Frameless Sharp. Smartphone SHARP AQUOS S2 - upgrade and impressions. Packaging and equipment
In this review, I propose to get acquainted with the “frameless” AQUOS S2 from the world famous electronics manufacturer - Sharp. The smartphone turned out to be a little controversial, but at the same time quite interesting both outside and inside, and this is even despite the fact that the Japanese “roots” have now become part of Chinese company Foxconn. It is also worth noting that since its release in August last year, the model quickly fell in love with customers and continues to be very popular to this day.
One of the main distinctive features Aquos S2 uses Free Form Display technology, thanks to which front-camera remained in its usual place, being “fitted” into the screen. I don’t know exactly whether it happened this way on purpose or not, but thanks to this, the appearance of the Aquos S2 is very much reminiscent of the Essential PH-1, with which, by the way, it is sometimes even confused at a quick glance.
In addition, despite the large 5.5-inch display, which occupies almost 85% of the front surface area, there is also a fingerprint scanner located under the screen. In general, the list of characteristics of the smartphone is as follows.
| Operating system (OS) | Android 7.1.1 Nougat |
| Processor (CPU) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, 4x 2.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, 4x 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, 8 cores |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) | Qualcomm Adreno 508 |
| Random access memory (RAM) | 4 GB, LPDDR4, Dual channel, 1333 MHz |
| Built-in memory (ROM) | 64 GB |
| Screen | 5.5”, IGZO, 1080 x 2040, 420 ppi, 1.889:1 aspect ratio |
| Screen area | 85% |
| Other characteristics | Multi-touch, Capacitive, Scratch resistant |
| Main camera | |
| Sensor model | Sony IMX362 Exmor RS, CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) |
| Diaphragm | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 4.28mm |
| Flash type | Double LED |
| Image Resolution | 12.19MP |
| Video shooting | 1080p@30fps |
| Camera options | Touch focus, HDR, Scene select mode, Panorama, Geotagging, Self-timer, Exposure compensation, Digital image stabilization, Continuous shooting, ISO settings, Digital zoom, Autofocus, White balance settings, Face detection |
| Additional camera | |
| Sensor type | CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) |
| Diaphragm | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 3.51mm |
| Image Resolution | 7.99MP |
| Video shooting | 1080p@30fps |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11b, 802.11n 5GHz, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, Wi-Fi Hotspot, 802.11a, 802.11n, Dual band, 802.11g, 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS+GLONAS |
| Mobile communication technologies | UMTS (384 kbit/s), TD-HSDPA, TD-SCDMA, GPRS, EDGE, LTE Cat 7 (102.0 Mbit/s, 301.5 Mbit/s), HSPA+, EV-DO Rev. A (1.8 Mbit/s, 3.1 Mbit/s) |
Battery | 3020mAh, Li-polymer, Fast charging (Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0), Non-removable |
| Sensors | Compass, Accelerometer, Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Fingerprint scanner, Gyroscope |
| Housing material | Aluminum alloy, Glass, Plastic |
| Colors | White, Green, Black, Blue |
| Dimensions (HxWxD) | 141.8 x 72.04 x 7.9 mm |
| Weight | 140 gr |
Packaging and equipment
The smartphone comes in a rather weighty, very decent-looking box made of hard, durable cardboard, the opening of which is also very unusual - like a matchbox.
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Appearance and controls
The first thing that catches your eye is its very compact dimensions, which in no way can be compared with the declared 5.5-inch screen.
When describing the location of the camera, it is usually customary to say “above the screen”, but in in this case It would be most correct to say that the camera here is located at the top of the screen in the middle, in combination with light and proximity sensors.
Above them, in the narrow space between the screen and the frame, there is a speaker, as well as a small, I would even say barely noticeable, three-color LED for indicating events.
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Below, under the screen, there is the manufacturer’s logo, as well as an oval fingerprint scanner.
At the bottom end there is a USB Type-C connector, an external speaker, and a microphone hole.
The top end is free of any connectors; the headset is connected via the same bottom USB Type-C using the included adapter.
On the right are the usual unlock and volume buttons, on the left is a combined tray that allows you to place either two nano SIM cards or replace one of them with a microSD memory card.
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At the bottom there is the manufacturer’s logo, at the top left there is a hole for an external noise-canceling microphone, a convex “island” of the dual main camera and a two-color LED backlight underneath it.
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I think that the very fact of having a protruding part on back cover A smartphone cannot be called the right solution, but from the point of view of scratches on the protective glass of the camera, perhaps everything is not so bad - the camera is in a small recess and will not touch the surface.
