Created: 22 October 2026 · Last edited: 23 October 2026

Sharp has a history of making mediocre models with which to storm foreign markets. Behold the Sharp FX Plus, the tornado that proves to be little more than a summer drizzle, with not a flash of lightning in sight.

The Sharp FX Plus is an Android (2.2, non-upgradable) smartphone designed for people who prefer a physical keyboard for messaging. It is the successor to the Sharp FX. But while the FX runs an unspecified Java-based OS that makes it a feature phone, the FX Plus is a smartphone proper. OK, let's at least pretend it is.

Like many other devices on the market, the Sharp FX Plus offers a combination of a touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for those who prefer to type on physical keys (I'm one of them). But text input isn't limited to the physical keyboard: users can also type on the touchscreen or use Swype, which lets them enter words by sliding a finger between letters. A bit of overkill, that.

The FX Plus features a 3.2-inch TFT touchscreen with an HVGA resolution of 480 × 320 pixels and support for up to 16 million colours. In comparison, the Sharp FX display can reproduce only 262K colours, and a PhoneArena review finds the colours washed out, the text lacking fine detail and barely distinguishable from a distance, and the viewing angles quite disappointing, especially outdoors. I haven't found a similarly detailed review of the FX Plus, but here's hoping it's actually got a better display.

The phone is powered by a 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor and has 512 MB of RAM and 512 MB of internal flash memory. The limited storage – only 138 MB are available to the user – is one of the device's main constraints, particularly when installing applications. The expansion slot supports microSDHC cards with capacities of up to 32 GB, and a 2 GB card comes included with the phone.

There's a rear-facing 3-megapixel autofocus camera that takes photographs at up to 2048 × 1536 pixels and records video at VGA resolution (640 × 480 pixels). The phone also includes a music and video player supporting common formats such as MP3, AAC, WMA, MP4 and MPEG-4. A 3.5 mm headphone jack accommodates standard wired headphones, while the built-in speakerphone provides hands-free calling.

Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and assisted GPS. Cellular connectivity covers quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz), with download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. These specifications allow the handset to operate on compatible 2G and 3G networks, but it does not support 4G LTE.

Sharp has also equipped the FX Plus with earSmart, a voice-processing technology designed to distinguish speech from background noise and improve call clarity.

The FX Plus arrives at Walmart on 30 July 2011, where it retails for $28.88. Contemporary reports list an unsubsidised price of approximately $350, or a free handset with an eligible two-year AT&T contract. It targets the entry-level smartphone market, with its physical keyboard and messaging features (including built-in Facebook and Twitter integration) serving as the main selling points.

Positioned at the lower end of the market, the Sharp FX Plus faces direct competition from the LG Enlighten, which sports a slightly faster processor (800 MHz), a newer version of Android (2.3.4 Gingerbread) and a higher-capacity battery (1540 mAh vs. 1240 mAh on the Sharp). The LG's main specification disadvantage is its LCD, which supports only 262K colours. Its dimensions are another difference: while the FX Plus measures 120 × 60 × 13.9 mm and weighs 150 g, the LG measures 114 × 58 × 15 mm and is slightly heavier at 157 g. Yet the LG retails for around $330 without a contract. Meanwhile, the Sharp FX Plus can't possibly compete with the myTouch 4G Slide, which also arrives in July, or the Samsung Stratosphere, which launches in October 2011. Both outperform the Sharp in practically every respect.

While Sharp is launching the FX Plus in the US, Japan gets truly impressive models such as the AQUOS Phone SH-12C, the AQUOS Phone f SH-13C and The Premium 009SH (all without physical keyboards). There's also the GALAPAGOS 005SH, which does have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, along with a stunning 3.8-inch WVGA (800 × 480 px) glasses-free 3D display, an 8-megapixel camera, twice the processing power, twice the RAM and twice the onboard storage. If you wanted to make a splash in the US, that's the phone you should have launched, dear Sharp marketing experts.