You may not have heard of a Chinese electronics company called Smartisan, but they have recently announced a smartphone that will surely get your attention. The Smartisan R1 is released with a record up to its sleeves, that is its 1TB storage, and it is almost clear that no other smartphone manufacturer is going to opt for such a huge amount of storage shortly. It comes with top of the line specs and design, so without any delay lets take a look at what this smartphone is offering and how is it different from the other flagships?
Design
Just like any other smartphone of 2018 The R1 also offers an industrious design that feels rigid and premium at the same time. In a world where the notches have become more of a “false” trend, Smartisan embraced the design based on the Essential Phone. The slight notch on the top of the screen only houses the camera and the earpiece, and they did a good job keeping it as small as possible. The screen extends to the corners of the device making it one of the best all screen smartphones out there rocking the screen to body ratio of 84%, making it 74.5mm wide and 153.3mm high.
3D glass protects the back of the phone, the chassis is made up of grade 7 Aluminum that has a thin line to it, and the fingerprint sensor is buried in the back with the Smartisan logo. It is only 7.9mm thick making it comfortable to use with one hand, and it weighs around 170g a bit heavier according to current norms.
Specifications
The general specifications are similar to any other 2018 flagship device with QUALCOMM Snapdragon 845 chip that is clocked at 2.8Ghz augmented by the Adreno 630 GPU. 4,6 GB LPDDR4X RAM depending upon configuration and a non-removable 3600mAh Lithium Polymer battery that supports QUALCOMM quick charge 4+. Other than that, it has all those necessary sensors a smartphone has like a gyroscope, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity and ultrasonic.
The Screen is a 6.17inches FHD+(Resolution 2240×1080) IPS LCD panel with the aspect ratio of 18.7:9, contrast ratio 1500:1 and 96% color Gamut. It is not going to be comparable to what you see in Galaxy S9 or iPhone X, nonetheless it is a one of the better displays. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
The I/O includes 2 x Nano-Sim card slots, Micro SD card slot, USB type C port, rounded power button, and volume rocker both are on the right side at the position where it is easier for the thumb to reach and it also supports 10W wireless charging.
Camera
The front-facing camera is a 24 Megapixels sensor with f/2.0 aperture that supports real-time AI beauty mode that is it automatically adjust certain facial features making the selfies more beautiful and better looking mainly at the low light situation. It also supports ArcSoft ray algorithm that adjusts the amount of light that enters the sensor making the photos to be ambiently exposed.
The rear camera setup consists of the primary 12 Megapixel Sony IMX 363 sensor with f/1.8 aperture that is complemented by 4-axis OIS while the secondary sensor is a 20 Megapixel Sony IMX 350 sensor with aperture f/1.8, both of these sensors complement each other while taking photos the secondary lens is dedicated for the low light photography and the main shooter can record steady videos up to 4k resolution.
Storage
The highlight of this phone is, and probably the reason why you tune in to this article is the massive storage that this phone is offering. Smartisan did not make do with just a 1 TB Micro SD card they opted for 1 TB UFS 2.1 storage that is faster than any other storage tech in the smartphone lineup.
Smartisan says “This is (1TB UFS 2.1) equivalent to 4.69 days of 1080p footage or 2.19 days of 4K video.”
Pricing and Availability
The pricing depends upon the storage it starts from $549 for the 64GB version and goes all the way up to $1390 for 1TB version. It is available all over the globe through their official website and also through any other vendors. The smartphone comes with many peripherals out of the box depending on the vendor same goes for warranty as well.
Early Verdict
The Smartisan R1 shows great promise in terms of design and specifications, AI-powered front sensor is one of a kind and the 1TB storage is the highlight of it, but if you are willing to pay $1390 only for the storage than you must have already paid for the online storage services if storage matters to you the most, other than that, it is like any other smartphone out there. So, it comes down to your personal preference if you like their skin on Android 8.1 and the features they are offering go for it.