Not exactly the most prominent name in the smartphone world, Sharp has nonetheless produced some impressive-looking handsets with minuscule bezels. However, the company looks to stick more to the status quo in terms of looks with the Aquos Xx3 Mini.
On the outside, the Aquos Xx3 Mini looks awfully similar to the Huawei Honor 8, down to the way the front and back are rounded off at the sides, as well as the centered branding below the 4.7-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 resolution display. An 8-megapixel snapper with flash adorns the front, while a sizable 21MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture sits around back.
Under the hood, an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset and 3GB RAM run the show, with the 16GB of native storage augmented by a MicroSD card slot. Keeping the lights on is a rather meager 2,400mAh battery, but at least it and the rest of the internals will not get fried if you take it for a splash, thanks to the Aquos Xx3 Mini’s water and dust resistance.
Other odds and ends include dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, VoLTE, and 4G LTE. Finally, and most refreshing, the Aquos Xx3 Mini runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
Overall, the Aquos Xx3 Mini looks to position itself in a fashion similar to how the Sony Xperia X Compact does, in that both phones aim to sway folks who are tired of using phones that are larger than their hands can accommodate. Unfortunately, unlike Sony’s compact phone, Sharp’s will not be available for purchase until February 2017.
Furthermore, the Aquos Xx3 Mini will only be available in Japan, which means folks will need to import one if they live outside the land of the rising sun. When it becomes available, the phone will be offered in black, blue, pink, white, and green.
