How smart is your smart phone? Granted there are things we can do with them today that would likely have been unimaginable as recently as 10 years ago. Certainly 20 years ago, no one could picture what we take for granted today.
But at some point or another, we’ve all been mobile and wished we had something with a bit more oomph–like the ability of a laptop.
So the obvious workaround for most of us is we end up lugging around a trio of devices: the ever-present phone of course, along with a tablet and a laptop. It could even be said that this unholy triumvirate is pretty much the basic template for anyone working in…well, pretty much any field these days that doesn’t involve swinging a pickaxe or planting crops.
But a funny thing happened on the way to all of us breaking our spines lugging around a small suitcase filled to the brim with electronic devices. With the advent of laptop hybrids, manufacturers began to see the light on what consumers really want: simplicity. If consumers could carry around one device that could separate or be conjoined, as opposed to an iPad along with a laptop, they would eagerly buy in.
The plethora of brands jumping into the laptop hybrid market right now are a testament to how popular this notion really is.
But now the forward-thinking, clever folks at Hewlett-Packard have taken that logic to the next level: if combining two devices into one is a good idea, they thought, why stop there?
Why not three devices?
Introducing the HP Elite x3, a next-generation machine that combines not only your laptop and your tablet–but also your smart phone too. All hooked in to one sleek, sharp, smart and ready-to-use device that screams efficiency while still offering you the power you need for virtually any task you can imagine running on a typical laptop hybrid. Be sure to check this HP Discount Vouchers website in case you are interestes in buying this machine !
Running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with a 64-bit quad-core Kyro CPU, an Adreno 530 GPU and two coprocessors that offload some tasks from the CPU, the heart of the machine is responsive and agile. And sporting a snappy 4 GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage and a MicroSD slot certified to take up to 2TB storage expansion, the 5.9-inch “phablet” Windows device connects via the Windows Continuum feature to a dock with a full 12.5-inch display, allowing you to go big, utilizing a laptop form factor when you so choose.
And, with Continuum connected along with a mouse and a keyboard attached, you can switch to a desktop format and run all the Windows 10 “Universal” apps that are on the phone, only using a full-size screen and keyboard. HP Workspace software allows the user to remotely access virtualized Windows apps on what the company is calling the Mobile Extender client.
With a sleek and sharp design that is significantly slimmer than most business-class devices of its kind, the body of the Elite x3 has a graphite finish with a metal grille at the bottom housing its two B&O speakers, delivering robust, clear sound. Along with standard noise-canceling, omni-directional microphones, the Elite x3 brings professional level audio that can seamlessly serve as a conferencing tool with ease.
The Elite x3 also houses a 16MP rear facing camera ideal for high quality, low-light, flash-enabled pictures and videos, as well as an 8MP front facing camera, useful for video conferencing.
And that really is where the focus of the Elite x3 is: collaboration. Featuring a hefty Cat 6 LTE-Advanced modem along the aforementioned speaker and camera capabilities, the Elite x3 is aiming to sleek up your teleconferencing game. And although it has a heavy business slant, the designers make it so easy for you to fall in love with using the Elite x3 that they have thoughtfully provided a dual-sim card feature, where you can seamlessly switch between a company sim and your own private phone.
And being focused on business users, security is of course a high priority for the makers of this device. There are multiple layers at work here to keep your data safe from snoopers, including Qualcomm’s SoC-integrated Haven Security Suite. Adding another wall to the fortress are Windows 10 features like 128-bit encryption, and yet another is HP’s dual biometric security, requiring iris as well as fingerprint verification.
The Desk Dock enables you to use the machine as a regular Windows 10 machine while still having access to the phone as a mobile device. The docking unit has the same sleek styling of the phone/tablet unit, with a graphite and steel finish. The Desk Dock gives you access to USB-A and USB-C ports as well as a wired Ethernet port. There is also a convenient charger embedded in the dock which activates the Quick Charge 3.0 technology.
The so-called Mobile Extender–or laptop form factor–is perhaps the most eye-catching of this chameleonic device’s many faces. It puts the machine’s interface in a 12.5-inch, slim laptop format that has no innate processing or storage, but which rather connects to the Elite x3 handset’s impressive specs wirelessly or by using a USB-C connection. The laptop dock–or “ME dock,” as the busy bees at HP refer to it internally–weighs in at about a kilogram and also includes two USB-C ports and another hot pair of B&O speakers as well as an audio out jack should you find yourself needing even more boom under your beam.
The Elite x3 device–or, more accurately, ecosystem, because that is what HP has actually designed here–made quite a splash at the Mobile World Conference, and not without reason. Oft hard-to-please Gizmodo said “If you want something a bit different, this could be the phone to watch.”
More effusive praise came from Chip Chick:
“The HP Elite x3 is a powerhouse…with premium specs throughout. More importantly, it runs Windows 10, which means it has Microsoft’s Continuum feature.”
But perhaps ZDNet put it best:
“Is this the future of the desktop?”
For those of us who are constantly on the go and need a smarter device that is also fully capable of delivering top-notch teleconferencing on the fly when needed and would prefer not to drag multiple devices everywhere, let’s hope that the Elite x 3 is indeed the future.