Display
The smartphone has a 5.5-inch screen. The resolution is a very decent 2040 x 1080 pixels for this size; it also claims 135 percent coverage of the sRGB color space and a maximum brightness of 550 cd/m².
After turning it on, you get the complete feeling that this is an AMOLED. Bright, rich color rendering by default goes into warm shades, which can be adjusted if desired using the available software settings.
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Be that as it may, there are no questions about the quality of the screen, the picture is saturated, there is a good margin of brightness, and at maximum angles the picture is practically not distorted. The screen also looks readable in the sun, even with sunglasses.
The display itself is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass with smooth curves around the perimeter (2.5D), there is a high-quality oleophobic coating, so dirt and fingerprints are not so noticeable and can be erased without problems.
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The screen with a resolution of 2040x1080p is excellent for reading; with a density of 420ppi, pixels can only be seen with great desire and magnification.
Dimensions and ergonomics
As I mentioned earlier, the small size of the AQUOS S2 at first makes us doubt that it really has the declared 5.5” screen. To understand how compact the smartphone is, I suggest looking at it next to the full-fledged “frame” Elephone P8 with the same 5.5” screen diagonal.
The weight and dimensions of the AQUOS S2 make it quite possible to hold and work with it with one hand, but unfortunately the rounded shape of the body does not allow the device to “catch” reliably in the palm, it slides a little and you constantly catch yourself feeling that the smartphone might simply slip out and fall. The problem can be solved quite quickly with the use of a complete plastic bumper cover. By the way, it is quite thin and practically does not increase the visual dimensions of the device, but at the same time it has a positive effect on the ease of holding. True, I would still advise using a silicone bumper of this kind rather than a plastic one; it’s easier to remove and put on, and if it falls, it won’t crack, unlike its plastic counterpart.
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Operating system and interface
Sharp AQUOS S2 runs on Android 7.1.1 OS, and Smile UX is used as the main shell. When you turn it on, the system setup wizard prompts you to select a language, among the list of which is Russian.
Depending on the market, AQUOS S2 is available with two firmware options - Chinese (CN) and Taiwanese (WW). The sample under review was ordered from China, so Chinese firmware with the prefix CN in the assembly name is preinstalled, which differs from the Taiwanese one in the absence of Google services, as well as the presence of a number of applications in Chinese.
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The next step is to rename the archive by changing the firmware number in it up by one, i.e. if the stock assembly (in the information about the operating system) is called “00CN_1_35H”, then in the name of the archive you need to change “...135H...” to “...136H...”. This is done so that the system accepts this archive behind new version firmware.
After its completion, the smartphone will receive international firmware with the “WW” prefix with a pre-installed store Play applications and other services from Google.
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Standard “clean” functionality operating system supplemented with some useful functions, among which we can note:
- ability to adjust font size;
- reading mode (the screen becomes yellowish);
- game mode for selected applications;
- controlling the phone using gestures on the screen, as well as changing its position (somatosensory movement);
- built-in ability to record video from the screen (including audio from a microphone);
- customizable optimization of system resource use;
- changing the position of virtual on-screen buttons management;
- Battery saving modes, including by switching the screen to black and white mode.
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The scanner itself works just fine, there are practically no false positives, the fingerprint is recognized regardless of the angle at which the finger is applied. The only remark is related to the drop in accuracy if hands are wet; here recognition is not always successful.
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How to round the corners of the screen
We must pay tribute to the Sharp engineers, by making the corners of the screen matrix not rounded (like everyone else), but beveled, they were certainly able to attract attention, but to say that this decision I wouldn’t be able to fall into the category of successful ones.
In this case, it just “hurts the eye”, you can certainly get used to it and after a while you simply stop paying attention, but for those who cannot come to terms with this there is a special free application Rounded Corner, with which you can quickly and easily solve this problem.
Download and install the application, in the settings set the Size option to 100, and in the Corners section, deselect the outer buttons responsible for rounding the bottom corners and thereby leave only the top ones. If you wish, you can experiment with the settings yourself, but in the end we get a result similar to the one shown in the photo below. It is worth noting that if previously all the corners in the screenshots remained straight, then after applying software rounding the result will also be noticeable in the screenshots.
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Communications and wireless interfaces
The smartphone supports the following standards mobile communications: GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), CDMA (800 MHz), WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), TD-SCDMA (Band 34, 39), FDD-LTE (Band 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 28), TDD-LTE (Band 34, 38, 39, 40, 41).
