Sharp AQUOS Crystal versus Samsung Galaxy S5: first look

Entering the highly competitive Android space, every newcomer on the scene knows that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is highly regarded as the benchmark device to beat. That’s not all too surprising, especially when it’s super spec’d, rich with geeky hardware features, and a top performer in every meaningful category. Needless to say, the just announced Sharp AQUOS Crystal has a lot to live up to – so it’s intriguing to see how it can try to compete against one of the heavy hitters in the market.

Design

Frankly, the Samsung Galaxy S5’s design is stale in comparison to the hard-lined look of the Sharp AQUOS Crystal. From a design standpoint, there’s one distinct quality that prevails with Sharp’s offering – its amazing edgeless display. That’s simply the first thing to attract our attention as we stare deeply at the two smartphones next to each other.



To be fair, they’re both sporting similar constructions – plastic frames that have dimpled patterns. From a construction point of view, we can’t concretely say that one is sturdier than the other, but we have to mention the Galaxy S5’s water-resistant design. It surely helps in those occasions where the phone needs to get wet, so that’s incentive that you’ll need to think about when making a decision. Moreover, the Galaxy S5 benefits from an arsenal of features – like its fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor, and IR blaster.

Display

By now, there’s no hiding the obvious here, as the Galaxy S5’s 5.1-inch 1080 x 1920 Super AMOLED display bests its rival’s 5-inch 1080 x 1920 LCD display in the details category. Closely looking at fine text, our eyes can distinctly make out the sharper looks with the Galaxy S5’s screen, but from a normal viewing distance, we’re hard pressed to notice which of the two is superior.



From a cursory look, we do like the neutral color reproduction of the Crystal’s display, as it doesn’t exhibit as much saturation as the Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S5. Beyond that, the biggest head-turner here is the edgeless look of the Sharp AQUOS Crystal’s screen – it makes it so that the phone is considerably more compact in size than the Galaxy S5. Still, we need to point out the cool tech that’s in play with the Galaxy S5’s screen. In particular, we’re referring to screen’s AirView feature, which recognizes our finger as we hover it over the display.

Interface

Sharing the same basic features of Android, we’re inclined to say that Samsung’s TouchWiz interface offers us more features that prove valuable to the productivity-minded individual. And that’s despite the fact that we find the general presentation and look of the experience to be less appealing than the stock Android 4.4.2 KitKat experience of the Sharp AQUOS Crystal. Naturally, there are plenty of purists who say that the stock experience is the best Android experience out there, but other people will nonetheless be agreeable to the extensive enhancements dished up by Sammy’s TouchWiz experience.

Processor and Memory