This year’s Mobile World Congress hosted so many innovative, interesting, and even downright crazy designs. However, there was one product that was different than all the rest – Nubia Alpha, also stylized as “NUBIA α”.
What is Nubia Alpha exactly?
At first glance, you’d say it’s a typical smartwatch. But don’t be fooled by its wearability – this “smartwatch” is so much more. A product of ZTE’s Nubia Division, Alpha can be both a smartphone and a smartwatch.
Equipped with the Android Wear 2.1 operating system, Nubia Alpha technically is a smartwatch. That said, it has a 4-inch, ultra-wide 960×192 pixel display. It has to be slightly bent to accommodate its size onto a user’s wrist. According to the company, you can bend it about 100,000 times before it starts to show signs of wear and tear.
Another thing that makes it different from a regular smartwatch is its smartphone capabilities. In other words, you can use it to make phone calls. That’s right, it has the option that allows you to position it for that purpose.
Having said that, you cannot exactly browse the Internet or run applications. Of course, what good is a smartphone/smartwatch without a camera? Nubia Alpha comes with a 5 MP, f/2.2, 25mm camera for your basic selfie-taking requirements. You can also use to control the device via gestures.
Under the hood
Powering Nubia Alpha is the role of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, with a quad-core 1.1 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU with Adreno 304 GPU setup. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB NAND flash storage.
Its WWAN capabilities support 4G/LTE, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, along with Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity. Nubia Alpha’s non-removable 500 mAh battery will keep it on for up to 48 hours.
The device also has a fitness tracker capability. Its rather large display, state-of-the-art sensors, gesture- and voice-powered controls, as well as IP67 resistance against dust and water, make it one of the best products of its type out there.
You will be able to buy Nubia Alpha without eSIM connectivity as of April in Europe and North America, for about €450 ($510). The eSIM version will be launched in Q3 2019, with a price tag of €550 ($625). For now, Nubia Alpha is available in gold and black.
YouTube: nubia-α
Photo credit: All media shown is owned by Nubia and ZTE.
Source: Nubia / GSM Arena / PhoneArena
