Sharp Aquos A205SH Keitai 4 - Opinion/Review from Australia

Sorry if this is long, I'm very chatty.

I've been making my way through a few different "dumbphones" (flip phones with Android, the number one thing I didn't want to give up is Spotify) to find the one I think works and suits me best. I've tried the Opel TouchFlip (good cheap option for Australians but not very aesthetically pleasing), Sharp Aquos 2 601SH (lovely phone, but the Android version is a bit outdated for my liking and there's a ton of bloatware that slows it down a lot) and the Kyocera Digno 3 902KC (also a lovely phone, but the one I bought arrived damaged so I don't want to use it. Otherwise, seems very functional and I would consider getting one that isn't damaged if I didn't find the A205SH).

I haven't seen anyone discussing the A205SH so I thought I'd share my experience as it's my favourite so far.

Phone Basics

  • Release date: ~October 2022
  • Operating system: Android 10
  • Supported bands: 4G - 1, 3, 8 / 3G - 1, 8
  • Bluetooth version: 5.1
  • Wi-Fi: Yes
  • Tethering/Hotspot: Yes
  • SD card support up to 32 GB
  • USB C charging
  • Available in black or white
  • Touchscreen: No
  • Sub-display

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Here it is!

The sub display doesn't photograph properly - there's no issue with it, I think it just has something to do with the refresh rate of the screen.

It's an attractive flip phone, nice and slim and the screen looks great too. It operates quickly, and I've only run into minor issues with it so far which have been related to me trying to customise it.

Phone functionality/Good things about it

  • There are no Google Play services on this phone, so you won't be able to run most Google apps (e.g. YouTube, Gmail) however, I have downloaded some Google apps like Chrome that popped up with a message at first telling me I couldn't use the app due to lack of Play services, but then it went away and I can use the app like normal. I tried YouTube, but that didn't work at all and shut down after showing me the warning. I use Messages by Google as my default messaging app without any issues. I have seen other people mention they've got Google Maps working on their phones without Google Play, but I am yet to test it.
  • Because there's no app store you will need to sideload apps via ADB or just install the Aurora Store app via ADB and download your apps through there. There appears to be a problem with logging in to the Aurora Store app with Google - when I try this option nothing loads and the screen stays blank. You can log in as anonymous and still download apps, but these anonymous accounts are prone to being rate limited which is a huge pain, so I recommend just installing everything via ADB (particularly web ADB, it's very easy to use). It has the usual basic apps already such as a calculator, alarm and calendar.
  • The default launcher is simplistic. It becomes a bit annoying to navigate if you have more than 3 apps you use often - you can set apps to launch by pressing the function keys at the bottom of the keypad labelled "I" "II" and "III". To be able to find other apps that you've installed you have to navigate through the menus. I didn't like this, so I installed Total Launcher as a replacement which has made my home screen look more modern. Total Launcher is keypad compatible, so you can navigate it with the buttons and customise it to your liking, hide apps/create screens for apps etc. My other recommendation for a launcher is Square Launcher.
  • I'm able to use every app I need to. My main apps are: Messenger, WhatsApp, Spotify, my banking app and the Australia Post app. I am using the default e-mail app on the phone which seems to work well. Each app can be used with a combination of the keypad and custom installed virtual mouse.
  • The sub-display displays the time, date, battery percentage, signal level and number of steps you've taken that day if you have the pedometer enabled. It's slightly customisable in the sense that you can change the colour of the LED to flash different colours for some things e.g. you can set the LED colour to red for message notifications, and green for other notifications. It doesn't appear that you can set different colours for different app notifications, they're all the same. The sub-display also shows the names of the person/the phone number you receive a call or message from briefly when it arrives.
  • You can add a dangly charm. Oh, so kawaii.

Annoying things about the phone/Things I don't like

  • The default messaging app isn't very good. As I mentioned above, I use Messages by Google which works perfectly. The default messaging app is an old school style "inbox" with no threaded conversations that you cannot use to send MMS/long SMS due to... something odd about how Japan messages via phone (but you can send MMS/long SMS no problems with another app). As far as I know, RCS messaging doesn't work on this phone but that's not a big deal to me so I haven't really investigated.
  • I can't seem to remove the lock screen number!!!!!! I set it up just to test it out, but it doesn't look like there's any option to disable it, only change it. This is really annoying for me, because I didn't actually want to set up a lock code but now I'm stuck with it (resetting the phone would be too hard, I tested this out after installing all of my apps and setting up my home screen how I like). If anyone figures out a way to remove this without resetting the whole phone please let me know.
  • There is no built-in cursor option except when using the default browser. A cursor is essential for navigating many apps. This is a pretty disappointing downgrade from previous Aquos Keitai models that had what they call a "touch cruiser" built in - the keypad was touch sensitive which you could use to operate a cursor on the screen, and scroll through apps/webpages. To work around this, I have had to install the MATVT virtual mouse which definitely works but there are some flaws, such as it detecting scrolling up/down as input and clicking on whatever the cursor is hovering over instead of scrolling. A bit annoying, but it's usable. I may look into seeing if there's a way I can manipulate the phone to enable the built-in cursor to work on all other apps, but I suspect it may actually be built into the browser app.
  • In relation to the above issues, if the virtual mouse is turned on I can't unlock my home screen. I can type the numbers in but it won't unlock when you press enter. This is easily fixed, however, by just turning off the virtual mouse using whatever hotkey you set (it will still turn off if the home screen is locked) but it's still worth a mention.
  • The default keyboard isn't very good. When you try to input something it will open a text box that covers the whole screen for you to type in. I am using the popular Traditional T9 Keyboard by sspanak which has a great predictive text function.
  • There is no physical button/shortcut to be able to adjust the volume. To work around this I have installed the Key Mapper app by sds100 and set up functions to use a couple of the extra buttons on the keypad that are now spare keys because I'm not using the default apps/keyboard.
  • There's no flash/light on the phone (the Kyocera Digno models have this over the Sharp Aquos).
  • The camera is only 8MP. I haven't needed to take any photos, but it would be nice if they could look a bit better if I did want to.
  • Limited colour selection. I loved the pink 601SH I was using but unfortunately this phone wasn't made in more than 2 standard colours, which is a shame because there are some lovely keitai out there.

Questions I may get asked, so I am pre-emptively answering them

  • "Will this phone work in the USA?" - Another lovely user on here told me that this phone only covers one of the supported bands in the USA, so it may work but you will likely have limited connectivity.
  • "Will this phone work in Europe?" - I actually don't know, perhaps someone else can answer this based on the bands supported by the phone.
  • "Can I use WhatsApp and Google Maps on this?" - Read my post.
  • "Where did you get it from?" - I bought my phone from Buyee which is a Japanese proxy shopping service. The other alternative I would suggest is ZenMarket which is similar. You may also be able to find them on eBay.

Final thoughts

Overall, I think this is a great phone but I don't recommend it for those who aren't technologically savvy. It's definitely usable right out of the box as is, but I expect that if you're looking for a dumbphone that runs Android you're probably wanting it to be able to run some apps you can't let go of. It looks like I've complained about it more than I've praised it, but I would just like to make those who are interested aware of the limitations they might face.

Since I've started using dumbphones my quality of life has improved. Instead of doom scrolling and panic checking my phone for notifications every few minutes I feel more mindful and calm and have been able to get back into some hobbies I lost touch with due to my phone addiction. Thanks if you read all of this!