Sharp’s newest Aquos-branded phone, the Aquos R Compact, looks a lot like the Essential Phone, except with worse design. It features the same top notch as Essential, but has larger bottom bezels and a real home button. I’m usually super into Sharp’s Aquos phones, but that’s not the case with this one. I just want a glorious bezel-free display.

Still, we can at least give props to Sharp for innovating on a smaller phone. Most of these bezel-less displays show up on larger devices. It actually debuted the top notch design with its earlier (and bigger) Aquos S2.

Here are the rest of the phones specs, even though it won’t be available outside of Japan. Note that refresh rate, which is the same as the iPad Pro.

• 4.9-inch Full HD display with…

Continue reading…