In a world where most well-established smartphone manufacturers are struggling to differentiate themselves based on hardware innovations, there are quite a few small players who have introduced completely unique phones to the market.
Of course, there is a fine line between the weird and the innovative, and we leave it up to you to decide which side of the border these phones are on.
Here we list 10 exciting super weird phones that you shouldn’t miss.
1. Runcible
Runcible is born out of a strong hatred of smartphones, which is why its manufacturer, Monohm, calls it the ‘Anti-Smartphone’. It is unusual in shape and easy to configure (you can replace the shell, as well as its internal equipment).
The Runcible, which looks like a retro compass, has a 2.5-inch round display, Bluetooth, WiFi, audio input/output endpoints, USB host, SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), and UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter), but it has no speakers.
You can connect it to Bluetooth speakers when you need to make calls or attend to them, but this phone will never buzz, ring or interrupt you in any other way.
Read also: 5 Smartphone Technologies the World could do without
2. Mi Mix
Xiaomi Mi Mix with an edge-to-edge screen looks, to put it mildly, amazing. This is not the first phone without a frame, as there have been many Sharp concept phones without a frame for some time, but Mi Mix deserves some credit for popularizing the concept. A lot of people have started talking about this, and it convincingly proves that someone somewhere is working to bring the technology to the mass market very soon.
Mi Mix with a screen-to-body ratio of 91.3% (Xiaomi claims) has a very narrow side panel, uses a piezoelectric crystal as a speaker (there is no room for a regular one), replaces the proximity sensor with ultrasound and moves the selfie camera from below.
Numerous reports of screen hacking that have appeared since its launch indicate that the phone is not so durable. But this fits into the expected framework, since Xiaomi positions it as a conceptual smartphone.
3. Lumington T3
Lumington T3 is the first smartphone equipped with a night vision camera. It is also equipped with a 7.9mm thick 316 marine stainless steel waterproof case, and the scales show 145 grams. The Lumington 3T is available in 3 color options ($740) and a 24-carat gold version ($1200) in the US and Europe.
The 4-megapixel night vision camera uses a dual infrared flash to illuminate and capture completely dark scenes. The Helio X10-based phone is also equipped with a conventional 13-megapixel rear-view camera, a 5-megapixel selfie shooter, 3 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, NFC, Wi-Fi ac, an audio jack and a ‘high capacity’ battery.
4. Haier P7
Who doesn’t need a phone made in the form of a pen crossed with a laser pointer? This gem had a six-day battery life and a 0.3-megapixel camera.
The Haier P7 was an extravagant-looking monoblock-style phone that was released in 2004. It had a tiny and thin screen that could only display 64 x 128 pixels, a 0.3-megapixel camera, and a fancy design. However, he was able to work for six whole days on a single charge, so that’s it.
5. BlackBerry Priv
A diamond-studded option is also available, and it looks a little better.
BlackBerry Priv, released earlier this year in India (and at the end of last year around the world), is a unique smartphone slider, executed correctly. The phone is well balanced even with a half-shifted display, does not seem excessively heavy and tactfully combines the advantages of BlackBerry with Android software.
It has an AMOLED display of the right size (5.4 inches), runs on a Snapdragon 808 with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, and also has an SD card slot. The phone still doesn’t justify its price in the sea of powerful Android flagships, but the fact that Blackberry was able to release a decent, coveted slider phone in 2016 means something.
6. Moto Z
The Moto Z wasn’t the only modular phone released this year, but it was truly the best implementation.
You can easily change modular accessories (JBL speaker module, housings, camera module, projector module, etc.). And since this is an ultra-thin phone, you won’t mind installing possibly bulky Moto mods on it.
In light of the termination of the release of Google Ara and the fact that LG G5 did not meet expectations, the Motorola Z series will remain the only choice for those who will be tempted by the modular concept of a smartphone for their phone in the foreseeable future.
7. CAT S60
The Cat S60 is one of the most durable phones in the world. It can withstand a fall from a height of 6 feet to a concrete floor, can dive to a depth of 5 m (which makes it the most waterproof phone), and is also equipped with a thermal imaging camera!
The Flir thermal imaging camera is mounted on the rear panel and can be used to display the temperature of objects in the viewfinder. You can also download the Flir tool app from the Playstore to get detailed data about these thermal imaging images.
However, all this strength makes it massive. Other notable features include the Snapdragon 617 SoC, 4.7-inch HD display, 32 GB of memory, 3 GB of RAM, Android Marshmallow and a 3800 mAh battery. If you work in harsh environments, the phone is definitely worth considering. In the US, it costs about $625 (approximately INR 42,000).
8. Lenovo Phab 2 Pro
Lenovo and Google have joined forces to create an AR-oriented phone that can read your environment and even interact with it. The first Lenovo Phab 2 Pro AR phone is huge and bulky, it has three rear-view cameras (a standard 16-megapixel camera, an IR sensor and one with a Fisheye lens) that help it display the background.
Several Tango apps demonstrating the potential of augmented reality are already available on the Playstore. These include games similar to Pokemon go, shopping apps that allow you to see how a particular product will look in your living room, and other tools that allow you to take physical measurements from your phone! It’s still a first-generation product, and not everything works as it should. But yes, things should get better over time.
9. Samsung P300
It looked more like a calculator than a phone, but it was 2006.The Samsung P300 was a nervous phone that resembled a calculator. It was a strange design choice from a company that had previously created some pretty nice phones, but certainly stood out from the crowd.
10. Bang and Olufsen
The joint development of Bang & Olufsen and Samsung cost $ 2,000. Expensive even by today’s standards.In 2007, Bang & Olufsen and Samsung joined forces to create Serenata. A phone with a lot of emphasis on being a music player with a pull-out speaker. It looked pretty crazy, and besides, it cost an impressive $2,000.Bang and Olufsen are serene
