Sharp announces the full-screen Aquos S2 in Beijing

As announced earlier, Sharp launched its latest bezel-less smartphone called Aquos S2 today in China.

Like the Aquos Crystal, the specs are decidedly mid-range, however, it comes in two models: the "standard edition" and the "high edition".

The smartphone features a 5.5-inch 4K display with nearly zero bezels on top and sides.

Sharp has put two cameras on the rear of the S2 and have settled for a vertical design similar to the one seen in the iPhone 8 leaks. The handset's corners are not rounded but cut off which give it an unusual look. No reason was given for this design choice and it's possible that could bother some users. It also has 8 megapixels front camera with f/2.0 aperture.

On the back, the S2 has a camera unit that looks an very bad lot like what everyone is expecting to see on the next iPhone. But for the midrange price, you'll get a strong processor, plenty of RAM and a dual camera. It's a weird look, and I'm really not sure why Sharp chose it.

Sharp, which quit the Chinese market in 2013, now has the support of Foxconn's strong supply and production expertise, analysts said. The Aquos S2 will be available in two different variants powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 and Snapdragon 660 processors. Further, the phone comes with a 3.6mm thick fingerprint sensor, placed at the bottom of the display, which makes it world's narrowest fingerprint module. The f/1.75 dual camera on the back consists of a 12-megapixel sensor plus an 8-megapixel sensor, both also feature efficient 1.4um pixels and together offer a seven-level bokeh effect. Up front is an 8MP shooter.

Other features in the Aquos S2 include a decent 3,020mAh battery that will come with Quick Charge 3.0, powered by Android 7.1 Nougat with the SharpSmileUX over the OS.

Sharp Aquos S2 features extremely thin bezels, which is why one of the main selling points of the phone is definitely its design. The company tied up with JD.com to distribute the new model which costs from 2,499 yuan (US$373). The better of the two (not ready for sale yet) comes with a Snapdragon 660, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a "3D glass" backside costs 3,499 yuan (about $520) - we'll see if they come to the U.S. soon, but for now, they'll likely stick to China.

Source: Sharp announces the full-screen Aquos S2 in Beijing