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Meet the most compact 5-incher: Sharp Aquos Crystal vs Nexus 5 vs S5 and others size comparison

posted by Daniel P. / Aug 19, 2014, 9:54 AM

Meet the most compact 5-incher: Sharp Aquos Crystal vs Nexus 5 vs S5 and others size comparison

So, thanks to SoftBank's Sprint buyout, we are finally getting some of the almighty Japanese smartphones on this side of the pond, and with a fresh new handset at that, not some existing rehash. Sprint just announced the availability of the bezel-less Sharp AQUOS Crystal, which will sell for $0 if you get it with contract, $150 if you get it on prepaid with Boost or Virgin, and a $240 MSRP if you just buy it SIM-free.

In the great traditions of Sharp's EDGEST design language, the Aquos Crystal has almost no side and top bezels, which allows it to fit a 5" panel in a size that is more akin to a 4.5" model. Actually, the phone is just 5 inches (131mm) in height and 2.6 inches (67mm) in width. For comparison, that's about as compact as the Moto G, while having a half-inch larger display diagonal. Thus, the Crystal sports one of the best screen-to-body ratios in the industry, with about 78.21% of the front being a pure display surface - better than, say, the LG G2, but still lower than Sharp's EDGEST champion - the AQUOS SH-04F, with its eyepopping 81%, the highest in the industry.

Sharp's phones aside, nobody comes even close to the AQUOS Crystal's ergonomics, certainly nothing that is being sold in the US market, as you can see from our size comparison below. Again, for the SIM-free price of the Moto G LTE, you are getting a better phone with similar dimensions, yet a half-inch larger, 5" display diagonal - what's not to love here. Keep'em coming, SoftBank, Sprint users will certainly appreciate it.

Front view
Side view

To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page

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19 Comments

1. lalalaman

Posts: 638; Member since: Aug 19, 2013

O_o...unbelievable A headless phone:-D

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 10:00 AM 3

9. robcar

Posts: 110; Member since: Jan 18, 2011

The other phones look so old next to Sharp the beauty.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 4:05 PM 0

2. chaoscauser

Posts: 39; Member since: Jun 04, 2014

unbelievable.. What a fragile and non-ergonomic phone!

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 10:07 AM 0

3. vuyonc

Posts: 1090; Member since: Feb 24, 2014

Drop test then we'll talk

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 10:17 AM 2

4. chaoscauser

Any competitive manufacturer can make the screen to body ratio, 95% but they don't cause durability and ergonomic design are two basic things required for any mobile device.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 11:03 AM 1

10. robcar

Typical fanboy comment, you can not accept that someone else can do better than your own favorite manufacturers. Ergonomics is nothing wrong more than it is rougher as many others so it is quite the opposite. In addition, the surface of the ground that you do not have to stretch your thumb so much. No other manufacturer is close to this, then they can not. All endeavors of utilization dead surface in the most efficient manner and it requires newly developed technology that Sharp has. The technology must also fit under the screen, and it does not for other manufacturers so they must have big lips stuffed with technology. Well lets see how it does in the drop test ... most people do not care about it at all when they buy a phone. I have had 10-15 smartphone and the screen has never been broken, I have few times dropped mobiles but nothing serious has happened. If you're looking for durability, it is probably not the model for you anyway. This is more a mobile to show off the technical possibilities and desgin.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 4:37 PM 1

18. Alain1990

Posts: 14; Member since: Jun 10, 2014

take a look at this one.. vega iron smashing bezel test with s4 and lg g pro.. a 5 inch phone with 67.6 mm.. slim bezel next to aquos crystal.. m.youtube.com/watch?v=St5ckGsBQmc

posted on Aug 28, 2014, 5:43 AM 0

5. realjjj

Posts: 375; Member since: Jan 28, 2014

Actually others do come close to it with thinner phones. If you want to measure how compact a device is, then you to got to factor in volume per screen area not just the front. Ofc you can factor in pixel density and performace since those impact the size of the battery.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 11:48 AM 0

14. shahrooz

Posts: 792; Member since: Sep 17, 2013

volume per screen diamater: (lower is better) Sharp AQUOS Crystal: 1.0625472 LG G3: 1.2177656 Z2 : 1.027950769230769 5S: 0.8437275 looking at the results we can tell the benchmark you just created is nothing good. it only reflecs the thickness of handset plus an error which is caused by screen to surface ratio differences

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 6:18 PM 0

19. buccob

Posts: 2968; Member since: Jun 19, 2012

Volume is good to know, but surface area is more important because it can actually mean a phone uncomfortable to hold in relation to the size of its screen... iPhones are crap regarding this... but they do have the smallest form factor in volume... Though thickness never bothered me, I prefer a bigger battery instead.

posted on Oct 10, 2014, 11:03 AM 0

6. Bondurant

Posts: 781; Member since: Jun 04, 2014

awesome. Hope its patented before Samsung and iphone copy them.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 1:54 PM 0

7. downphoenix

Posts: 3165; Member since: Jun 19, 2010

Phone Arena reacts: Any other carrier launches this phone: Wow, this phone is a great mid ranger, Im gonna pick one up for a backup. Sprint launches it: It sucks, its not ergonomic, do a drop test.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 2:13 PM 1

12. medtxa

Posts: 1655; Member since: Jun 02, 2014

test first then judge.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 5:22 PM 0

8. ThePython

Posts: 902; Member since: May 08, 2013

So ugly...

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 2:20 PM 0

11. medtxa

accidental touch is BS! unintended touch with any finger tips is not accidental touch you just being reckless, there is nothing special with this phone that make it more prone to accidental touch. and case in landscape mode there is some insane people that worry about palm accidentaly press the screen duh you don't operate phone with palm holding the both side that would be impossible, just try it. and the relation between bezels size and screen crash prone that stupid. so much internet nonsense.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 5:20 PM 0

13. gigaraga

Posts: 1454; Member since: Mar 29, 2013

Holy. SHARP. That actually looks so future - like. Perfect.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 5:45 PM 0

15. anleoflippy

Posts: 596; Member since: Jan 03, 2013

Well, Xperia ZL is close to it.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 9:04 PM 0

16. justttclassified

Posts: 37; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Mehh! Am interested, but I ain't buying.

posted on Aug 19, 2014, 9:25 PM 0

17. Taters

Posts: 6474; Member since: Jan 28, 2013

Wow! LG and Google did a great job on the Nexus 5. Very compact yet they put everything in there including wireless charging, 1080p, OIS, super light.