Walmart has spoiled some of AT&T’s plans by pre-announcing the Sharp FX Plus. The Android phone owes a clear debt to the Sidekick that Sharp once made and has the same concept of a slider where the display, not the body, slides out to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. Sharp keeps it simpler than the Sidekick 4G with a 3.2-inch display, a three-megapixel camera, and a mix of 512MB of internal storage with a bundled 2GB microSD card.
Despite its timing, the phone is still shipping with Android 2.2. Sharp gives it a light customization but is mostly close to Google’s formula and has all the vital apps. Sharp’s device hits up to 7.2Mbps speeds on AT&T’s network.
Without an official release, the FX Plus doesn’t have a hard ship date and showas as “backordered.” Walmart claims the phone will be free on a two-year contract or $350 for the unattached.