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Sharp Aquos Crystal: Hands-on with the no-bezel smartphone (pictures)

Boasting a unique no-bezel design, the Sharp Aquos Crystal is the company's first phone to be available in North America in years.

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John Falcone
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1 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

The Sharp Aquos Crystal

Sharp's latest phone is landing in the US and bringing with it a unique design. The phone has a wide display that stretches across the front of the phone.

The phone launches on Sprint, Virgin Mobile, and Boost Mobile in the US, and SoftBank in Japan.

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2 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Android KitKat

The Aquos Crystal is running Android KitKat 4.4.2, a modern version of the operating system.

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3 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Google inside

With KitKat, you'll find the typical Google apps, plus a few custom software features. You can swipe across the top of the phone to grab a screenshot.

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4 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Bottom edge

The wide bottom edge of the phone houses the front-facing camera and ambient light sensor.

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5 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Color choices

You get two color choices with the Spring version; black and white.

The Softback version comes in blue and pink as well.

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6 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Modern specs

Inside, the phone packs a  a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1.5GB of on-board RAM, and 8GB of storage.

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7 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Bottom view

The bottom of the phone houses the Micro-USB charging port and microphone.

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8 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Side shot

There's a volume rocker on the left side.

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9 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Top down

The top of the Aquos Crystal houses the power/lock button and headphone jack.

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10 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Turn it over

On the back, there's a speaker for calls and music, plus an 8-megapixel camera.

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11 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Thick and thin

Despite its super-thin screen bezel, the phone's overall design is a bit chunky. It's definitely not the thinest phone on the market.

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12 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Edge to edge

The Aquos Crystal's "frameless display" doesn't have much of a bezel, that black space you see around most smartphone screens. Instead, the screen appears to fill the entire front panel.

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13 of 13 Sarah Tew / CNET

Availability

Sharp's Aquos Crystal launches on August 29 in Japan. It'll come to the US after that on Sprint, and cost $240. You can get it for just $20 with a new two-year contract. On Boost and Virgin Mobile, it'll cost $150.

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