W2016: A Flip Phone Running Android From Samsung
The Korean tech giant Samsung announced a clamshell smartphone running Android. Really, a flip phone running Android? Well, at first it might sound odd and look weird. To start with, I don’t see it’s not that bad idea. If you go back to the initial days of smart phones, no one expected a phone without keyboard until Apple came in, nobody expected to use phones with 5 to 6 inches of screen which barely fit in their pockets as they do now. Nobody expected tablets to grow interms of screen size until Apple and Samsung released huge tablets this year. And nobody expected that one day we can be able to wear a watch with an operating system inside.
So experimenting is always good, at least from the company as popular as Samsung. Some might like it, some might not. Leaving that to individual taste, I found it interesting. If you also feel the same, then you can find this post helpful.
What is it, Actually?
Well, this not just an amalgamation of a flip phone which was existed some time before and Android OS. Samsung indeed made this device with some high end specs.
This Phone came out with two displays, each having a 3.9 inch super AMOLED screens (1280 x 768 pixels resolution). One is present at outside so that you can access it without flipping the phone, while second one can be found inside which you can use with keyboard, when you flip it. From the pictures, this is not a qwerty keyboard, just normal number keyboard.
The design looks nice as the device got fit in in the chassis of glass and metal. The build of this mobile give you premium look and feel while using it. You would find the screen also with high quality as there are more pixels in less screen size. The brightness and color production would be very good in this device.The dimensions of this device are 120.4 x 61 x 15.1mm and weights 204 grams in hand. Yes, this phone is a bit heavy, due to its body. It comes in silver and gold colors.
Under the Hood
Inside, W2016 has a 64 bit Octa-Core (Quad 2.1GHz + Quad 1.5GHz)14 nm Exynos 7420 processor coupled with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. This device runs Android Lollipop v5.1.1.
These are some high end specs on paper. As you can expect, you can run this device pretty smoothly. Even though the screen might not be sufficient to play games and clearly watch videos as you do now in bigger screens, you can do multi tasking very well. Performance wise, you can expect better experience.
Camera Unit
This device got a 16MP rear camera with LED flash and 5MP front selfie shooter. Even though the complete features of this camera aren’t available yet, we can expect some things as Samsung has been always building devices with great camera optics. You can expect crispy detailed shots using this sensor on both day and low light conditions and be able to shoot HD videos also.
Battery Life and Connectivity
It has 2000mAh battery inside with features such as fast charging for both wired and wireless. Since it has lesser screen size, we can hope that you would be able to last longer with the battery. Again, considering it’s size Samsung might not fit in more battery. If you are an average user, you can may be last this device a day. Also, since you have fast charging enabled, you can expect this to work seamlessly, as it is from Samsung.
This device supports 4G, Wifi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2.
Final Thoughts
This is an example of a flip phone can be made with high end specs and Android OS. Since we got used to phones and tablets with bigger sizes now, some might not like it. But for those who do, this would be a great device with high end specs and design. While BlackBerry could make a phone like Priv, why can’t Samsung make a flip-phone? It might be hit or a flop, but experimenting in technology is always good and opens new possibilities.
This device got released in China recently. Other details regarding this device aren’t available yet.
What do you think of this device? Do let us know in comments.