While smaller companies keep trying to beat Apple and Samsung out for at least a level of brand recognition, for the most part, those two companies rule the roost while HTC, LG, and Motorola vie to keep up at the edges as Kyocera, ZTE, and Alcatel battle it out for the mid-range and low-end. With all that going on, Sharp has popped back up. It’s been a long time since the United States saw a Sharp smartphone, and we have to wonder if there’s any point at all.
Sprint certainly thinks so. Not every new Sprint device gets a press event at launch, after all. What is it about the Crystal that Sprint is getting worked up about, and is it more than just hype?
First Impressions
The best word to describe the AQUOS Crystal is futuristic. The essentially bezel-free design is like something out of a movie. It’s also just refreshing, as we’ve reached a point where 90 percent of phones are boring black slabs. The almost all screen face catches the eye—both your own and passers-by. You really can see why CES has nominated the Crystal for a 2015 Innovation Award.
Just LOOK at it!
The decision to move the camera to the bottom is jarring at first, but it works. Our review unit included a note to turn the phone upside down when video chatting for best results, but we actually kind of liked it with the camera below. There is a power button and headset jack on the top, volume buttons on the left side, and a USB mini port on the bottom. The metallic-finished plastic looks nice, and the removable back cover can be replaced with other colors for adding a personal touch. Under said cover you find a SIM slot for LTE and a MicroSD slot that can take up to a 128 GB card, which is good because the Crystal only has 8 GB on board. What you won’t find is a removable battery, as Sharp has joined the camp that eschews them.
The Software
Custom skins are a love them or hate them affair. Many of us here hate them. If you’re like-minded, the Crystal may be your cup of tea. Sharp decided not to mess much with Android, putting straight Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) on with minor tweaks, like a different camera app. I can’t help but think that Android 5 (Lollipop) will look amazing on this if Sharp and Sprint ever decide to update it, and the lack of a heavily customized skin can make that easier to do.
While Sprint has been putting less and less “value added software” (read: bloatware) on devices, but that doesn’t extend to Boost. There are a total of 16 such bits of software on the Crystal, of which nine are uninstallable. Of the remainder, the only truly egregious bit is the Assistant app, which is pointless on a Google Now device.
There are also some audio software tweaks, but we’ll get to them in the next section, as they have to do with the hardware.
Performance
Let’s be blunt: Do not expect flagship-level performance from the Sharp AQUOS Crystal. Despite the Quad-Core chip inside, it’s simply not the most powerful phone. With that said, we had little to no lag, and video played without halting. For phones in the Crystal’s price range, the performance is better than average.
A few reviewers have dinged the Crystal for only having a 720p display. Except 720p really is enough for every day use (some would argue more than enough) and the dimensions make for a good viewing experience. We even found the viewing angles to be better than average and the screen to be fairly usable out of doors.
One advantage of the “lesser” screen is the impact it had on battery life. The Crystal regularly made it through a work day of average use (texting, calls, social networking, push email, and some music streaming) without having to be charged. In one case, we didn’t charge it overnight and left it online and there was a 20 percent charge the next morning. That’s impressive for a phone with a 2040 mAh battery.
Calls are clear and reception is okay in New York City and Northern New Jersey. Due to the fact that the Boost version has no roaming, we do occasionally find some areas where we aren’t on LTE and have no data at all for a bit. That’s not awesome. You want to make sure that you’re in a well-covered Sprint region. GPS reception is accurate, which frankly, is uninspiring at this stage in the game.
If you’re a music nut, pay attention. Thanks to the same Harman Kardon chip as the special edition HTC M8, the AQUOS Crystal has darn good sound. Some of the enhancements like Clara-Fi (we’re still not sure what that’s supposed to reference) seem gimmicky and annoying, but we can’t argue that the base-line sound is exceptionally good.
Regretfully, we can’t say the same about the camera. While 8 MP cameras are the baseline, the one in here feels more like 4 MP. Despite allegedly having autofocus, shots are regularly blurry and colors are off. Outdoor shots are somewhat better, but barely.
A bowl of citrons, taken without flash.
A bowl of citrons, taken with flash.
Here lies a good pet, taken outdoors, overcast, no flash.
As you can see, the outside one is the best one, but even that isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off. The body of the phone looks like something you’d expect in 2020, but the camera is like something from 2007.
Hackability
Sadly, the Crystal has no custom ROMS as of yet, despite a strong interest on the expected sites. However, one eagle-eyed XDA-developers.com user noted that Sharp includes everything you need to get started making one—assuming you can read Japanese. That’s a good sign and something we wish all manufacturers did.
Pricing & Availability
As mentioned above, the AQUOS Crystal is a Sprint phone. You can get it for $240 on Sprint (or $10 a month) or for $150 on Boost (and eventually Virgin as well). With the above specs, the Crystal is arguably the best value on Boost or Virgin. Here’s the biggie: It also works on Ting.
I just like saying it. “Ting!”
For the unfamiliar, Ting is a provider that uses Sprint’s network and has a unique rate plan that can save some users money, because you only pay for what you use. You can activate a ton of Sprint phones on Ting as well as purchase a unit directly from the company. The cheapest LTE phones (and yes, we’re ignoring the slower, less popular WiMax phones) on Ting are the Galaxy S III for $125, the HTC Desire 510 for $155, and an iPhone 5c for $210. The AQUOS Crystal has a much better screen than the Desire, which sports a larger battery, but may actually have more drain. While the S III does technically have a screen with a better pixel density, that’s because it’s a smaller screen. Sharp’s offering beats the Galaxy with specs, battery life, and overall user interface.
Getting it to work on Ting is easy; you just buy the phone, call them, and activate it. You don’t have to have it active on Boost or Sprint first.
Wrap Up
One should never judge a phone by appearance alone, but in the case of the AQUOS crystal, we almost need to force ourselves to get past how good it looks. The all-screen front is great, with the only downside being that you’d better get a case. We had our unit for two weeks and managed to crack it slightly on the edge. That’s not good.
As noted above, the music features are great, but the camera ones are sadly lacking. If you’re a heavy smartphone camera user, you may need to look elsewhere. However, if you can see past that, then the rest of the feature set is compelling.
The AQUOS Crystal’s overall solid specs, low cost of entry, and eye-catching design make it one of the the best choices for Ting (or Boost and Virgin, for that matter), as long as you’re willing to sacrifice the perfect Instagram picture.
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