Sharp isn’t one of the biggest names in the smartphone world, especially in the Western hemisphere, but this hasn’t stopped the company from expanding its portfolio for the Asian market. In fact, this week the tech giant has announced a brand new smartphone for Taiwan going by model number “FS8002”, called the Sharp Aquos Z2.
The new Sharp Aquos Z2 doesn’t follow in the footsteps of most flagship phones released this year, so it doesn’t rely on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip, but instead – and not unlike the Meizu MX6 – it conceals a MediaTek Helio X20 chipset under the hood, with the CPU clocked at frequencies of up to 2.3 GHz per core. The silicon is coupled with 4GB of RAM, and drives a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Furthermore, the handset sports 32GB of internal memory, and is powered by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery which takes advantage of MediaTek’s Pump Express 3.0 fast-charging technology through the USB Type-C connector, giving users the option of recharging the battery at up to 70% in only about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, as far as data transfer rates are concerned, the USB connector only supports USB 2.0 speeds.
Otherwise, it’s worth noting that the smartphone is wrapped in a metal body and boasts a sheet of 2.5D glass covering the display. It also includes an IR port, and a fingerprint recognition sensor on the back panel, right below the camera module and flash. Speaking of cameras, the Sharp Aquos Z2 makes use of a 16-megapixel main unit with Phase Detection Auto Focus and a dual-tone LED flash, while relying on a 5-megapixel front-facing sensor, featuring an 82-degree wide-angle lens and an f/1.8 aperture. Last but not least, the smartphone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and has been treated with two SIM card slots, one of which supports 4G LTE connectivity. Sharp will launch the Aquos Z2 in two flavors – Gold and Silver – and the handset will be available for purchase in Taiwan for the price of 8.890 New Taiwan Dollars, which converts to roughly $281. However, as yet there’s no word on when, or if the Sharp Aquos Z2 will be released outside of Taiwan.
