Sharp Launches Aquos R6 Phone With 240Hz Display And Mammoth 1-Inch Camera Sensor
Sharp on Monday unveiled a new flagship smartphone in Japan, the Aquos R6, and one of its standout features is a mammoth 1-inch camera sensor on the rear, one of the biggest ever on mobile handset. Developed with Leica, a German stalwart in the camera business, the 1-inch sensor is a 20-megapixel primary camera shooter comprised of a seven-element f/1.9 Summicron lens with a 19mm equivalent focal length. There's also a ToF (time of flight) sensor and LED flash on the rear camera arrangement.
It leverages a laser for high-speed autofocus in darker environments, and promises high-quality photos in a variety of situations. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how it fares in the real world, but on paper, it certainly looks impressive—the specifications are comparable to Sony's RX100 III, a premium compact point-n-shoot camera.
Interestingly, there's no telephoto lens or other camera senors to round out the rear camera arrangement. That means having to rely on digital zoom in some situations, with Sharp touting a "unique" super resolution technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to take clear photographs when zooming in on a subject. We shall see.
The other standout feature is the 6.6-inch display with variable refresh rate of 1Hz to 240Hz refresh rate. That is incredibly fast, besting even the crop of gaming phones that exist—the ASUS ROG Phone 5, for example, tops out at 144Hz. Whether that's a native refresh rate or achieved through motion trickery, however, is not clear.
It also features a 2,730x1260 resolution (WUXGA+), boasts HDR support with an eye-searing 2,000 nits peak brightness, and a 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip (SoC) and 12GB of RAM. For storage, it packs 128GB (UFS 3.1) on board, and a 5,000 mAh battery keeps it all running.
Other features include 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 support, a 12.6-megapixel front-facing camera for taking selfies, a microSD card slot to expand the built-in storage, and a Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
All and all, this looks like an intriguing phone. It will be available to buy in Japan next month with two color options, those being black and white. There's no mention of price or when (or if) Sharp's Aquos R6 will be available in other territories.