The quality of the connection is quite good, the audibility of both you and the interlocutor is not satisfactory. If you still get the feeling that the interlocutor is hard to hear, the volume of the intercom speaker can be increased using the adjustment rocker, although this must be done without fanaticism, otherwise everyone around you at a distance of about one and a half meters will hear it.
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The positioning system supports both American GPS and Russian GLONASS. In addition, although it is not stated in the characteristics, my copy also detects satellites of the Baidu system.
System and performance
The hardware of this version of Aquos S2 runs on an 8-core Snapdragon 630 processor (a very advanced version popular Snapdragon 625) with a maximum frequency of 2.2 GHz, Adreno 508 is responsible for the graphics component, the amount of RAM is 4 GB (LPDDR4), internal memory is 64 GB, of which about 47 GB is free. It is worth noting that the advanced version of this smartphone has a higher-class processor - Snapdragon 660, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage.
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The smartphone successfully passed the authentication test; as for performance, according to the Antutu Benchmark v.7 testing results, it managed to score a little over 88,000 points.
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More results from several popular tests.
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Battery and autonomy
The smartphone has a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a stated capacity of 3020 mAh, which even showed a slightly more modest result during testing. Of course, if we remember the high resolution of the screen, then such a relatively small capacity can already indicate in advance the low autonomy.
This would indeed be the case, but in combination with the fairly energy-efficient technology of the screen itself, as well as a very economical processor, everything turns out to be not as bad as it looked at first glance. As a result, in the mode of not very intensive use, the charge is quite enough for a day, but if you use the smartphone continuously with the screen brightness close to maximum in the mode online viewing video, the battery will last about 5-6 hours.
Complete charger The smartphone reaches 100% charge in about 2.5 hours, but this time can be reduced slightly if you use “ fast charging».
Cameras
The main camera with a resolution of 12 megapixels is built on a Sony IMX362 Exmor RS sensor, the aperture is F/1.75, and the pixel size is 1.4 microns. The second, dual module has a resolution of 8 megapixels (used to create a “bokeh” background blur effect). The front camera is also 8 megapixel.
By the way, the Sony IMX362 Exmor RS sensor is very famous and does not need too much introduction. The camera has very realistic color reproduction, the maximum photo resolution is 4032x3024px, the maximum video resolution is 4K (3840x2160p) at 30 fps, with stereo sound (96 kbps). File extension – mp4. LED lights, like most modern smartphones, can work as a flashlight (activated using the button in the top “curtain”).
Except automatic mode The built-in camera app supports most of the manual settings you need, and there are a variety of color filters, editing options, and on-the-fly overlays and photo collage creation, including an option to automatically crop an object to place it on a different background.
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A few examples of photos taken in cloudy weather. By default, each photo is watermarked, but this function You can disable it if you wish through the settings menu.
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The smartphone also performed quite well in terms of the now popular background blur effect. No, of course, not everything is perfect here, the camera often makes mistakes, but this still cannot be compared with most budget dual-camera cameras, where blur is stupidly applied to everything that is not in the center of the picture and extends beyond a certain radius.
The degree of blur can be adjusted independently, thereby achieving a completely tolerable and interesting result.
For example, this is what the effect looks like at medium settings. Below you can see that the automation tried to smear everything that goes beyond the outline of the bench, but still blurred the image a little in the upper part.
For comparison, three photos of the same object (from left to right) with no blur at all, with blur at medium and at maximum value.
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The quality of the images is very good, I was especially pleased with the realistic color rendition, but unfortunately, due to the lack of autofocus on the front camera, the sharpness sometimes leaves much to be desired.
If desired, full-size originals of the above photographs can be downloaded.
As for shooting video, despite good camera, the recording quality will suffer greatly when shooting handheld, since the smartphone does not have a built-in stabilization system. If when taking photographs, given the amazing speed, this factor does not play a role of great importance, because The pictures still turn out clear, but when shooting video, any shaking will be very noticeable.
Conclusion
Of course, as noted earlier, the smartphone is not perfect and has a number of disadvantages, such as the lack of a 3.5 mm audio jack, a protruding rear camera, lack of stabilization when recording video, and a relatively small battery. But nevertheless, if we remember all the advantages of the AQUOS S2, which include compact dimensions, a magnificent screen, quite powerful hardware, the presence of so many missing NFC, an excellent camera, a somewhat unusual appearance, and also look at the price, which lies in the “less than $200” segment, then we can conclude that this model represents one of the best options today.
It is made unlike its competitors and has an original appearance, which of course may seem awkward to many, but this is also attractive.
At the time of writing this review, the cost of the Sharp AQUOS S2 in blue was $159.
