China's Huawei has launched a new 7-inch HD alternative to the still mightyNexus 7 or Amazon's similarly-sized Kindle Fire HDX at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but one with the added bonus of full mobile telephony capabilities. The flagship MediaPad X1 phablet packs high resolution cameras front and back, offers a choice of operating environments and promises a long battery life.
The 3G/LTE-capable X1 features a 7-inch, 1200 x 1920 resolution (323 ppi) LTPS display with 178 degree viewing angles and is capable of supporting up to 10 simultaneous touch points. It can play 1080p high definition movies at 30 fps, and boasts a Glove Mode, where users will be able to use the touchscreen while wearing thick gloves.
Processing oomph comes in the form of 1.6/1.8 GHz HiSilicon Kirin 910 quad-core processor with Mali450-MP4 GPU, backed up by 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16 GB of solid state storage with microSD expansion. Users can choose to run stock Android 4.2 or the company's Emotion UI 2.0, and the 5000 mAh Li-Pol battery should be good for five online movies, 15 hours of surfing or 125 hours of audio playback between charges. If another mobile device needs a refill, the Reverse Charging function allows users to share some of the MediaPad X1's own juice.
The device comes with a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera with a Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor and an F2.2 wide-angle lens, and a whopping 5 MP webcam with 22 mm aperture at the front. Photos can be taken using voice commands, and audio notes added to captured images. The 183.5 x 103.9 x 7.18 mm (7.2 x 4.1 x 0.3 in), 239 g (8.4 oz) phablet also benefits from DTS sound technology and a built-in noise-reduction microphone. 802.a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technologies also feature.
The MediaPad X1 was priced at €399 (US$545) at the Huawei press conference in Barcelona, and will be released to Chinese, Russian, Western European, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Latin American markets from next month.
Source: Gizmag, Huawei
