MWC 2019: Nubia Alpha is more than just a smartwatch

The spotlight at MWC 2019 was definitely taken by two mainly new phone features: 5G compatibility and overall increased device flexibility which was best shown in the several foldable phones that were debuted at the conference in Spain. Nubia was among the companies that focused on the flexibility of their device and has used the conference to announce Nubia Alpha, a smartwatch that offers more than just the functions of a regular smartwatch. The company has also announced its first 5G smartphone, Nubia Mini 5G.

Nubia Alpha resembles many other smartwatches on the market by its looks and even some of its features including the standard fitness tracking, mobile payments, sleep tracking, Bluetooth for wireless headphones connectivity. Even the phone calls feature has been seen before. But, there are a few that are definitely not expected on a smartwatch, first of them being the camera. The 5-megapixel camera will allow users to take selfies as well as normal photos of pretty decent quality from their wrists.

What seems to be the most prominent feature of the Nubia Alpha smartwatch is the display which can also be used for watching movies. The 4-inch OLED display appears to be bigger than other smartwatches due to the specific and more unusual ratio that makes the display longer rather than wider. It is designed to be bent around the wrist up to 100,000 times without any damage making it quite durable.

Behind the screen is a custom version of Android OS that allows users to control the information on the screen and adjust them to their preference. Even the clock can be positioned so that it suits both left-handed and right-handed people. Overall, the whole operating system works on the principle of many simplified icon menus that are tiled in a row which can be navigated in order to find the wanted app or setting.

Even though it has a touch screen, Alpha smartwatch also has a couple of buttons that serve as shortcuts. One of them takes the user back to the home menu, while the other is intended to be used for voice control. But, for those who enjoy using gestures when possible, Nubia also added gesture control which can be activated through the smartwatch settings. This would allow the user to scroll up and down by just waving the finger above the screen rather than by physically touching it.

By combining smartwatch and smartphone features all in one, easily wearable device, the company tried to create an advanced version of a regular smartwatch. In order to run Alpha, Nubia included a Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset designed for wearables which is combined with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage space. When it comes to battery life, this smartwatch is expected to last 1 to 2 days of normal use thanks to its 500mAh battery.

Nubia did not announce the exact release date of the smartwatch but it did give some guidelines for those who plan to purchase it. Bluetooth version of Nubia Alpha will be available from April and will be priced at around $510, while the eSIM version that allows data connectivity won’t show up before the second half of 2019 and will be priced around $625. The first color option will be black, but the gold version will also be available sometime in the future for around $735.

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