Turing Space Industries’ HubblePhone
Turing Robotics wants another shot at the smartphone market. Despite several failed phone launches in its lineup — and after declaring bankruptcy earlier this year — the company gave Digital Trends plans for its next smartphone. It’s called the Turing HubblePhone: it has three screens, costs a ridiculous amount of money, and won’t arrive until 2020.
The HubblePhone has what Turing calls a “multidimensional” display, which is basically a primary display with a secondary display. It can be folded like a flip phone or turned to any angle. It’s hard to explain as we have yet to see a physical prototype of this phone and all we have to visualize this device are the concept photos below. Along with the screen, the phone looks like it has several cameras. There’s one large main sensor on the top of the device, along with an iPhone X-style cutout in the pop-up display that we assume will be used as both a traditional camera and facial recognition. Turing said the camera system will allow people to do things like make calls by saying a contact’s name.
This dual-screen approach is intended to enable fluid multitasking. In an email to Digital Trends, Turing CEO Steve Chao said he thinks people will multitask more than ever in 2020.
“Let’s say I’m in the middle of editing my mobile email and a call comes in,” Chao said. “I can easily turn the phone to the back of the screen without having to move the caller window. In laptop mode, I can continue to talk on the phone, perhaps through a Bluetooth headset, while continuing to edit my email on the upper deck’s B screen and have my game continuously on the main deck’s main screen.”
It still sounds a bit confusing, and we’ll have to wait and see how this all works out if Turing ever manages to produce a prototype.
Glasses
Courtesy of the HubblePhone website, the device will include a single 4K display covering the entire “head section”, along with two Full HD screens – one on each side of the “top section”. There are two batteries to power all these displays — one main 3300 mAh and one 2800 mAh.
The phone should also have a number of cameras. The main camera has a whopping 60 megapixels with a variable aperture of f/2.8 – f/5.6 and up to 15x optical zoom, and there will be three 12 megapixel sensors located on different parts of the phone.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
Turing said the HubblePhone will be powered by two Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processors — one in each deck. Qualcomm hasn’t announced the Snapdragon 855 yet, but Turing said it was able to come up with the Snapdragon 855 reference design thanks to close cooperation with Foxconn.
Turing has a history of disappointing customers by not keeping their promises.”
There are many other vague phrases that Turing advertises for this phone. For example, Turing said the HubblePhone creates a “new dimension in gaming” thanks to the fact that it will integrate AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), MR (mixed reality) and other technologies into a “cohesive experience.” The phone will also support 5G, although we already have smartphone manufacturers claiming to have 5G-ready phones coming in 2019.
Software
Will the Turing HubblePhone run Android or Sailfish OS? Apparently both. In an email to Digital Trends, Turing CEO Steve Chao said that “HubblePhone runs Android P and uses Sailfish 3 on the main deck.” He said the phone will run “Keplerian OS,” an open-source operating system built on FreeBSD, as its base OS. From the sounds of things, Turing is trying to create a system that runs Android and has access to all of its apps, while still including Sailfish OS. Will it work? We’ll have to wait and see, but hopefully by 2020 they’ll be running a newer version of Android.
Price and availability
How much will all this vague and futuristic-sounding technology cost? A whopping $2,750. You’ll also have to wait until June 2020 to get the phone in the US, with Turing already planning to ship the phone to Europe in August, China in September 2020, and the rest of the world in December.
A grain of salt
Turing has a history of disappointing customers by not keeping its promises. The original Turing Phone announced back in 2015 faced significant delays, and before shipping the device Turing replaced the operating system from Android 5.1 Lollipop to Sailfish OS and then delivered an unfinished version of the phone to customers. The $1,000 Turing Appassionato came next, but it had barely begun shipping before the company declared bankruptcy in Finland and ceased production. This time, however, Turing says things will be different.
“This time we’re leaving the job to the experts, the same ones who make the iPhone,” Chao continued. “Foxconn has an extensive test facility that is fully capable of helping Turing Space Industries obtain FCC, Chinese CTA and other carrier certifications. This means that users will be quite happy with the HubblePhone when they receive it.”
So what about financing? According to Chao, Turing is fully funded by him and Turing’s other co-founder, Kevin Wayne. The pair reportedly sold 2 million children’s phones in China in 2010 and 2011, then sold the company for $20 million. That’s a lot of money, but not a lot to develop the HubblePhone. That’s partly why Turing is teasing the phone so far in advance. As Steve Chao said in his email, “The Hubblephone is Turing’s latest effort in the smartphone realm, and we take it quite seriously.”
Only time will tell if Turing takes it seriously enough. In the meantime, we wouldn’t wait too long for the HubblePhone.
Update: We’ve gotten more details on the HubblePhone, including full specs, software info, and some info from CEO Steve Chao.
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn