The device was unveiled at MWC 2019 this week

Feb 26, 2019 10:07 GMT  ·  By

While many smartwatch manufacturers are struggling to upgrade their devices with LTE support in order to make them work independently from smartphones, the engineers over at ZTE decided to sit down and think of something that’s a lot simpler: why not build a smartphone that’s also a smartwatch?

This is exactly how the Nubia Alpha came to be, as it’s essentially a smartphone that doubles as a smartwatch thanks to a flexible 4-inch display.

The whole idea is extremely simple: the display of the smartphone wraps around your wrist and thus gives birth to the smartwatch, letting you easily access menus and do whatever you do on a watch.

While it doesn’t feature the sleekest design I’ve seen given it’s also a smartphone, the Nubia Alpha, which by the way isn’t an alpha but a final product, sports the typical smartwatch features, including fitness tracking if you want to use it for working out.

Running AlphaOS

The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor paired with 1GB RAM, and it comes with 8GB built-in storage. It uses a 500 mAh battery that could easily raise concerns regarding the overall autonomy, especially because smartphones typically need much more than that to get you through the day.

For a smartwatch, however, 500 mAh is more than enough, though it remains to be seen how this works in real life given its dual purpose.

The touchscreen display features a modest resolution of 192x960 pixels and features Polyimide protection to resist the typical hits that a smartwatch experiences daily. A 5-megapixel camera is also offered for selfies.

Nubia Alpha doesn’t run Android or Wear OS, but instead is powered by AlphaOS, an in-house built operating system that was specifically developed for this device.

As for pricing, Nubia Alpha will go on sale in Europe for 549 Euros, which at the existing currency rates, it means it should cost over $600 in the United States.

Photo Gallery (6 Images)

Nubia Alpha smartwatch/smartphone
Nubia Alpha smartwatch/smartphoneNubia Alpha smartwatch/smartphone
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