Sprint Product Ambassadors: Sharp Aquos Crystal – First Impressions

[RobIgnatowicz]

For those looking for a sleek yet inexpensive smartphone, I think the Sharp Aquos Crystal might be just what you’re looking for.

Whether you are interested in off-contract pricing of $239.99 or taking advantage of $0 (with two year agreement), this Sprint Exclusive handset packs some great value without breaking the bank.

Unboxing mine, I was pleased to see (as the name suggests) Sharp’s borderless screen is “Crystal clear”. On mine, I have the “auto brightness” enabled and find the screen always looks great (under any light and during any time of the day) and seldom ever reaches max brightness. The practically non-existent border gives the screen an eerie flowing kind of effect and allows a very efficient screen footprint of 5.17” X 2.64”. There is no wasted real estate to speak of. The earpiece is not visible from the front and is actually integrated acoustically to allow the screen to clearly project sound for phone calls.

Besides the overall neat styling, there’s enough horsepower to run all my needed apps and I’m delighted to see the device supports micro SD cards up to 128GB (which means “open season” on saving frivolous pictures, videos, MP3’s or whatever else occupies the most space).
Have you tried WiFi calling yet? Well rest assured the Sharp Aquos has wifi calling and works flawlessly. Comes in handy for me when I’m up in the rural north in areas where cell signal (of any kind) is few and far between but luckily free WiFi is much more accessible. Earlier this month this was a life saver, where land lines are still king and three friends (all on other carriers) had zero signal in all but a few remote spots.

Also notable with the Sharp Aquos, is Harman Kardon sound including their patented Clari-Fi™ technology, which adds a warm, rich dynamic enhancement to compressed audio formats. Especially over Bluetooth, I’ve been very impressed as my music never sounded better (Especially off a cell phone).

I’ll go into more thorough feature highlights in a future blogs but as I’m just discovering things myself, I think the Sharp Aquos Crystal offers a lot of goodies crammed in a small value conscious package.

-Rob Ignatowicz
Sprint Product Ambassador

Disclaimer: The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! That sounds like a pretty good package for such a low price.

 

[MysticCrab]

I posted this on the other thread - but since you are a brand ambassador.. figured I'd share it here as well..

I bought mine last weekend .. and only under duress as my other phone was crapping out. LoL

It is an "ok" phone - but if I could get a Z3c on Sprint I would drop this in a heartbeat.. but alas.. I needed a new phone, don't do Apple, and have small hands and like small phones. The specs are about the same as my 2 yr old Motorola - but at least I get an upgraded processor that will go past Jelly Bean.

So far the issues I have found that make me consider returning it are:
~ it hangs up on calls if my cheek touches the screen (yes, it is supposedly "locked"),
~ the image quality is sub-par (my old phone had the same resolution cameras and the pics were much better)
~ Can't move apps to the sd card (according to a developer we have to wait for them to release an app2sd ROM update)
~ Can't turn the shutter sound off on the camera... VERY annoying! when doing as the FAQ on their website says - it takes a photo - not mutes the sound (and yes, it makes a sound when using the down volume key as well). Yes, if I remember to take the entire phone into silent mode it won't 'click'.. but I am not going to want to do that every time... and I'll miss calls/msgs because I'll forget to turn the sounds back on once I finish taking one photo..

Is there an option to mute the camera "shutter sound"?
Yes. Please hold the volume DOWN key to mute the device.

~ The screen is nice - but is very fragile.. I have never cracked a screen or even scratched one.. and this one got a 1/4" scratch in the glass on day 2! (and I am rough on my toys.. shoved in pockets, bags, and purses.. dropped frequently)

My overall reaction to the phone is "meh"... and if something else comes out that is spec'd better - I'll get it and give this one to my 76 y/o Mom (because she won't find any of these things annoying.. LoL)