The Windows Phone brand continues its legacy with a new device. The latest manufacturer to roll out a smartphone running on Windows 10 Mobile is Hewlett-Packard (HP). The HP Elite X3 is a powerful handset designed to be an all-in-one device, and Microsoft is selling it for $799 starting on October 11.
Microsoft’s retailing of the HP Elite X3 follows the exclusive release by the developing company back in late August. It also represents the tech giant’s latest efforts in continuing its mobile OS brand now under the Windows 10 Mobile software.
Investors see the track record and evolution of Windows Phone devices with increasing concerns, as the OS fails to pierce the smartphone market. Industry rivals Android and iOS are the favorite choices for a vast majority of consumers over Microsoft-branded handsets.
HP Elite X3: Specs and Features
The HP Elite X3 was designed with business in mind. Depending on how you look at it, this allows Microsoft to tap into a niche market or isolates it from the mass consumer market.
From any perspective, the HP Elite X3 is certainly a phone to admire. The device is nearly 6 and a half inches tall and weighs almost 200 g. The Elite X3’s all aluminum body comes only in black while the bottom speakers are white.
The HP device has a 5.96-inch WQHD AMOLED 2560 x 1440 display, coated with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for protection. It is also resistant to dust, transport shock, thermal shock, and water in depths up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.
HP’s Windows phone packs a 16 MP rear camera and LED flash, while the front camera has half the quality at 8 MP. The stereo speakers on the HP Elite X3 are courtesy of Bang & Olufsen audio.
A quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and an Adreno 530 GPU are under the hood of the HP Elite X3. A 4,150-mAh battery power the phone, and the best part is that it supports wireless charging.
The device has a unique configuration of 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage, expandable up to 2 TB via microSD.
For security measures, the Elite X3 by HP has an iris scanner on the front and a fingerprint scanner on the back. Furthermore, the handset is a 3-in-1 workstation thanks to its support of Microsoft’s Continuum, Cortana, and the Desk Dock accessory for cross-device compatibility.
HP Elite X3: Availability and Price
Those interested in the HP Elite X3 can buy the phone from the company itself or at Microsoft Stores nationwide in the U.S. starting at $799. The retail price includes both the device and the HP Desk Dock for connectivity with conventional monitors and the HP Lap Dock.
The HP Lap Dock is a laptop-like device for users to work comfortably. The company will soon sell the peripheral separately at a yet undisclosed price.
Source: HP
