Comms Business has two great devices for you this month, one of which was exclusively revealed in the UK at the Convergence Summit South back in October. Gigaset are taking on the big boys with their new range whilst Microsoft are trying their luck with a new large screen device. See how they got on below.
Gigaset Me
First announced in Berlin at IFA 2015 Gigaset has unveiled three new smartphones called the Gigaset Me, Me Pro and Me Pure. Best known for the desk phone solutions Gigaset has a brilliant foothold in the business market and have constructed a premium looking device with excellent build quality. The Me Pure is the cheapest of the three with an affordable mid-range price of £249. Then comes the Gigaset Me which will cost £349 while the Me Pro is the highest end device available and will set you back £399.
The standard screen size is five inches but with the Pro model you get a little bit extra bringing it to 5.5”, all models have full HD resolution. The Pro also comes with a bigger battery although how much extra “juice” it gives you is unclear.
Other things which remain the same no matter which Me you pick include a Micro-SD cards lot for up to 128GB, an 8Mp front facing camera, dual-SIM slots (one doubles up as the SD slot) and a fingerprint scanner. There’s also 4G LTE Cat 6 support.
There is a fingerprint scanner on the back of the device for added security which can be used to do usual functions like unlocking the phone, taking pictures, answering calls or even unlocking particular folders if you need to keep something private.
Under the hood of the Pro version you get a Snapdragon 810, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, dual-tone LED flash, a heart rate monitor, UV sensor and IR blaster. It’s camera is 20Mp in resolution and the battery is a whopping 4000mAh. All devices are rocking the Android 5.1 Lollipop OS and Gigaset has taken the time to overlay its own user interface over the top.
Verdict – This is a great device from Gigaset and should make considerable waves in the business space. It combines premium features and design at an affordable price. I hope this device does well as it deserves to, however I do fear for any new mobile player in the current market... they have a serious uphill battle on their hands!
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL
icrosoft has touted their new Lumia model as the ultimate phone for getting things done and is now packing the newest OS release Microsoft 10. Coming in at £422 it sits at the cheaper end of the ‘phablet’ market considering it is being marketed as a premium device.
The large 5.7 screen is of a decent quality at 518 ppi and is far above that of the iPhone 6S Plus screen which is only 401 ppi, however unless you are some sort of half man half microscope you are unlikely to notice the difference.
The camera is a PureView 20-megapixel (MP) in the rear with the triple LED flash, optical image stabilisation and 4K video recording capability with Zeiss optics. Up front a 5MP, wide-angle selfie snapper with 1080p video recording.
The phone has 32GB of onboard storage which will be expandable by as much as 2TB via microSD card. It’s not clear if this device is going to ship with 2GB or 3GB but either way its speed is blistering and with the latest Snapdragon processor will last users at least two generations of upgrades.
The battery inside is a 3,340mAh beast that Microsoft claims can last for 75 hours of 3G talk, 25 hours of Wi-Fi browsing and 11 hours of 1080p video playback, but still not as big as the battery found in the Gigaset model reviewed on this page.
Verdict – Good phone at a great price, Lumia’s have always had a bit of a reputation as not being a premium phone and unfortunately the plastic feel of this one is no different. If you are only concerned with function and the insides then you won’t be disappointed. To be released in the states this month expect a UK release in early 2016.