Created: 6 April 2024 · Last edited: 27 September 2026

On 5 April 2024, Japanese carrier au and its subsidiary UQ mobile launched the BASIO active2, the second generation of au's entry-level smartphone aimed at those using a smartphone for the first time and at elderly users. Three months later, SoftBank launched exactly the same phone under the more familiar Simple Sumaho name as the Simple Sumaho 7.

The BASIO active2/Simple Sumaho 7 is almost identical to the previous BASIO active/Simple Sumaho 6 in terms of hardware. The main difference is in the camera department.

The rear camera now has a 50.3-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, which is quite good, to be honest, while the front-facing camera uses the same 8 MP f/2.0 sensor as last year's.

The phone has dedicated physical buttons at the bottom for direct access to the Dialler, Home, and Email. The dialler and email buttons will light up when receiving a call or message or when you've missed one. Long-pressing the fingerprint authentication button on the side launches a pre-registered payment application.

The screen features big and easy-to-understand buttons with large icons. A dedicated button on the side lets you search without typing.

The screen's Outdoor View and Clear View functions will automatically adjust brightness and colours to make it easy to see the display at all times.

The BASIO active2/Simple Sumaho 7 is waterproof, dust-proof, shockproof, and durable. Like all other recent Sharp smartphones, you can wash it any time with hand soap or wipe it clean with alcohol disinfectant wipes.

The phone can now replace the My Number Card: the Japanese identity card that stores (inside an IC chip) citizen information such as name, address, birthday, sex, individual number, and passport photo. More precisely, it supports the smartphone equivalent of the My Number Card's electronic certificates, allowing the phone to be used for various procedures that normally require the physical card.

The phone also comes equipped with nuisance call countermeasures such as proxy answering (when you press "Stop bothering", an automated voice responds to the caller) and automatic call recording when receiving a call from an unknown number.

As it is targeted at the elderly, the BASIO active2/Simple Sumaho 7 has a special function to automatically send an email saying "I'm fine" to pre-registered recipients when you use the device for the first time in the day.

Further enhancements include "triple clear talk" and "slow talk" that make it easier to understand what the other side is saying by emphasising the caller's voice and/or slowing it down.

The phone features Sharp's AI Auto, which automatically determines the optimal shooting mode when taking photos, and AI Live Shutter, which automatically captures beautifully composed photos while recording video.

The BASIO active2/Simple Sumaho 7 weighs 174 grams and measures 158 x 71 x 9.4 mm, exactly the same as the previous generation.

It is built on the Snapdragon 695 5G mobile platform (two 2.2 GHz cores + six 1.8 GHz cores), the same as the previous generation.

The amount of RAM is 4 GB (LPDDR4X) and the amount of ROM is 64 GB (UFS 2.2). Storage memory can be expanded using microSDXC cards of up to 1 TB. Exactly like the previous generation.

The battery capacity is 4,000 mAh, same as the previous generation.

The display measures 5.7 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 720 x 1520 px, same as the previous generation.

The BASIO active2 SHG12 and Simple Sumaho 7 A401SH support different radio frequency configurations, reflecting their respective au and SoftBank networks.

The BASIO active2 is available in silver, navy, and red, while the Simple Sumaho 7 comes in champagne gold, space blue, and wine red.

Both versions are released with Android 14.