The HP Elite X3 is arguably the king of the Windows phones, so much so that it even treads on laptop and PC territory.
Windows phones were thought to be a dying variety, and many believe that the rumored Surface Phone is going to revive it. If that smartphone lineup will really materialize at some point, it looks like HP beat Microsoft to the punch with the Elite X3, and this phablet delivers virtually everything that a power user is looking for.
Hardware Specifications
Straight off the bat, the HP Elite X3 has a 6-inch quad HD AMOLED display with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, pushing out about 493 ppi. It's topped off with a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and anti-reflective coating to ensure a durable and clear screen.
Touted as a go-to device for everything, it naturally has impressive components under the hood. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 and 4 GB of RAM power the phablet, running on Windows 10 Mobile out of the box and offering 64 GB of internal storage that's expandable up to a whopping 2 TB worth of extra space via a microSD card.
To make sure it doesn't die out even during heavy tasks, it's loaded with a huge 4,150 mAh battery pack with support for wireless charging.
For the mobile photography enthusiasts, it has a 16 MP rear-facing camera and an 8 MP front snapper. It only weighs 0.43 pounds, making it a pretty light all-in-one device.
Even Microsoft's top-of-the-line Lumia 950 XL pales in comparison to the beast that HP brought to the table.
Packed Features
The HP Elite X3 is centered on the Windows Continuum, a feature that lets users connect their Windows phones to another display such as a monitor and use them as a type of portable desktop with a mouse-keyboard combo packaged as a handset. That explains why it needs maxed out specs as much as possible.
On paper, that's certainly an appealing offer. However, Windows 10 Mobile can't offer the same desktop apps that a standard Windows operating system can. That's a big deal breaker for anyone looking for full productivity in a smartphone, but HP is out to make it all work out with software that can run apps from the cloud. With that said, it's not exactly the most user-friendly tool, but it'll definitely help in getting more people in on Windows phones.
HP also reveals two accessories that'll more or less turn the Elite X3 into a full-fledged PC.
The first in line is the Desk Dock, and it sports two USB ports, one USB-C, a DisplayPort and an Ethernet port.
The second one is called Mobile Extender, and it can be considered as a super accessory of sorts that'll make a laptop out of the tablet. At first glance, it really looks like an ordinary laptop, but it's essentially just a combination of a display, a battery and a keyboard. What's great about this is how the Elite X3 can wirelessly connect to it, which means that users will get the Windows 10 Mobile experience on a laptop even with their Elite X3 in their pockets.
It's also fitted with a fingerprint sensor beneath the rear camera and an iris scanner on the front.
Pricing and availability aren't out yet, including details for the accessories, but HP is expected to roll out the Elite X3 sometime this summer. If the company pulls this off without a hitch, then the Windows phone potentially has the chance to take a prominent spot in the Android-iOS filled market.
