This is CES 2020 Week where new and weird tech products and innovations get showcased. Even though most smartphone companies have switched to launching their devices on their own events or at Mobile World Congress, CES 2020 has seen new devices being announced and here’s a roundup of all of them so far.
OnePlus Concept One with disappearing cameras
The OnePlus Concept One is OnePlus’s latest concept phone that shows off what the company thinks will be the future of smartphones. The phone is a partnership between the company and McLaren but not just in branding as usual with previous partnerships – OnePlus not only used features found in McLaren’s cars such as the real leather that spots the papaya-orange back of the phone but also uses electrochromic technology that’s available in the McLaren 720S supercar glass roof that protects passengers from the sun. The same tech but on a smaller scale has been used to change the opacity of the glass covering the camera lineup underneath.
From opaque to clear, the glass takes 0.7 seconds as soon as the camera app is opened. Everything else here looks normal and under the hood, the OnePlus Concept One is essentially OnePlus 7T Pro. The Aluminium frame has a PVD-applied layer of 24ct gold
Here’s how it works
“The glass of the OnePlus Concept One uses organic particles to create changes in transparency so that the glass covering the camera lenses can shift in an instant from opaque black to entirely clear. Presenting a clean, unbroken surface when not in use, the ‘invisible’ design is a manifest example of OnePlus’ ‘burdenless’ design philosophy. This optimal solution is what we call ‘Electronic CMF’ — a new approach in industrial design,” the OnePlus introduction.
It’s worth noting that the tech also allows for the glass change to various levels of opacity to act as an ND(Neutral Density) filter to help the camera properly expose photos in high brightness situations and level shadows and highlights to capture more detail – handy for mobile photography.
Don’t expect to buy the OnePlus Concept One anytime soon as the phone won’t ever go into mass production.
The whole phone doesn’t look like a concept phone as the tech isn’t that extravagant and could actually be achieved by OneplUs for its near future phones – probably for devices launching later in the year.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite and the S10 Lite
A day before CES 2020 began, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 10 Lite and the S10 Lite and were on display at Samsung’s CES booth. Both phones come with 6.7″ full HD+ Infinity-O displays(394 PPI), feature 4500mAh batteries that have 25W fast charging support and come with Android 10(just like the Samsung Galaxy A51 and A71) and One UI 2 baked in. RAM and storage configuration are similar too as you get either 6 or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage expandable via external microSD card.
The Samsung S10 Lite comes with a triple rear setup(rectangular corner camera bump) that includes a main 48MP shooter, 12MP ultra-wide(123 degrees FOV) lens and a 5MP macro shooter while the Note 10 Lite features a 12MP main shooter, 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP telephoto lens. For selfies, you get a punch-hole 32MP selfie camera.
The Note 10 Lite gets an S Pen stylus Aand a headphone jack – the latter lacks on the S10 Lite. Processors also different between the two with the Note 10 Lite running on Exynos 9810 while the S10 Lite runs on Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 855. Both come with Android 10 out of the box. All in all, the two devices promise to offer users the best of Samsung for less. Pricing and availability details are yet to be shared officially by Samsung but the company said its targeting “accessible price points.”
CoolPad Legacy 5G
Another less known smartphone manufacturer took to CES 2020 to showcase their affordable 5G phone, the Legacy 5G. The phone will cost $359 and pack quite the features including a large 6.53-inch FHD+ display powered by Pixelwork’s HDR technology, a 4,000mAh battery, dual 48MP and 8MP rear cameras, and a 16MP selfie cam. The phone is set to hit markets until sometime in Q2 2020.
TCL
TCL has a range of smartphones that featured at CES 2020 – The TCL 10 series.
There’s an affordable TCL 10 5G(sub-6GHz 5G connectivity).
It also has support for 3G, 4G and VoLTE and starts selling for under $500. The phone features Android 10, 8GB of RAM, 128GB onboard storage, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chip, 500mAh battery with fast charging, rear fingerprint sensor, a 6.39″ LCD screen(1080 x 2400 resolution), USB-C connection and headphone jack, 64MP Quad Rear Camera and 32MP selfie camera and in terms of the overall experience, TechRadar points out it has the feel of an unfinished phone.
https://youtu.be/X1UxXPSk1lo
There’s also a TCL 10 Pro that features a 64MP Quad Rear Camera setup, Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chip, satin glass back and an OLED screen.
https://youtu.be/_DneCplno3c
TCL 10L was also announced at CES 2020. The details are scant and we’ll have to wait till MWC 2020 when they’ll be made available.
https://youtu.be/Eajz3nz0aKc
TCL also announced the TCL Foldable. So far, the foldable is still in the prototype stage and is slated to be launched later this for an affordable price. The phone could put pressure on existing smartphone carriers like Samsung and Motorola who have expensive foldable phones to cut down on their prices. Affordable folding phones are set to increase adoption rates of phones with this form factor.
The TCL foldable packs a square 7.2″ display, a quad-camera system, a mid-tier Snapdragon 660 chip and sadly runs on Android 9.0 Pie. Hopefully, by the time it goes into mass production, they feature Android 11 or at least Android 10.
Alcatel
Alcatel under the TCL brand also announced new smartphones at CES 2020.
There’s an Alcatel 3L that features a triple rear camera setup which includes a 48MP main shooter, a 5MP ultra-wide and a 2Mp macro lens, an 8MP selfie camera, waterdrop notch 6.2″ HD+ screen, MediaTek Helio P22 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage plus a 400mAh battery and cost $155 when it launches in Q1 2020 and be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Alcatel 1S also features 6.22″ HD+ waterdrop notch display, 4000mAh battery, a 13MP primary shooter, 5MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens, 5MP selfie camera and will cost $110 to be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions in Q1 2020.
Alcatel 1V and 1B join in too. The Alcatel 1V comes with a 6.2″ HD+ screen with waterdrop notch to house the 5MP selfie camera, MT6762D processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB onboard storage, 4000mAh battery, 13MP main and 5MP rear camera setup. It will cost $88 to be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions in Q1 2020.
Alcatel 1B will spot Android 10(Go Edition), Quadcore Snapdragon 215 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB onboard storage with support to expand it via microSD card, 3000mAh battery and cost $66 to be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions.
