Sharp Launches Their Aquos K SHF31 Android-Powered Flip Phone

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Sharp Launches Their Aquos K SHF31 Android-Powered Flip Phone

Many people would say that flip phones are a thing of the past, but this form factor is not reserved only for feature phones. Smartphone OEMs tend to release Android-powered flip phone devices from time to time, Samsung and LG are a good example of this. Those phones rarely leave Asia though, they’re mostly targeted at Asian market considering it seems there’s still demand for such handsets over there. Sharp has decided to release a flip phone of their own, so let’s check it out.

Sharp Aquos K SHF31 is a new smartphone by the company which carries a rather odd name and comes in a flip phone form factor. The handset was announced back in January by KDDI (Japanese carrier) and is now available for sale in Japan. It is unknown if the phone will become available in markets outside of Japan at this moment though. This device features a 3.4-inch TFT LCD (960 x 540) display along with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card up to 32GB). Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor is powering on this thing and the device ships with a 1,410mAh battery on the inside. 13-megapixel camera is available on the back of this device and offers a number of software modes to shoot in, and we’re talking about a 4G LTE handset here. Android 4.4 KitKat come pre-installed on this device with some additions by Sharp, of course. This flip phone also offers IPX5/IPX7 waterproof certification, weighs 128 grams and is only 17.4mm thick.

Sharp is definitely looking to get into the smartphone business, and you probably remember company’s Aquos Crystal devices (Aquos Crystal and Aquos Crystal X) which launched last year. The company tried to differentiate by releasing these two devices which basically don’t sport any bezel on the top of the phone or its sides, but have a rather sizeable chin down below the display. Perhaps they’re trying to revive flip phones with this offering, though that’s kind of hard to believe. It will be interesting to see Sharp’s next move, that’s for sure, what do you think the company will do next?