The advanced version with a Snapdragon 660 processor, 6/128 GB of memory and a glass cover cost $255
Thank you for your attention and good luck to everyone!
In 2013, Sharp introduced the first frameless smartphone, Aquos. It had only one large frame at the bottom, which housed the front camera, which created inconvenience when taking selfies and video calls. This defect has been corrected in the Aquos S2 smartphone.
The developers managed to place the camera at the top of the display. But they were not the first to do this: the Essential Phone smartphone has such a solution. Sharp said the display takes up 87.5% of the Aquos S2's area. Allegedly, the record figure belongs to the Mi MIX smartphone - 91.3%. But expert measurements showed that Xiaomi cheated in its measurements and the actual ratio of the display area to the device panel was no more than 84%. So Aquos S2 became a record holder.
The smartphone has a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 2,040 × 1,080 pixels. It has a non-standard aspect ratio - 17:9. The narrowest fingerprint scanner among all smartphones was placed under the display - only 3.6 mm. Also, the smartphone does not have the usual earpiece speaker. It has a special speaker built into it that uses bone conduction. These were installed in the first generation Aquos smartphones.
cnbeta.com The back panel of the smartphone is made of nine-layer plastic. Such a surface should cope better with scratches. The Aquos S2 has a metal frame on the side. The size of the smartphone is comparable to the iPhone 6, which has a display that is almost an inch smaller.
cnbeta.com The main camera of the Aquos S2 received a dual module with a resolution of 12 + 8 megapixels, aperture - f/1.75. The second camera is intended only for software blurring of the background. The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor.
Aquos S2 was presented in two versions with different processors and memory amounts. The younger model costs 2,799 yuan (25 thousand rubles), the older one costs 3,499 yuan (32 thousand rubles). Aquos S2 will be available for sale in black, white, blue and light blue housings.
Characteristics of Aquos S2:
- Chip - Snapdragon 630 / Snapdragon 660.
- Memory - 4/6 GB RAM and 64/128 GB permanent.
- Battery - 3,020 mAh.
- System - Android 7.0 Nougat.
My critical review of this rather controversial smartphone. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!
Spoiler: The power button began to be pressed indistinctly after two weeks of use, the glass of the camera broke when it fell on a carpet from knee height, the wifi dies when transmitting data via bluetooth, the sound is recorded very quietly and squeaky.
Let me start with the negative so that you can immediately find out what is good and bad about this smartphone, and then I will write about “the heart of the smartphone” and other technical data.
So, the cons.
When I tried to put the phone in the included hard case, it slipped out of my hands and crashed quite hard onto the floor (linoleum + carpet). Nothing inside the phone was damaged, but it did delaminate. protective glass cameras. It’s good that the delamination has stopped and does not progress further, and does not affect the quality of photo and video.
The sound in videos, during conversations and in instant messengers is quiet and limited in frequency at the top and bottom, the sensitivity is low and there is a “telephone” effect. Watch an example video from your phone, rewind to the middle - the noise from the cars is barely audible. The voice is written in the same way. (Confirmed by other users on 4pda)
With Bluetooth active (sound in speakers, headphones), Wifi speed drops so much that YouTube switches from 1080p to 240p. (Confirmed by other users on 4pda)
I've had my phone for 2 weeks, and the unlock button has become very awkward to press. The click has almost disappeared, although the button itself still works.
There were glue drips around the display glass. I removed it with my fingernail without leaving a trace, a small thing, but unpleasant.
Still interested in this phone? then read on.
Brief specifications: (This phone also available in a version with a Snapdragon 660/6gb ram/128gb rom processor and a different body).
Operating system: OS Android 7.1.1 Nougat, Smile UX shell;
Support standards: GSM, 3G, LTE;
Support for 2 SIM cards: yes (combined slot for 2 SIM cards or one SIM and one MicroSD);
Processor: 2.2 GHz, eight-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 630;
RAM: 4GB
ROM: 64GB;
Display: 5.5", FullHD+, 2040x1080 pixels, FFD, 420ppi, 16 million colors;
Main camera: 12+8 MP, CMOS, dual optics, 4K video recording, auto focus, two-color LED flash;
Front camera: 8 MP, CMOS, fullHD video recording;
Memory card support: microSDXC up to 128 GB;
Fingerprint's scanner;
GPS/GLONASS;
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac;
Bluetooth 4.2;
NFC;
USB Type-C;
Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging function;
Battery: Li-Ion, 3020 mAh;
Dimensions: 141.8x72x7.9 mm;
Weight: 140 grams.
