Created: 9 October 2012 · Last edited: 10 September 2026

The AQUOS PHONE Xx 203SH is the flagship of Sharp's Winter 2012/2013 SoftBank collection and wields some seriously impressive features.

The 4.9-inch HD display is on the verge of the psychological boundary of excess, but Sharp are advertising it as "Large screen yet easy to hold; thin bezel ensures that it still fits in the palm of your hand". The narrow bezel helps keep the phone reasonably manageable despite its unusually large screen, while the display itself represents Sharp's latest advance in energy-efficient display technology – IGZO LCD.

IGZO is the major technological attraction here. Sharp's new display technology uses an oxide semiconductor based on indium gallium zinc oxide instead of the conventional amorphous silicon used in LCDs. The result is a display that can consume considerably less power, allowing Sharp to promise remarkably long battery life despite the 4.9-inch screen. The 203SH is one of the first smartphones to bring this technology to market, following the AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-02E.

Interestingly, the IGZO display was not part of the 203SH's original specification. When the phone was first announced in October 2012, Sharp had specified an S-CG Silicon LCD system. Two months later, the company announced that this would be replaced by the new IGZO display before the phone went on sale.

This monster of a phone is driven by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon processor based on Krait cores, aided by a generous 2 GB of RAM. It also supports SoftBank's 4G network, based on AXGP technology, with download speeds of up to 76 Mbps.

On the 203SH we also find a 16.3-megapixel camera using a back-illuminated CMOS sensor and Sharp's ProPix image-processing technology. The camera features a combination of optical and electronic image stabilisation which Sharp calls "triple anti-shake" technology, helping to reduce camera shake when taking photographs. It can also be operated using a voice shutter, allowing photographs to be taken without physically touching the phone – particularly useful when trying to avoid camera shake.

The camera is capable of recording Full HD video, while Sharp's image-processing technology is designed to produce good results even in difficult lighting conditions. HDR photography is also supported, making the 203SH a particularly serious proposition for photography enthusiasts compared with many contemporary smartphones.

The 203SH also marks a notable step forward for Sharp's front-facing camera. Its 1.2-megapixel CMOS camera is considerably higher-resolution than the 0.3-megapixel front cameras commonly found on Sharp's earlier smartphones, making it a much more capable option for video calls and self-portraits.

The AQUOS PHONE Xx 203SH runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and naturally features Sharp's Feel UX user interface. The video-watching experience is further enhanced by Dolby Mobile v3, while Sharp's custom interface provides plenty of options for arranging applications, widgets and shortcuts.

Wireless connectivity includes dual-band 5 GHz / 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone also features infrared, One Seg digital television, FeliCa mobile wallet functionality and NFC. As expected from a Japanese flagship of the period, it is also both water- and dust-resistant.

The combination of the IGZO display and a high-capacity 2200 mAh battery is one of the phone's biggest selling points. Sharp claims that the 203SH can provide around two days of normal use on a single charge, which is an impressive promise for a smartphone with this size of display and this level of hardware.