After first being announced back in August as part of a larger tieup with parent SoftBank, the Sharp Aquos Crystal Android smartphone is finally available for purchase online from Boost Mobile and through selected retailers beginning today for $149.99. Sprint will also make the phone available on Sprint Prepaid available today through Best Buy locations beginning today for the same price. The phone will then launch through Radio Shack on October 21st and through Sprint Easy Pay beginning on October 17th for 24 monthly payments of $10. Virgin Mobile has yet to detail its launch plans for the phone.
The phone features a 5-inch 720p HD resolution display without top or side bezels. The phone also features software developed by Sharp such as Clip Now, which takes screenshots with a swipe and makes them easily sharable with their own links to use across social media, Speaktoit Assistant, a natural language personal assistant that can perform a number of tasks, such as answer questions, open apps, place calls, and send messages. The phone also includes Harman Kardon Clari-Fi and LiveStage audio technologies along with Direct Wave Receiver audio technology, which uses the display panel to create sound amplification for phone calls instead of integrating a conventional speaker.
The phone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat and includes the usual suite of Google services, in addition to OfficeSuite for editing Microsoft Office formatted documents. Other hardware already confirmed include the 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The Aquos also supports microSD cards up to 128GB and the camera captures 8-megapixel still images and 1080p HD video capture with a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera.
Sweet looking phone. Went to buy it yesterday. Sold out.