Windows 10 Mobile‘s latest champion has arrived in Malaysia, meet the HP Elite x3. On paper alone, this smartphone blows the Lumia 950 XL out of the water, but that’s not the primary purpose of HP’s latest handset.
The Elite x3 is designed to be the one-device-fits-all for professionals who are on the go. HP is calling it a 3-in-1 device where you have the portability of a smartphone, the versatility of a laptop and the productivity of a full desktop computer via Continuum in Windows 10.
To do this, the Elite x3 needs to be packing a whole lot of power under the hood — and it does. At its core sits a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (expandable via a microSD card slot). It’s also got a nice 5.96-inch Quad HD display that’s tucked under Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4.
Besides that, the Elite x3 comes with a set of front-facing stereo speakers with Audio by B&O Play. But that’s not all because the Elite x3 is also one rugged device with MIL-STD 810G rating plus water and dust resistance at a rating of IP67 (same as the iPhone 7).
Since it’s a workhorse, the Elite x3 also features an impressive 4,150 mAh battery that supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 and wireless charging. In the camera department, it gets a 16-megapixel primary camera and an 8MP selfie shooter.
Being targetted at business users, the Elite x3 also comes with a suite of security features including a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner for Windows Hello.
Remember how this smartphone is also a laptop and desktop? Well, that’s done via the Lap Dock and Desk Dock. The Desk Dock works a lot like Microsoft’s own dock and comes with a DisplayPort, two USB Type A ports, one USB Type-C port and an Ethernet port.
The Lap Dock, on the other hand, is sort of like a 12.5-inch Full HD laptop that uses the smartphone for processing power and storage. Nothing is stored on the Lap Dock for maximum security and it weighs less than 1kg for maximum portability.
Prices for the HP Elite x3 starts at RM3,399 for the smartphone itself, RM3,499 for the smartphone and a set of headphones. If you want a bundle with the Lap Dock (priced at RM2,649 by itself), it will set you back RM5,299 while a bundle with both the Desk Dock and Lap Dock is priced at RM5,799.
Right now, though, you can pre-order the Elite x3 with a Desk Dock for RM3,599. However, there is no information on when this smartphone will actually go on sale.
