A new company known as Ubik has entered the smartphone market, tossing its Ubik Uno flagship smartphone in to do battle against the likes of the Oneplus 2.
The smartphone market today is a crowded place, and making a device stand out can be a tough proposition for any company. Realizing this, the Unik Uno smartphone does its best to outshine the competition with its camera, size, performance and price tag.
At the heart of the 8.9 mm thin smartphone sits a Mediatek MT6795 octa-core SoC. This 64-bit SoC utilizes Cortex-A53 cores, making it compatible with newer 64-bit software developed for Android. It also packs in Imagination's PowerVR Series 6 (Rogue) G6200 GPU clocked at 700 MHz. For memory, the system contains 3 GB of LPDDR3, and 16 GB of onboard storage. Storage can be expanded further with up to a 64 GB microSD card.
The company opted to make the 5.5" smartphone without a bezel around the display. This allows for the phone to have a wider screen, without increasing the physical size of the device. Despite its size, the display will have a very high PPI count, as it utilizes a 1080p IPS FHD display.
One of the most attractive features of this phone is the use of a Sony Exmor RS IMX230 CMOS image sensor. This image sensor is relatively high-end for a smartphone, allowing for 20MP pictures to be taken, and for 4K (4096 x 2160) video to be recorded at a rate of 30 FPS. The camera is also capable of taking 1080p resolution video at 60 FPS, and 720p video at 120 FPS. To help improve image clarity further, Ubik placed six physical lenses on the rear camera, reducing distortion and color aberration.
The front camera is only a 5MP unit, but that is common in many smartphones today. To keep the device powered, the Ubik Uno utilizes a 3,100 mAH battery. The battery is also capable of using a fast-charge feature, and it has a few charge monitoring features that can estimate the remaining charge time. When charging, it does the opposite, informing you of approximately how much time until the phone is fully charged.
One bittersweet feature of the phone is that it is created from a one-piece aluminum body. An aluminum body on a smartphone is usually a positive feature, because it not only helps to allegedly cool the phone, but adds greater durability and a more polished appearance. The problem with it, however, is that it restricts users from being able to take apart the phone, and effectively makes it impossible for users to replace a battery that goes bad prematurely. It also prevents users from being able to carry and use a second battery, which is at times helpful to have when you won't be able to charge your phone for a long period of time.
Although the hardware inside of this smartphone is relatively high-end and on paper can stand its ground against other top notch devices in the market today, the company has managed to keep the price tag quite low. The smartphone is only expected to cost between $280 and $298.
Currently, Ubik is undergoing a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for production. With 35 days left to go, the phone has already picked up over half of its required $200,000.
Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @LordLao74. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
