Be afraid — the double-notch smartphone era has arrived
Those who oppose the smartphone notch have a new adversary to deal with — the double-notch of the upcoming Sharp AQUOS R2 compact. That’s right, the phone will feature a small notch on the top for its front-facing camera and a larger notch on the bottom of the display for what appears to be a fingerprint sensor.
The product demo video shows that the fingerprint sensor also doubles as a trackpad which will allow users to scroll through content without smudging up their display with their greasy fingers, something that we have not seen on Android phones in quite some time. While we have to give Sharp some credit for creativity, we’re not sure why Sharp thinks that a double-notch is the way to go when in-display fingerprint sensors are now readily available.
As for the specs of the Sharp AQUOS R2 compact, the device is expected to feature a 5.2-inch Full HD+ (2,280 x 1,080 pixels) with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a Snapdragon 845, 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD card slot, 22.6MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.9 aperture, OIS, 8MP front-facing camera, IP68 dust and water resistance, a front-facing fingerprint sensor (obviously), and a 2,500mAh battery with fast charging.
Sharp is planning to sell the AQUOS R2 compact in Smoke Green, Deep White and Pure Black across Japan and a few other select markets starting in mid-January.
Source: Sharp