SMARTPHONES

HUAWEI HONOR MAGIC Pricing and availability TBA

This new Android smartphone might only be available in China (at least for now), but it’s been the talk of the town at Las Vegas this year. It boasts a curved AMOLED display, an octacore processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. But that’s not what makes this a standout. The front camera uses facial recognition technology to unlock the screen and locks it when you look away, displaying lockscreen notifications only for pre-registered faces. Now, that’s magic.

CHANGHONG H2 Pricing and availability TBA

For fans of Star Trek, the tricorder is just a phone away. The Changhong H2 is a smartphone with a built-in nearinfrared spectrometer — technology that shines a light on an object and analyses the unique optical signature of the object. With this tech in the palm of your hand, you can measure body fat, scan nutritional content of food and drink, even detect the authenticity of products. This technology even has the power to detect cancers.

BLACKBERRY MERCURY Pricing and availability TBA

There’s a new BlackBerry coming in 2017. This as-yet-unnamed phone, dubbed ‘BlackBerry Mercury’, will be unveiled at the next Mobile World Congress. But what we do know is that it will run Android Nougat and the familiar QWERTY keyboard will still be there, with the ability to scroll through pages by gliding your fingers over the keys. What’s new is the fingerprint sensor neatly tucked into the keyboard’s space bar.

ASUS ZENFONE AR Pricing TBC | Available from June in US; AU TBC

The amazing specsheet for the ZenFone AR includes a 5.7-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Super AMOLED display, 8GB of RAM, a 23MP motion-anddepth tracking camera system and powerful Snapdragon 821 guts. It’s the first phone to run both Google Tango and Google Daydream experiences, making it one of the most futureproof smartphones to hit the market. The ZenFone AR also boasts a Super Resolution in its camera setup that ASUS claims can capture four photos, then stitch them into a single 92MP image.

Running both Google Tango and Daydream, the ASUS ZenFone AR has powerful internals and smart camera functionality.

“Captain, I have detected tasty strawberries.” The Changhong H2 is a smartphone with built-in tech to analyse objects. Rising from the grave, BlackBerry’s latest phone (codenamed ‘Mercury’).

Currently only available in China, the Huawei Honor Magic smartphone boasts some impressive features.