SHARP Mobile’s got an impressive duo of smartphones heading your way

I’ll be blunt. I wasn’t really expecting too much from SHARP‘s new devices — the Z2 and M1. When I heard that they were launching two new smartphones in Malaysia, I thought “OK, more mid-range devices that people will forget about”. After spending some time with them, I ended up quite impressed.

SHARP Z2

If we’re talking about a good value device, then the SHARP Z2 is definitely one you should take a look at. Sharp is positioning this as a mid-tier smartphone with an affordable mid-tier price tag of RM1,199, but its internals begs to differ.

The Z2 is packing a flagship-level MediaTek Helio X20 deca-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz with a generous 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (which you can further expand). Results are quite apparent because the Z2 is really snappy and quick.

Even the 16-megapixel primary camera is quick too. While it takes photos rather quickly, the camera does hunt for focus quite often (and misses its mark too). Image quality remains to be seen, however. It also gets an 8MP selfie snapper in the front which takes selfies…obviously.

For that premium touch, the Z2 is encased in a thin metal body that’s comfortable to hold but isn’t the most premium feeling metal out there. Still, it’s super light and feels a lot like the other smartphones near this price point.

Besides that, you also get a Full HD 5.5-inch LTPS display. I honestly wasn’t too impressed by this because it didn’t get particularly bright, but I think it had more to do with SHARP’s UI which I’ll get into later. Other stuff includes a 3,000 mAh battery with fast-charging that can give you 50% of your battery life back in just half an hour, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi connectivity, and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity.

SHARP M1

SHARP’s other phone, the M1, comes in a rung below the Z2 but with a trick up its sleeve. SHARP thinks that this new handset will appeal to the selfie enthusiast in you. As a result, this device comes with a 13-megapixel camera on both the front and back of the handset.

As icing on the cake, the 13MP selfie shooter also comes with autofocus, SHARP calls it ‘Facial AF’ for whatever reason. I gave it a try and it did seem to work quite well for a selfie camera which is a nice touch.

One other nice touch SHARP included with their RM899 smartphone is the subtle curve on the back of the handset. It feels like a Xiaomi Mi 5 to me, both in the way it curves and the material that’s being used. That said, it definitely feels less refined than the Mi 5 but I can forgive that because this is is a sub-RM900 smartphone. You’re getting a pretty cool build as it is.

While this device also gets a Full HD 5.5-inch display on the front, it also comes with watered down specs. Instead of a flagship processor, the M1 comes with a MediaTek MT6753 processor clocked at 1.3GHz and 3GB of RAM. However, this being a selfie phone, SHARP did bundle it with 64GB of expandable storage (double that of the more expensive Z2).

It is also a dual-SIM phone with Bluetooth 4.1 and has 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity.

Things I’m on the fence about

As a whole, these are pretty solid devices. But, like most phones, there are some things that I don’t like. The most obvious of which, is the the UI. Yes, Android can be easily customised by the seasoned user, but not everyone does that. In fact, most of the Android users I know use their phones stock simply because they can’t be bothered to learn how to customise.

And unfortunately, this is where SHARP falls short. Their skin on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow is definitely not something I’m a big fan of. Firstly, it doesn’t have an app drawer, which I would be OK with, if they didn’t also make each screen swipe vertically as well as horizontally.

Maybe it’s something I’ll find incredibly useful over time, but as far as first impressions go, it’s not something I’m down with. The icons look quite ugly too, and so does the wallpaper and theme and why are there shadows behind each word?

Again, this is all personal preference so you may like it, but I will customise the living daylights out of this phone if I had to use it as a daily driver.

Besides that, if you factor in the prices of these handsets, there really isn’t much to complain about. They’re competitively priced, they come with good specs and are built pretty solidly. Kudos, SHARP.