Overland Park, Kansas – Sprint revealed availability dates of the first Sharp smartphone to be available through a U.S. carrier.
The Aquos Crystal, unveiled in August, became available today at $149 in white through Sprint’s prepaid Boost Mobile brand in Boost’s web store, Boost Mobile-branded retail stores, and Best Buy.
With Sprint-brand postpaid service, the phone will be available in black on Oct. 17 through all Sprint retail channels at an unsubsidized $239 or, under the Easy Pay installment-payment plan, at $0 down with 24 monthly payments of $10.
With Sprint-brand prepaid service, the phone will be available in black at $149 in Best Buy stores Oct. 10 and Radio Shack locations on Oct. 21.
An availability date through Sprint’s Virgin Mobile prepaid brand wasn’t announced, but the price will be $149 for the black version.
Sharp phones haven’t been available through major U.S. carriers for some years, and those were feature phones. A handful of Sharp feature phones and older Android smartphones have also been available unlocked through online retailers.
The Aquos Crystal, which uses the same Aquos named used on Sharp TVs, will be available exclusively in the U.S. under the three Sprint brands.
The Crystal features a 5-inch HD 1280×720 edgeless LCD display, Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS, 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1.5GB RAM, HD Voice, 2,040mAh lithium-ion battery, 8GB internal memory expandable with an additional 128GB, Sprint Spark tri-band LTE technology, and Harman’s Clari-Fi technology, which enhances the fidelity of compressed music.
The phone also comes preloaded with a new subscription service called App Pass, which gives users access to a catalog of premium apps and games for $4.99/month after a 14-day free trial. App Pass offers unlimited data access to the apps and games across two devices. Consumers also get a $5 credit each month to spend on in-app purchases.
The service was preinstalled on new Sprint Android phones starting Aug. 29. The app can also be downloaded on existing Android phones.