Packaging and equipment.
Sliding white box, inside the phone itself, a hard, thin matte case, USB Type C cable (USB 2.0), Charging with a Chinese plug, 5V 2A.
Appearance and controls.
A regular black rectangle with rounded edges ©, available in black, white and dark blue.
At the back there is a two-color flash and a dual (sort of) camera.
Very slippery, plastic surface that perfectly collects fingerprints. Because of this, it doesn’t fit well in the hand and constantly tries to slip out.
Fingerprint scanner on the front, at the bottom. The scanner works fine, there are no comments about it.
A slot for sound output in the upper part (the speaker itself is hidden in the lower housing) and a front camera. There in the right corner, multicolor led indicator, which shows unread messages, missed calls and so on. Its brightness is close to 0, and it lights up once every 3 seconds for a tenth of a second, so it’s as if it doesn’t exist, especially since neither the colors nor the operating modes are adjustable.
Slot for SIM cards and memory cards (combined).
Type C connector and slots for microphone and ringing speaker
Control keys on the side.
Android 7.1.1 + Smile UX add-on. It differs favorably from MIUI, ZenUI and other bixby in that it makes minimal changes to the standard appearance of Android, but it has its own theme editor, the default fonts cannot be changed, and the icons always have frames and decorations. There are energy saving modes. application uploads and the like. Something that is found in almost all shells. The system works stably, the phone comes out of the box with Chinese firmware, if you need Google services, you need to install the Taiwanese one. Firmware - simply by throwing a zip file with firmware into the root file system, after rebooting the phone itself will offer to update. I didn’t find any problems with freezing or non-working programs. There is only a problem with applications that are installed through Amazon. They are launched only through the Amazon application, when trying to launch directly, “amazon appstore is required to launch application”
Performance and tests.
I’m not a Gamer, so sometimes I play Tetris and Wordgame, I installed almost all the big toys that were in the market, everything spins smoothly and without delays. The test results are above.
Battery at minimum load (wifi, 4g on, gmail checks email every 15 minutes, music - 15 minutes, conversations - 10 minutes, social networks - an hour). Screen on "Auto" brightness.
With my usual mode of use, the phone lasts until 7-8 pm. For comparison, my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 shows comparable battery life.
It was not possible to accurately determine the battery charging time, but it is quite low. Qualcomm QC 3.0 fast charging is supported, but the maximum that could be squeezed out in this mode is 9 volts and 1.5A. From a regular 5V charger, the phone is also charged with a maximum current of 1.5A
4G speed is normal. I can’t say anything about Band 20, since we don’t use it.
Wifi also works fine, the speeds are good, but there is a problem with simultaneous operation with Bluetooth, the speed drops indecently and there may be interruptions. Switching to 5GHz does NOT correct the situation.
Here are two screenshots.
With Bluetooth disabled
Same conditions, but Bluetooth is turned on and music is playing in Spotify
The speed often drops even more, so YouTube switches to 240p mode, which is very annoying.
It works fine, both for communication with other devices and for using a smartphone as a payment terminal with the TSKAPP application.
This is QUALCOMM, so of course there are no problems with GPS.
PC connection.
No problems with that either. I was pleasantly pleased with the copying speed, even despite MTP, a 785MB file was copied from the phone in a minute and a half!
Screen.
Just a great screen with very bright and contrasting colors and excellent angles. It's so good that even knowledgeable people confuse it with OLED. But the situation is slightly spoiled by the bevels at the corners.
The brightness reserve is sufficient, dynamic adjustment works normally, there is no flickering at minimum brightness.
The screen has an oleophobic coating, which is quite normal and leaves almost no fingerprints.
The phone's screen is elongated, and in the settings you can switch the operation of the application. There are 3 options:
1. Crop - applications display the image in 1920x1080, and the bar at the top always shows notification icons. In my opinion, the most convenient mode.
2. Forced stretching. For all applications.
3. Adaptive mode - standard applications (for example, camera and player) are displayed on Full Screen, and other applications in 1920x1080.
Sound.
The volume of the ringing speaker is average, on a noisy street and if the phone is in your purse, you can miss the call. There are practically no bass, but there are highs. The speaker is of average quality, telephone sound is only midrange and good compression, intelligibility is good. The sensitivity of the microphone is good, the interlocutors do not complain about the sound quality.
Vibro.
The vibration here is high-frequency and weak. You can feel it in your pants or shirt pocket, but not in your purse or backpack.
Camera.
