market, the Sharp AQUOS Crystal is an intriguing beast in the landscape – it just has a distinct look that doesn’t look like anything we’ve seen. With its hard-lined design language, it has this chic appearance that genuinely comes off as stylish, especially when we look at it from the front. And why is that? Well, we’re just enamored by its impressive, edgeless display.



To be fair, though, it’s edgeless around the top and sides of the display – leaving the bottom with the usual amount we tend to see with today’s devices. Nevertheless, we can’t deny the fact that it’s flaunting one of the best screen-to-body ratios out there, with approximately 78.21% of the front surface reserved for the display. For something bearing a flagship-esque sized 5-inch display, it’s so uncanny to find its size rivaling that of smaller screen-sized phones – like the iPhone 5s. In fact, it’s only marginally wider and taller than the prized phone, but we have to point out the vast size discrepancy between their displays (4-inches versus 5-inches).

Display

Okay, there’s no hiding that we’re all flustered by the edgeless quality of its display, but when we look at everything else about the display, we do notice that Sharp needed to make a few, minor compromises. In particular, it doesn’t have the same 1080p resolution of today’s flagships, or even the higher quad-HD resolutions of some others. Instead, we’re presented with a 5-inch 720 x 1280 (720p) LCD display. Of course, we would’ve loved to see 1080p resolution, but in all fairness, its pixel density count of 294 ppi is still effective enough to make it look sharp. Other qualities about the display are sufficient, like its wide viewing angles and natural color production. Quite frankly, we’re not too surprised by all of the top-notch qualities, seeing that the company is known for its impressive looking set of AQUOS televisions.

Interface