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Up until now, Android One phones were mainly targeted at emerging markets, such as India and Turkey. Japanese manufacturer Sharp, however, decided to change that by announcing the awkwardly named 507SH, the first Android One phone to make its way to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Under the hood, an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 and 2GB RAM powers the 507SH, with the phone equipped with 16GB of expandable native storage. A 5-megapixel selfie shooter sits above the 5-inch, 1,280 x 720 resolution display, which is protected by Gorilla Glass 4, with the 13MP main camera found around back.
Keeping the lights on is a surprisingly beefy 3,010mAh battery, which Sharp claims will allow the 507SH to deliver three days of usage. Furthermore, the phone supports LTE reception with VoLTE, though keep in mind the support is for Japanese LTE networks.
Not only is the 507SH the first Android One phone released in Japan, but also the first Android One to feature at least a modicum of water resistance. According to Sharp, the 507SH is IPX5-, IPX8-, and IP5X-certified for both dust and water resistance, but keep in mind that the water resistance only extends to fresh water — dunk the 507SH in salt water at the beach and you are almost guaranteed to get a damaged phone.
Finally, the phone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
The 507SH will be available in Japan sometime in July, and even though Sharp did not say how much it will cost, Android One phones usually sell for less than $200, so expect the trend to continue with the 507SH.
Android One was originally set up by Google to offer certain regions a low-cost phone that runs stock Android, almost like a pseudo-Nexus device. Unfortunately, the program did not catch on as much as Google wanted it to in 2015, prompting the company to give manufacturers more leniency when it comes to things like components.