The camera is good, there is little noise, color reproduction is good, and the clarity is high. There is hardware bokeh (via a depth sensor), flash (so-so) and working HDR. The maximum video is recorded in 4K/30fps/40mbit, mono sound. in Open Camera you can set it to 60fps, but the final file will have the same 30fps. The video recording quality is normal, both day and night. The frame rate per second does not decrease in poor lighting, which is a plus.
Example video, morning, cloudy:
When taking a photo, you can apply different frames, effects, adjust the bokeh level, and adjust colors. Fully available manual mode, when all settings can be set manually.
The smartphone's macro is quite normal:
Crop from the center:
HDR works well:
The second camera is actually a depth sensor, so the bokeh on the phone is simply fantastic.
The top edge is cropped, just like on real cameras.
(This is our lecturer on DBMS, the admin forbade me to publish “reviews” of my friends, but did not say anything about the lecturers)
Bokeh blurs not only the background, but also the foreground, just like on real cameras.
Even in poor lighting, the phone provides a good picture, in this photo, the lighting source is a 25W incandescent lamp in a night light.
The flash is not very strong, in the photo the distance to the wall is approximately one and a half meters.
If you need to get a good picture in poor lighting, and it is possible to install the phone on a tripod, or at least lean it against something, then you can activate manual mode. For example, in this photo the shutter speed is 1/2 sec, ISO 200.
The front camera is suitable for selfies, and although there is little noise, it certainly does not reach the quality of the main one.
In short, the camera is the best thing this phone has :))))))
Sources of all photos in the review + some others can be downloaded from the link:
Let's sum it up.
The phone turned out to be a mixed bag. On the one hand, excellent hardware, good design, absence of noticeable glitches, reboots and overheating. On the other hand, poor sound recording quality, problems with Wifi+Bluetooth and mechanical problems, at least with the same glass and button, and many people write about glue coming out on 4pda.
My opinion - There's no point in picking up your phone right now, it’s better to wait two or three months, more users will appear, we’ll learn more about glitches. It’s best not to have any illusions about the fact that they will fix the sound quality or the Wifi+Bluetooth problem - they didn’t fix it in a year, and they won’t fix it now. So you'll have to live with it.
Due to numerous requests from users who are waiting for this phone from jd.ru and still have not received it, I will tell you about the purchase and delivery
I ordered the phone on April 17th, after a discount was published on Muska. Paid via PayPal.
On the second or third day they gave me a track in the format RNxxxxxxxxxMY, which was not tracked. After about 10 days, the track was replaced with a real one. (LY039224790CN) The parcel was delivered to the intermediary's address in the USA on May 11th, and was with me 4 days later.
After all, only there you can buy the device that we will talk about today. Everything went fine, the parcel reached me and today we will look at Sharp Aquos S2. The model is very popular among those who like to order gadgets from the Middle Kingdom. Yes, the brand is Japanese, well known to everyone, but these devices are produced, as usual, in China. Among the mass of modern smartphones, the Aquos S2 really stands out; it’s like that alien who flew in from another planet to make a splash and show what a smartphone for one and a half hundred dollars should be like.
EQUIPMENT
Included we get:
— protective plastic bumper
- paper clip for tray
- charger for 5V and 2A
— USB-C cable
— adapter from USB-C to 3.5 mm jack.
FIRMWARE
SHARP Aquos S2 arrives from China with Chinese firmware. It has Russian language, but no Google services, and also has a bunch of preinstalled Chinese software. It is advisable to update the smartphone to the official international firmware. The process of flashing the Sharp Aquos S2 is so primitive and simple that even a child can handle it. The international firmware itself can be downloaded from the w3bsit3-dns.com forum>>. When you turn it on for the first time, do not activate WiFi, otherwise the smart phone will automatically start downloading updates, but we don’t need that. Download the firmware as an archive and upload it to the smartphone’s memory, directly to the root of the disk. Next, open the dialer on your smartphone and enter the combination *#*#874#*#* and after that the smartphone will automatically detect the firmware and begin the process of reinstalling the software. All!
But if you have already connected to WiFi and updated Chinese firmware, then the smartphone will display a message stating that the archive with the firmware was not found. That is, he simply won’t see new firmware, because its number will match the number of the current firmware. This is also not a problem. We just need to rename the archive with the firmware, replacing the number in it. For example, if we are installing the 35th international firmware, and we already have the 35th installed, but Chinese, we change the number 35 to 36 in the archive name, thereby telling the smartphone that here it is, a more recent firmware. Again we dial the above combination *#*#874#*#* and the smartphone will successfully begin to reflash. After installing new software, it is recommended to reset to factory settings.
