Sharp released in China the SH7218U, a clamshell Android smartphone, which is China version of the NTT docomo Sharp SH-01B. While the first Android clamshell we’ve seen, the Samsung W899, has dual Super AMOLED touchscreens, Sharp’s phone has a rotating 3.4-inch 480 x 854 Mobile ASV touchscreen with multitouch and a 1.4-inch 192×64 OLED external display for showing call ID and phone status. The SH7218U packs a 8 Megapixel camera with LED flash. There is also Side Illumination with a flashing LED light.
The Sharp SH7218U is powered by Qualcomm’s MSM7227 600MHz processor, 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM. It supports GSM/WCDMA network and WiFi connectivity and includes microSD card slot and micro USB connector. The phone runs Android 2.2.1 with Sharp’s own Dian Xin (點心) UI. It comes without Android Market and Google Mobile Apps, instead a bunch of Chinese-oriented apps are pre-loaded, which have UI design that combines webOS and iOS design elements.
The Sharp SH7218U Android clamshell is available in China for about 3000 Chinese Yuan ($457).
