In addition to the folding screen smartphones launched at the MWC event this year, Nubia also unveiled a device with a flexible OLED display called Nubia Alpha. This is essentially a smartwatch with a 4-inch screen that comes with the features of a smartphone. Nubia at last year’s IFA 2018 event also showed a prototype of this device called Nubia Alpha and today the company officially announced its launch.
The first impression from the first glance is the design of Nubia Alpha, which owns a flexible OLED screen that is completely curved so that it can be worn on the hand. The screen is 4 inches in size with an ultra-wide ratio of 45- 9 and a resolution of 960 x 192. According to Nubia, the screen of this device can be “bent” up to 100,000 times.
Due to such an “oversized” ratio, it would be quite difficult for users to look at the whole screen at the same time. Therefore, users will have to scroll from the bottom up or from the top to see the content displayed completely.
Nubia also integrates an operating system version (based on Android) on its device that allows users to navigate with the swipe up and down / simplify icon menus. Some physical buttons on the side will also have a function to replace the Back button as well as enable voice commands.
As a wearable device, Nubia Alpha will also have health monitoring features such as step counting, heart rate measurement, distance measurement and counting of calories consumed with built-in sensors. Not only does it function as a regular smartwatch, but Nubia Alpha also integrates eSIM for making calls and even has a 5MP front-facing camera to take selfies.
Regarding the hardware configuration, Nubia Alpha will run on the Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip, with a modest amount of RAM of just 1GB and 8GB of storage. The device’s battery has a capacity of 500mAh which, according to Nubia, can be used for about 1 to 2 days.
The current price that Nubia announced for smartwatch hybrid smartphone is 449 EUR for the regular version and EUR 549 for the eSIM support version. Nubia will also launch a premium yellow version for EUR 649, equivalent to $739. The device will be distributed in the US and European markets from April.