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS
The first thing that makes the Aquos S2 stand out in the smartphone market is its size. Due to the very narrow side and top frames of the screen, it offers relatively modest dimensions: 142 mm x 72 mm, and it is also thin - its thickness does not exceed 7.5 mm (if you do not take into account the protruding camera), and the weight is small - approximately 140 g. Look how much smaller it is than modern shovels:
In terms of dimensions, the Aquos S2 is comparable to 5-inch smartphones, despite the fact that it has a 5.5-inch screen.
Yes, the glossy back panel is a minus for practicality, so if you want to keep its presentable appearance longer, you will have to protect the back of the smartphone with a bumper or case. By the way, the older version has a glass back, not plastic.
The ends are metal, as are the power and volume buttons. The tray is made of plastic, it is combined - either two nanoSIMs, or 1 SIM + memory card. Assembly without any comments. In addition to the blue color, the smartphone is offered in black and there is a cool white color with longitudinal gray stripes.
Yes, some people hate this design. But the value of this device is that it is not like most others. And wouldn’t it be cool if the Aquos S2 became another clone? No. And don’t forget that it was Sharp who set the fashion for this design, which later became known as frameless. And only then this trend was picked up by other brands. If the protrusion at the top of the screen, where the front camera and light and proximity sensors are located, is annoying, you can hide it using dark wallpaper. When watching videos and playing games, this protrusion does not interfere at all - the screen is simply cut off before reaching the protrusion. In addition, everything here is at your discretion - in the screen settings you can set the native aspect ratio of this display to 17:9 and then the picture will stretch to fill the entire screen. The choice is up to the user.
On the top narrow frame, the manufacturer managed to place a classic auditory speaker and even found a place for an event indication LED. The upper corners of the screen have bevels - again, this looks unusual. But if you are not comfortable with such bevels, there are many applications that can be used to make the corners of the display rounded.
To control the smartphone under the screen there is touch button, it is multifunctional: a single touch is “back”, a long touch goes to the desktop and a slow swipe to the side launches the background applications menu. You can also activate on-screen buttons in the settings. And it’s not difficult to guess that the fingerprint scanner is built into the multifunction button: it is accurate, and its response speed is good.
DISPLAY
When you turn on your smartphone for the first time, you realize that the screen is gorgeous. He's such a guy that it's hard to find fault with him. FullHD+ resolution, comfortable brightness range, responsive 10-touch touchscreen and beautiful rich picture. Sometimes there was even a feeling that it was AMOLED display– it’s so juicy and contrasting. But the matrix, of course, is IPS. The color rendition is correct, I don’t want to readjust it, but just in case, there are three presets in the screen settings - you can make the picture warmer or, on the contrary, cooler. There is an oleophobic coating on the 2.5D glass and it is of good quality.
HARDWARE
We are talking about the younger version of the Aquos S2, which means we get the Snapdragon 630, which is essentially an improved version of the successful 625 “dragon”: the same 8 Cortex-A53 cores, but with a maximum frequency of 2.2 GHz + Adreno 508 graphics. Random access memory 4 GB and this is dual-channel LPDDR 4 memory. The drive is 64 GB, of which about 47 GB is free. In the older, more expensive version, you get a higher-end Snapdragon 660 processor, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage.
The hardware is simply excellent for this price. In games he also shows himself worthy, incl. in the most demanding. Tanks (WOT BLITZ) can be played in many locations even on maximum graphics. But on some maps there are FPS drops, so it would be ideal to set the graphics to medium or reduced to maximum.
PUBG mobile set low graphics upon launch. Everything is playable, there are no critical lags. When playing games, the smartphone gets warm, but does not overheat. The maximum temperature recorded on the cores was 48 degrees.
SOFTWARE AND FUNCTIONALITY
The international firmware is based on Android 7.1.1, the shell is not standard, but quite convenient. The firmware is updated, I have the latest version 1-35F installed, released in March of this year. If any other questions arise, something is not clear, or something suddenly doesn’t work as you would like, you will find all the answers in the topic of this smartphone on the 4PDA forum - the model is very popular, has gathered a large community around it, with this no problem. And during my communication with the smartphone, I didn’t have any questions.
The audibility during conversations is quite normal. Concerning LTE frequencies, then the main ranges for us are supported. I mean primarily the 3rd and 7th bands. Band 20, as far as I understand, is not supported.
The Sharp Aquos S2 is excellent for navigation - the connection with the sky is good, there is GLONASS support. WiFi is dual-band, OTG works, but there is no hardware radio. Sensors are through the roof, including a gyroscope, magnetic sensor, etc. But NFC is important to many people these days, and this module is also present here, unlike the vast majority of smartphones in this price category. Google Pay It launches on your smartphone and allows you to add a map. Judging by the reviews of other users, wireless payment works correctly.
