There are contrasting fortunes in the mobile phone marketplace today. Whilst the great majority are preparing to ‘think different’ and convince themselves they really do need a new iPhone after all, other mobile phone manufacturers are lining up to try and steal a slice of that Cupertino thunder. Whilst Samsung did their best to steal that thunder they also brought the flames, having to recall their flagship Note S7 due to some users reporting it caught fire. Nice one, lads!
So we will leave Samsung to wallow in the PR nightmare that has come from 35 cases of their phone going boom with more than 2 million units sold, and move on to the other players. In this case Sony and Huawei are scrapping for our attention.
Let’s start with the South Koreans. Whilst their big brother Samsung is in hot water, Huawei’s successful introduction into the mobile phone market continues apace. They have carved out a nice little niche for themselves: high quality phones on a budget that bring some of the ‘flagship’ features that people want from a handset these days.
Full specs and minute details can be found over at The Verge, but the take-home points here are that the firm has two handsets its putting out there: the Nova and the Nova Plus.
These phones are pitched as being for “dynamic aspirers” which makes me chuckle as it means the phone is for those people who want to brag about their handset but don’t have the notes to drop on a flagship handset (NB: don’t drop notes – particularly the Note S7 – unless you have the emergency services close by).
This translates into a 5” Full HD screen (ie – 1080p) running on a Snapdragon 625, 3gb RAM and 32gb of Storage. The phone’s body is aluminium – that’s cool, in case you didn’t know – and the camera is a respectable 12MP. At this point I’m honor-bound to say that Full HD on a 5” screen is baffling overkill and the worth of any camera is far less in its megapixels than in the quality of its sensor. You don’t care? OK, fair enough, but I’ve done my duty.
What does matter – a great deal in fact – is battery life. The Nova packs a 3,020mAh battery inside it. That’s very good. Alas, even a chunky battery will get drained by a large screen faster than a keg at a frat party, but I applaud the effort. For light users, you might get 48hrs+ out of this handset. I stress might.
Or you could trade up to the Nova Plus. You know it’s better because it has the word ‘Plus’ after it. Those boys in marketing, eh? Clever…
For that you get an extra 0.5” of screen, a slightly chunkier battery and some more megapixels on that camera. 16 not 12!! OMG! It’s essentially the same thing but with some waffle about smaller pixels. These handsets still will come in at a hefty €399 for the Nova and €429 for the Nova Plus (no dollar prices given).
Sony, meanwhile, continue their excellent industrially designed but so-so internally handsets with their new flagship, the XZ, along with the X Compact.
The X Compact is small enough that it might fit in your pockets without making it look like you’re wearing hockey pads, but its specs are practically identical to the Nova, with a processing bump up to the Snapdragon 650 and the screensize shrunk to the Sony default of 4.6” for their little handsets.
Big brother XZ has a few more points of difference. Again, The Verge have gone long on detail but you’re looking at an 820 processor, expandable storage and that Big Daddy camera. 23MP is your headline stat, but what really matters is that this sensor is the same as the one used in some of Sony’s dedicated cameras and as such it can take amazing photos for a device which has severe limitations compared to an actual camera.
However, will this be enough to save Sony? They are floundering in the mobile space having failed to evolve their offering in three years. This latest phone feels like watching a repeat of a good show for the third time. Yes it’s high quality but you’ve seen it all before.
Huawei at least know who they are pursuing: young professionals who can’t afford an iPhone, and with that clarity they are doing well. Sony set themselves up as an iPhone rival, but they completely lack Apple’s miraculous ability to package run-of-the-mill features and present them as sparkling innovations.
These phones, then, are the hyenas; off to one side, trying to sneak in a bite or two while the big lion gorges itself on the carcass. The carcass – in case you were struggling with the metaphor – is our money. These are harsh times.