High-end Android smartphone manufacturer Nubia unveiled its flagship device, the Z9, in the United States. The Z9 features borderless styling and will be available in the third quarter in three models priced from $564 to $725.
The visually borderless 5.2-inch full-HD screen and the Frame Interactive Technology are combined with arc Refractive Conduction Technology (aRC), and the company claims the borderless design could also represent a step forward for users wishing to use their smartphones in a more interactive way.
By adopting the company's Frame interactive Technology (FiT), the Z9 allows users to control their phones by using grip and gesture-based controls, such as touching the edge of the screen. The company claims that with FiT technology, users can reduce the average smartphone process to 2.7 steps.
"Nubia has always been focusing on innovations like photographing, all-network services, borderless design, FiT and so on, and these innovations will help Nubia stand out," Ni Fei, general manager of Nubia, told eWEEK. "As for ideal customers, they have both high-end phones and cheap phones, so there is no specific ideal customer for us."
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Users can launch the camera feature by turning the phone sideways and placing four fingertips on the edge of the screen or taking a one-handed selfie by squeezing the handset without touching any buttons, Fei said.
Aside from the visually borderless screen, the device boasts easier Android smartphone controls for a better user experience with reduced steps to accomplish a task, an ergonomic design for easier holding, a 16 MP camera with image stabilization, and fingerprint sensor technology.
Rounding out the package is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset, a 2,900mAh rechargeable battery, and up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
The top-tier version of the Z9, called the Exclusive, offers the addition of fingerprint sensor technology, a technology found on other high-end handsets like Apple's iPhone 6.
"Z9's borderless design and FiT have started a new era for smartphone's design and interaction," Fei said. "Nubia will continue bringing more innovations and help the whole industry evolve."
Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users reached 336 million units in the first quarter, up 19.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a May report from IT research firm Gartner. In China, where Nubia is based, Apple became the top smartphone vendor for the first time, edging past Chinese mobile vendor Xiaomi, according to Gartner.
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