The sound is not strong point smartphone. The speaker here is not bad and in terms of sound quality it can be compared with the speaker of Redmi 4 Pro. The sound through the headphones is very ordinary, without any frills. The downside is that there is no audio jack, so wired headphones connect via USB-C port, using an adapter from USB-C to audio jack. By the way, not all such adapters are suitable, so you need to take care of your original cord. And no one has canceled wireless headphones.
CAMERAS
Dual camera, 12 + 8 megapixels, with phase detection autofocus, f/1.8 aperture, what sensors are used - I don’t have exact information. There are full manual settings, there are various color filters, etc. If you get confused, you can also install a Google camera here, thereby improving the results. In the video version of the review (presented below) you can see a detailed test of the cameras, where I also compared the Aquos s2 camera with the camera. In good lighting everything is fine. I am sure that this quality is quite enough for most users. At night, everything is also more or less worthy - it is clear that the sensor is decent and the optics are not the cheapest, of course there is noise, but there is not so much of it and they are not an eyesore.
It is possible to shoot video not only in FullHD quality, but also in 4K. The frame rate is stable - 30 FPS and the frame rate does not drop when there is insufficient light. The detailing is not bad, but one thing is missing - electronic stabilization. In addition to the lack of a stub, the video mode has another drawback - the quality of sound recording.
The sound on the video is recorded without low frequencies, which makes it seem somehow plastic and not saturated.
The front camera is 8 megapixels, f/2.0 aperture, decent quality, but there is a software flaw - the front camera takes overly saturated photos by default. This issue can be fixed through manual settings.
AUTONOMY
Battery capacity 3020 mA. Yes, with a FullHD+ display and such a capacity, the Aquos S2 does not impress with its autonomy, but I cannot call it a weakling in this regard either. An energy-efficient processor saves the day. As a result, we get just normal autonomy, which is quite enough for the whole day with moderate use of the smartphone. For 3 hours of playing a video on YouTube via WiFi in 720p quality, 32% of the charge was consumed, which is equal to about 11% per hour. This is about the same result as or. The smartphone sleeps well and does not drain the battery in standby mode. With a native charger it charges 64% in 1 hour and fully in 2 hours 25 minutes. But the smartphone supports QuickCharge 3.0 fast charging, and if you have the appropriate adapter on your household, you can reduce the charging time.
VERDICT
So, if you look at the price of about $160 (at the time of publication of the review) and if you compare it with competitors, then I conclude that this is one of the best options. And for those who don’t need a big shovel, this is probably the only smart one. Yes, he's not ideal ideal smartphones I haven't seen one in this price category yet. The disadvantages include the lack of an audio jack, the impractical glossy panel on the back with a protruding camera, and I would like the sound when recording video to be better. To whom all this is critical, let’s pass by. But otherwise the smartphone is cool. It is not like its competitors, its appearance is original, it is convenient due to its size, it has a gorgeous screen, the processor gives decent performance, there is a lot of memory, and the camera does not let us down. And many will pay attention to it due to the presence NFC module. And for those who consider its appearance somehow awkward, there is a huge selection of smartphones of the same type.
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VIDEO REVIEW:
Sharp S2 - the grace of technology
Ergonomic and stylish design that will delight you
The compact body is made of high-quality metal and polycarbonate and is decorated with dual camera, a frameless screen with a modern drop-shaped cutout for the front photo module and a fingerprint scanner on the front panel. It’s simply impossible not to admire such a handsome man.
Amazing display quality
The 5.5-inch IGZO panel demonstrates not only natural color reproduction, but also stunning brightness and contrast, a huge resolution for a diagonal of 2040x1080 pixels, providing fantastic picture detail.
Uncompromising Performance Specifications
Excellent Snapdragon 630 processor along with rare for price segment 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 508 video adapter will give the buyer not only a smooth interface Android Oreo, but also the remarkable performance of resource-intensive games and applications, which can be stored on 64GB of ROM and MicroSD cards.
Feel like a photographer
The main 12 and 8 megapixel sensors from Samsung are superior to those of most opponents of the gadget from Sharp, guaranteeing detailed images and the absence of noise even in mediocre lighting. The eight-megapixel front camera is also worthy of compliments.
Technology in every detail
NFC (contactless payments) and the function of fast charging of a capacious 2700mAh battery turn the device into the best choice for their money.
