Japan’s Sharp Aquos R7 is a cure for poor smartphone design

The latest entry in our ongoing coverage of “The Cool Phones You Can’t Buy in the US” is Sharp Aquos R7.

This phone arrives in Japan in July and is proof that you can make a smartphone that stands out in this day and age. Sharp is no stranger to Unique designsAnd with the R7, it corrects many of the bewildering design decisions made by other smartphone manufacturers.

First, the mustache continue its direction To charge the very massive camera sensors in its smartphones. The back of the phone is dominated by a single 47.2-megapixel camera with a 1-inch sensor and a large lens. Most smartphone manufacturers ship three to four small and questionably useful rear cameras on the back of their devices, but Sharp gives folks one giant camera, which has the potential to produce better quality photos.

Next to the huge camera sensor is a small 2-megapixel sensor, but Google’s translation of the product page calls it a “distance sensor”, so it doesn’t look like you can take pictures with it.

The screen is something to write home about, too. The phone has a 6.6-inch Sharp, 2730 x 1260 IGZO OLED with a best-in-class 240Hz refresh rate. Best of all, the show level, unlike other leading Android manufacturers, which insist on using a curved screen that distorts the sides of the screen. No manufacturer has ever explained the benefits a curved screen brings.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will have to take on the challenge of delivering Android at 240fps (good luck with that). Other specs include 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. There is a microSD slot, IP68 dust and water resistance, a 12MP front camera, and a USB-C port. Sharp found room for an overhead headphone jack.

Another cool feature that you can apparently get on hard-to-find smartphones is Qualcomm’s “3D Sonic Max” fingerprint sensor. The in-display fingerprint sensor is making a name for itself by being really big. Sharp does not specify its size, but Previous Offers Indicated that the sensor is large enough to fit two fingers. The main problem with in-screen fingerprint sensors is that the glass screen, which has no haptic indication of where to put your finger, makes it easy to miss the sensor and fail to read your fingerprint. Just making everything bigger is an obvious (albeit expensive) way to make in-display fingerprint sensors work more reliably. Qualcomm announced this sensor in 2019, and the number of phones that have adopted it since then are inexplicably in single digits.

Altogether, the R7 looks like a very interesting tile phone that fixes most of the things we usually complain about in reviews. One big camera, a large fingerprint sensor, a flat screen, and a headphone jack? Please, other smartphone manufacturers, without notes.