A combo of looks and performance

FINALLY, THERE’S A SENSE OF AESTHETIC SANITY IN SMARTPHONES

In order to differentiate themselves, a lot of smartphone brands follow the herd and create devices in unnecessarily bright reds that far from being ‘ wow’, end up jarring. The colour and feel of a smartphone should mirror its performance in some way.

One brand has decided to rebel and has just launched devices in four colours — robin egg blue, lavender purple, midnight black and sapphire blue. Each comes with premium 12- layer glass coating, that gives a glossy, shiny feel to the back cover. With a 19: 9 aspect ratio and a screen of 14.84 centimetres, the device in focus is the Honor 9N that also packs in a lot of imaging and performance enhancements.

With a 13 MP plus 2 MP primary dual lens camera, equipped with Phase Detection Auto Focus and in- built Bokeh capabilities, the 9N also offers an additional Augmented Reality lens that adds quirky elements to your images in real- time. A new ‘ Capture First, Focus Later’ feature lets you perform post- production of your images. The 16 MP front camera comes with 3D light blending algorithms that highlight the contours of the subject’s face, providing the right balance of depth and brightness to your selfies.

Powered by the Kirin 659 processor, with an added co- processor for smaller tasks such as GPS navigation and steps calculation, the device optimises the performance of its primary chipset, enhancing power management and increasing the efficiency of the 3,000 mAh battery.

The price tag of ` 11,999 ( 3 GB plus 32 GB), ` 13,999 ( 4 GB plus 64 GB) and ` 17,999 ( 4 GB plus 128 GB) seem very reasonable. The devices are available from July 31, with Flipkart and the Honor online store.

The Honor 9N comes in four unique colour variants — robin egg blue, lavender purple, midnight black and sapphire blue