Hi,
Fancy a 5.5″ screen, deca-core processor, 16mp camera android smart phone? Premium specs but yours at an affordable price point? Well look no further folks, check out the Sharp Z2! Yeah, I’m reviewing this $399 (RRP) phone today.
Simply named as Sharp Z2, this is like a return of the Japanese company to the global market. I still remember their phones when Nokia was still the king, then they disappear except for some home appliances like TV etc. But when i went to Japan for a holiday 3 years ago, I see the folks there using Sharp mobile phones everywhere, so if they can be so widespread popularity in their home country, they must be good right?
The Z2 features a full glass front panel and a metallic back casing. I have no way to be sure if its real metal but it certainly felt like one.. The bezels at both sides of the screen is thin enough to give a sleek, premium phone feel. Simple and clean is what I would call the design of this phone.
On the back, there’s the 16mp fast AF camera with tracking function, the led flash (i think) and the square fingerprint sensor. Nowadays I depend on the fingerprint sensors so much I think its an essential piece of tech I look for if I’m going to shop for my next mobile phone, I’m so glad that Sharp included it in this budget friendly phone.
From here you can see how slim the phone is at 8.4mm thick. That hole opens up the dual sim card slot/microSD slot. You either have 1 sim and 1 microSD card or 2 sim and 0 microSD card. Cool. The other side would be the volume rocker and the on/off cum lock button. Standard stuff.
The bottom will have the butt hole USB Type-C port, which is fast becoming the industry standard and the speaker and mic of the phone.
The Z2 is powered by a Deca-Core mobile processor, also comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB. The Deca-core processor is arranged in 3 groups (Tri-Cluster CPU) to efficiently balance performance and battery conservation. Multitasking is a breeze, and battery will last longer as well, as long as you don’t play the real time monster imprisonment game all day.
The camera has this tracking function built in, but I find its AF not as responsive when compared to my Samseng S6, and has less features compared as well. But we have to keep in mind that my S6 is about double the price of the Z2 at launch, you pay for what you get. I personally feel that we are getting much more for less in Z2, good value.
Below are the specs sheet I got from the website.
Camera
16 MP AF PDAF main camera
8 MP F1.8 82 degrees wide view angle front camera
Connectivity
BT4.1, 802.11a b/g/n, GPS/AGPS + GLONASS
Sensors
AL/Proximity sensor, E-compass, Accelerometer, Gyroscope and Magnetic sensor
Radio
FM Radio
Battery
3000mAh
SIM Card
MicroSD Card/Dual SIM
Dimension
153(L) x 76(B) x 8.4(W) mm
Weight
160g
While I started using it, it feel rather different from what I’m very used to in Samseng. Well can’t blame me for being shocked culturally.. I’ve been using Samseng smart phone ever since.. I started using smart phones.. Omnia 2 to Galaxy S2 to Galaxy S4 to Galaxy S6 now. So I’m like seriously too used to Samseng phones for my own good… But this phone’s menu system. Firstly I unlocked the phone by touch on the fingerprint sensor, this is one thing I liked very much. I don’t have to press a button to wake it up before I can scan my finger, unlike my Samseng. I just put my finger to the scanner and it will scan and unlock the phone automatically, saves me one extra step.
Oh I digressed, back to the menu system. Usually the menu systems are horizontal, meaning u only swipe left or right to access the pages etc. But Z2 has them arranged like left and right will flip the pages, and up and down will show u the contents on that particular page. I think its a better way to stay organized, but I was never organized, so its not really applicable to me..
The swipe down menu is pretty standard for Android phones with the quick menu and notifications. The home and back buttons are on the screen which I don’t really appreciates, but they are customisable as to whether you want your back button to be on the left or right. Screenshot is just holding down the lock + volume down key and the phone seems capable of handling my random download of a graphic intensive racing game very well.
Overall I think this is a good mid-tier phone, it offers really good value and would’ve give a flagship phone a run for its money, you’ll probably have to live with the use of lower grade finishing and perhaps less high-ed features like a really good camera etc. But if you’re like me who don’t depend on a smartphone camera to take my photos and use the phone for gaming mostly, then this is a phone for you. Just remember to pack a powerbank with you, because the 3000mah battery might die with half a day of gaming…
Sample photos straight from camera:
Cheers people, hope this helps.
Simon Tey
