Live from Berlin: Early this year TP Link introduced to the world Neffos, the newly minted mobile brand with the launch of the Y series and C series. For an incumbent in the overly populated mobile phone market, the new entrant faced many challenges as any new player would, but the company has an edge over others. Having built the networking business over two decades and faced insurmountable difficulties have given them valuable knowledge that allows them to face these challenges.
Today TP Link is global brand with over 2 billion in sales and is spread across 120 countries all due to the perseverance and determination of their chairman and his team. It is with this belief that the confidence in Neffos would make it a household name just like how TP Link did!. Continuing in that journey, during the electronics fair in Berlin, the company boldly unveiled the latest Neffos series smartphones the Neffos X1 and the 5.5-inch Neffos X1 Max.
CEO, Chairman Jeffrey Chao, ” The new Neffos X Series smartphones are the perfect combination of smart technology and stylish design. They bring unparalleled value to our customers by prioritizing features that help them stay closer to everything and everyone around them,”
The new models are strongly positioned at the mid-range segment, competing with the likes of OPPO, ViVo, Xiaomi, Samsung J series and a plethora of other brands crowding that space. So how will the X1 and X1 Max fair-out? It’s in the quality.
Feature Function and Design
The Neffos X1 and X1 Max went with the all metal unibody exterior which gives them a premium feel, matt-aluminium back with epoxy front places the devices among the comrades in the price bracket. Design is further accentuated with dual curved edges, the convex middle gives a firm grip making one hand operation simple.
At a glance the devices ticks all the boxes for trendy smartphone, outward design, slimness at 2.75 mm, while the X1 has edges of 2.95mm, Corning Glass albeit 2.5D, IPS display, colour contrast of 1000:1 renders the phones an incredibly viable option for those who matter both inside and outside.
The screen makes use of full in-cell technology with “touch and display driver integration” or TDDI, which is light and 0.2mm thinner than the usual lamination used on other smartphones. The result offers colours rendered with utmost accuracy and vibrancy.
The smartphones come with a rear camera backed by a 13-megapixel Sony sensor with backside illumination, 5P lens, and fast PDAF (phase-detection auto-focus) of 0.2 seconds. It also features an f/2.0 aperture lens for taking clearer shots in low light and providing a depth of field effect.
With Real-time Night shooting, low light picture taking is supposedly an experience in the devices, which promises to capture images as seen and no ghosting. The cameras comes with standard features such as HDR, Time Lapse, and Panorama.
The live-shooting mode crosses over to the 5-megapixel front camera, and the Real-time Beautify mode makes taking selfies more intuitive. The perfect selfie is just one tap away with the Neffos X1 and X1 Max.
Inside Matters
Users can use all five of their fingers for the on board fingerprint sensor which is placed at the back of the phone, while the models in at the event were still awaiting software update, were were told the sensor can also be used for selfies. Algorithms in the sensor also allows for quicker unlocking as it gets used to the finger prints.
For power, TP Link went with MediaTek as to Qualcomm, however Jeffrey did not disregard the possibility of having Snapdragons on future version or even on the premium edition slated to launch by end of the year. Currently, the X series, uses the octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 chipset with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage on the higher-end while the entry unit comes with 2GB.
Consumers can have a full day use of the device with the 3,000mAh battery inside the X1 Max and have it recharged quickly with the supported fast charging feature that charges up to 50 percent on a 30-minute charge.
Both the Neffos X1 and X1 Max run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow software, and will be upgraded to 7.0 when the OS is made available. Models released in 2017 however will have Android Nougat installed out-of the box.
Ceo,Jeffrey Chao has confirmed release of the phones in Southeast Asia including Malaysia as priority and Europe before other regions, prices are yet to be determined but for Europe market the Neffos X1 will be retailed at Euro199 meanwhile the X1 Max Euro249.
…next up, First Look at Neffos X1.
