Sharp's New Aquos Crystal Has Crazy Slim Bezel, Sprint Chosen Carrier

By Kevin Parrish
published

Sprint plans to hold a press conference in New York City on Tuesday. The theme for this event will be "Take the Edge Off," and the invites currently going out to the press feature an illustration of crystals. Now there's speculation that the company will reveal two new smartphones offered by Sharp that have super-thin, almost non-existent bezels.

According to Japanese-based Livedoor and Sprint parent company SoftBank (via PhoneArena), the two phones will be called the Sharp Aquos Crystal and the Sharp Aquos Crystal X, the former of which is slated to hit Sprint here in North America soon. For now, Sharp plans to keep the Aquos Crystal X as a Japanese exclusive.

The specifications show that the Aquos Crystal phone will have a 5-inch screen with a 720p resolution and measure 5 x 2.6 x 0.39 inches, making the device super thin and super slim. The phone will be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.2 GHz with 1.5 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage (there's probably a microSD card slot too) and a 2040 mAh battery. Android 4.4.2 "KitKat" is the platform of choice.

As for the Aquos Crystal X, this phone will measure 5.5 x 2.9 x 0.43 inches and sport a 5.5-inch display. Additional features will include Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 clocked at 2.3 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage (again, there's probably a microSD card slot too), and a 2610 mAh battery. This model will serve as the flagship, between the two.

Sprint is expected to begin taking pre-orders for the Sharp Aquos Crystal on Tuesday in the USA. The phone is expected to hit the North American market on August 29.

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Kevin Parrish
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • glasssplinter
    Glad to know it's doomed from the start with Sprint as the carrier.
    Reply
  • sykozis
    It's an entry-level phone going to a crap carrier.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    that is a pretty phone
    Reply
  • Phillip Wager
    the crystal x looks amazing the regular one is meh
    Reply
  • mariusmotea
    "measure 5 x 2.6 x 0.39 inches, making the device super thin and super slim"
    0.39 inches means ~10mm, so is thick.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    I'd imagine that, when actually gripping the phone, with a bezel so small it'd be difficult to avoid actually touching the screen with the fingers that are simply holding the phone.
    Reply
  • KS2Problema
    Looks to me like this article joins others in the general computer press telling people to go through the elaborate mitigation steps for *Known Issue #3* -- which appears from the MS page on the issue to be ONLY for those with lockups/BSOD/boot-loop issues.

    Look at the mitigation steps for the less severe issues under Known Issue #2 -- they involve ONLY using the standard update uninstall commands and can be done in a minute or two.

    Is this yet another case of sloppy tech writers cueing off each others' misunderstanding and/or bad writing and putting unsuspecting, gullible users who *don't* have lockup/boot-loop issues through an elaborate -- and somewhat risky -- set of mitigations for MS doesn't even suggest for their issues?

    Looks like it.
    Reply