The Android One program is fascinating, the resurgence last year with more premium models appearing elevated it to a new level and now Sharp has announced a new handset called the Sharp Android One S3 for carrier Y! Mobile, but unfortunately it’s only available in Japan.
The phone is both dust and waterproof with an IP65/68 rating, as well as MIL-spec rating that protects the phone from drops from heights up to 1.2metres. With a 5″ FullHD (1920×1080) resolution IGZO display, the phone is compact with measurements of 144x71x8.5 and at 143grams it’s fairly light.
Internally the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 430 SoC with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage (with microSD card slot), 2,700mAh battery and comes with decent camera chops which include a 13MP rear facing camera and 5MP selfie camera.
The phone is available from Y! Mobile in Japan for JPY 32,400 (around $368AUD), but you’ll have to be in Japan to get a hold of one.
Do you need to be a resident alien to buy one, or can tourists get them?
I believe you can buy it outright from their stores, but can’t guarantee. Their website was a little hard to decipher. If I get to Japan I’ll try.