Devices MOBILE
The best of MWC
Mobile world Congress provided plenty of new devices for the tech journalist community to fawn over this year. For
the fi rst time in a while we were treated to a completely new form factor, the bendable device. Below are two devices
which caught the eye this year, Sony has produced a stella effort with their new Xperia1 and Huawei is breaking new
ground with the ‘best of the foldables’, the Huawei Mate X
Sony Xperia 1
Sony doesn’t often make the
headlines with its smartphone
innovations but this year it
trumped the rest of the market
with a rst, its 6.5-inch 4k
OLED screen. It also has a 21:9
aspect ratio which makes it
slightly better for watching lm
content than others. e screen
itself is breath-taking, I haven’t
seen anything that comes even
close to it in terms of quality.
Under the bonnet users will
nd a Snapdragon 855 processor,
6GB of RAM and 128GB of
storage. e body is IP68 rated,
which means it can withstand
dust, dirt and sand, it can
also be submerged up to 1.5m
underwater for up to 30 mins.
e 3300mAh battery inside
is larger than average which
should see it breeze past a day
of moderate/ heavy use. Sony
seems to have also gone big on
the camera sensors on the back,
you will nd three 12MP sensors
SPECS
SCREEN | 6.5-INCH 4K OLED
RAM | 6GB
BATTERY | 3300 MAH
OS | ANDROID
PRICE | £849
(16mm, 26mm and a zoomed
52mm). Camera enthusiasts
have a lot to choose from when
it comes to smartphones with
a great camera spec, the jury is
out whether Sony has produced
a market topping device on this
front. It can take 4k video also
which gives it an edge on the
competition, however if you
are taking all your videos in 4k
you will quickly eat through the
device storage.
It’s hard not to admire Sony
for their e orts in the smartphone
arena, they are innovating and
have a loyal following. As usual,
they have produced a really solid
agship which will push the
buttons of many out there. I fear
there aren’t enough stand-out
features to make it a top selling
phone of 2019, if you do want
one you are also going to have to
wait until the summer… at which
point the wires will be alive with
Apple rumours and predictions
for a new September release.
Huawei Mate X
Is there market for a foldable
device? I was sceptical, I still am
given the price points. at hasn’t
stopped people going mad for
the new designs being developed.
How many people carry a phone
and a tablet around? e foldable
form factor enables a two for one
scenario, saves a bit of space in
the bag, and generally seems like
a sensible idea.
Huawei isn’t the rst to
market, but it does appear to have
developed the best o ering so far.
Why is it the best? Simply because
Huawei has managed to actually
engineer a device which can fold
completely at without a weird
bulky hinge, see the Samsung
Fold and Royole FlexPai.
It was unfortunate that
Huawei didn’t let anyone near
the device at MWC, instead
we had to gaze at it through
glass. Despite this we have been
assured the Mate X can perform
100,000 folds, just not four days
Huawei
SPECS
SCREEN | 8/ 6.6 - INCH
RAM |
8GB
BATTERY | 4,500 MAH
OS | ANDROID
PRICE | £2000
at a tech exhibition!
e Mate X has just one
screen which stands at 8
inches, when unfolded, and
can be brought down into a
more manageable 6.6 inch
smartphone. Huawei has
included a 5G capability with
the new Kirin 980 chipset and
a 4,500 mAh battery (it has two
internal batteries). Huawei has
also managed to squeeze 512GB
of internal storage and 8GB of
RAM into the thin design.
e starting price for the Mate
X is about £2,000, which seems
ludicrous depending on who you
ask. To make it worthwhile you’ll
need to be con dent that you can
lose two devices and get the same
work done with a foldable design.
Mate X will launch in the
UK on EE, ree and Vodafone
this year.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk April 2019 | Comms Business Magazine | 19
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