Sharp has become the latest in a long line of Android smartphone makers to announce that it is to build a customized user interface for the platform, partnering with design agency ‘frog‘ to launch “Feel UX” later this summer.
The new Android experience will be loaded onto Sharp’s upcoming AQUOS smartphones, differentiating the company’s handsets from those of its rivals, which include HTC (Sense UI), Samsung (TouchWiz), LG (Optimus UI 3.0) and soon Huawei (Emotion UI).
The new devices will feature new personalised lock-screens, allowing users to browse photos and widgets without unlocking the handset, real-time weather display, gender-neutral colours and visuals and a streamlined and curated home screen that allows for the easy management of apps, widgets and shortcuts.
Itsuki Kouchi, Division Deputy General Manager, Global Product Development Center at Sharp says that the company has “adopted an advanced approach to Android’s concept, features, and philosophy, creating a distinctive device that will ultimately increase the life of the product and enhance customer satisfaction.”
This is what it looks like:
Sharp’s new AQUOS smartphones will be available in Japan in the summer but the company has not commented on when we can expect to see Feel UX-enabled devices in the US or Europe.
You can read more about Sharp’s partnership with frog, here.
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