[Nexus 4 General] RealiZms:
If you happen to be covered by Sprint's LTE and are looking for an upgrade over your still sexy Nexus 4 you should seriously consider the value and performance this phone has to offer. I love my nexus 4 but was really starting to get tired of the poop battery life and constantly hitting my 2.5GB limit of very poor ATT HSPA+ speed every month. And while the CPU doesn't quite match the power of the Nexus 4 I honestly don't care because I can't notice any difference at all except I get twice the screen on time with the Crystal. Here's some thoughts I shared on the Sharp Aquos Crystal forums.

I got the phone for $49. I ported my # over from att to get 100 off the phone plus got 10GB of LTE for 55 per month. Ended up paying around $110 total. I consistently get 20-30MB down. I'm also coming from a Nexus 4. So heres my breakdown as compared to the LG Nexus 4, which I love by the way. In all honesty there's lots of similarities between the Nexus 4 and the Aquos Crystal. That's an excellent thing in my book. Here goes.....

The Design of the Crystal is simply breathtaking. It seriously looks like something from the future(think Total Recall, Fifth Element). It's imposing, has presence, and with the screen on it commands attention from a good distance away. It has a metal frame! No BS! Pretty impressive! While I think the Nexus 4 is one of the most sexiest phones ever made with the screen on, the Crystal is just amazing and better looking than any other smartphone available. With the screen off the Nexus 4 beats everything and that probably won't ever change.

Battery life is CRAZY good. I can't understand for the life of me how I got 6 hours of SOT for my first charge! Everything was syncing and setting up(used a GB of data(Damn)). I expect it to get even better! One of my reasons for wanting to upgrade from my Nexus 4 was battery life. Sure it's 2 years old but I could only muster around 3-4 hours SOT. Lame

I also love how Sharp kept raw Android yet added some useful and some just cool features. Thank you for proper on screen keys!!!!!!

Side by side the Crystal is ever so slightly shorter than the Nexus 4 yet it's screen is 5 inches vs the 4's 4.7 incher. This overall form, function, and innovative design adds to the futuristic feel. It's more comfortable to use one handed than the nexus 4 and every 5 inch flagship available today(I've held all of them).

Screen quality is very close but if anything the Crystal feels much more vibrant and beautiful at lower brightness settings to the Nexus 4. (I cry for my nexus on the inside)

Data speeds where I'm at literally smash every other carrier to pieces. And I get 10GB vs. 2.5 of HSPA+

So battery life is so good you can't figure out how it's possible...

Breathtaking and innovative design that will surely be copied soon. That screen is beautiful and magical. Yea, the no earpiece technology from 100 years from now works like a dream. Call quality is fantastic and the HD voice works eerily well.

Build quality. A metal frame on a prepaid phone...What else to say? Fit and finish is great too.

What sucks? Well the camera kinda. As a Nexus 4 owner I'm used to it but the Nexus 4 camera sprays poo on the Crystal's. I actually love the Crystal's camera UI very much and think it's a very nice camera app that offers just enough and not too much. Outdoor performance is pretty average but indoors or under low light it's pretty abysmal. I don't really care either. I paid $49 for the phone. Keyword being phone and not camera

Aside from the camera the only other negative I can think of is we probably won't ever get an update. Then again not much is known about how well or poor Sharp supports their phones. Who knows they might try and make a positive first impression by updating it. Hard to tell.

Meanwhile my nexus 4 will get Lollipop as soon as it comes out......in two weeks..

In terms of a quality OS, anything Jellybean and up is pretty fantastic in my opinion. So having KitKat forever isn't really bad at all at least to me.

So coming from a Nexus 4 I'm seriously impressed with this Sharp Aquos Crystal and would highly recommend it to anybody. The value alone boggles the mind. It could easily sell for twice or three times as much.

If anyone has any questions I'll be happy to help give some feedback. Thanks for reading!