Sharp Aquos Crystal vs Galaxy S5 vs One (M8): specs comparison

Many of us, tech-savvy individuals, have wanted to see some of Sharp's striking, almost bezel-less smartphones finally arrive in the US, but those "headless" phones had, until now, been exclusively available in Japan. Well, you remember that Japanese carrier Softbank recently bought the majority of Sprint, right? We suspect this may have something to do with today's announcement - Sprint has officially become the first US carrier to offer a Sharp Aquos phone, and boy is that new Aquos Crystal a looker! With almost zero bezel around the left, right, and top sides, this phone manages to pack a sizable 5" screen into a relatively compact body size. Sweet, eh? However, we should point out that this is a mid-range offering that doesn't quite aim to compete with the big guys on the market. Still, where there's smoke there's fire, so we can imagine that if this new fella gets a warm welcome from US customers, more Sharp phones will follow it through this newly-established warp gate connecting Japan and the US.


This post just got a little too geeky? Agreed. Now, let's turn our attention back to the Sharp Aquos Crystal and our specs comparison. As we said, the Crystal is more of a mid-range affair, but we're still going to pit it against some of the most popular Androids out there, just to get an idea of how it stacks up against those popular models.

DESIGN
OS Android (4.4.2) Android (4.4.2) TouchWiz UI Windows Phone 8.1
Dimensions 5.16 x 2.64 x 0.39 inches (131 x 67 x 10 mm) 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 inches (142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm) 5.76 x 2.78 x 0.37 inches (146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35 mm)
Weight 4.97 oz (141 g)
the average is 4.7 oz (136 g) 5.11 oz (145 g)
the average is 4.7 oz (136 g) 5.64 oz (160 g)
the average is 4.7 oz (136 g)
Body material Metal
Rugged Water, Dust resistant
IP certified IP 67


DISPLAY
Physical size 5.0 inches 5.1 inches 5.0 inches
Resolution 720 x 1280 pixels 1080 x 1920 pixels 1080 x 1920 pixels

Pixel density 294 ppi 432 ppi 441 ppi

Technology LCD Super AMOLED
Colors 16 777 216


CAMERA
Camera 8 megapixels 16 megapixels 4 megapixels
Flash LED LED Dual LED
Aperture size F2.2 F2.0
Focal length (35mm equivalent) 28 mm
Camera sensor size 1/2.6" 1/3"
Camcorder 1920x1080 (1080p HD) (30 fps) 3840x2160 (4K) (30 fps) 1920x1080 (1080p HD)
Recording format MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV
Features Digital image stabilization, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR) High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)
Front-facing camera 1.2 megapixels 2.1 megapixels 5 megapixels
Video capture 1280x720 (720p HD) (30 fps) 1920x1080 (1080p HD)


HARDWARE

System chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8926 Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Processor Quad core, 1200 MHz Quad core, 2500 MHz, Krait 400 Quad core, 2300 MHz
Graphics processor Adreno 305 Adreno 330 Yes

System memory 1536 MB RAM 2048 MB RAM (Dual-channel) / LPDDR3 2048 MB RAM
Built-in storage 8 GB 32 GB 32 GB
Storage expansion microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC


BATTERY
Talk time 13.00 hours
the average is 12 h (703 min) 21.00 hours
the average is 12 h (703 min)
Stand-by time 16.2 days (390 hours)
the average is 20 days (490 h)
Talk time (3G) 22.00 hours
the average is 14 h (870 min)
Stand-by time (3G) 22.0 days (528 hours)
the average is 29 days (703 h)
Capacity 2040 mAh 2800 mAh 2600 mAh
Type Li - Ion Li - Polymer


TECHNOLOGY

CDMA 800, 1900 MHz 800, 1900 MHz
GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
UMTS 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
FDD LTE 700 (band 13), 1700/2100 (band 4) MHz
Data LTE Cat 4 (150/50 Mbit/s), , HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS HSPA (unspecified), HSUPA, EDGE, GPRS, EV-DO


AVAILABILITY

Scheduled release August 2014 22 Aug 2014 (Official) 19 Aug 2014