The IUNI U3 is a Quad HD Wonder from China With a Snapdragon 801 and Slim Bezels

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The IUNI U3 is a Quad HD Wonder from China With a Snapdragon 801 and Slim Bezels

Over the past few years, smartphone manufacturers in China have been producing impressive hardware and even more surprisingly for a fraction of the cost that a Samsung or HTC device might cost. Joining the already crowded game of producing high-resolution smartphones with small price tags is the relatively unknown IUNI, with their latest smartphone, the U3. IUNI is a newcomer on the scene, but the U3 is no slouch, with a Quad HD 5.5-inch display, Snapdragon 801 and more. The company might be new, with only a few smartphones on offer, but the U3 is sure to send waves through the Chinese smartphone market, with more specs than you can shake a stick at and a unibody design that rivals that of the HTC One.

Starting with the specifications, the U3 features a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 display from Sharp which gives it a 538 ppi density and it’s built with a 2.5D curve to it as well. Beneath that killer display is a Snapdragon 801 clocked at 2.3 Ghz with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Around the rear there’s a 13-megpixel camera and a 4-megapixel front-facing camera. All of this is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery and is running Android 4.4.4 KitKat with IUNI OS on top of it.

Talking about design, this is where things get interesting. Not only does that 5.5-inch display take up 77% of the front of the device, with just 5mm bezels either side, but the whole phone is built from a single piece of magnesium alloy. It’s designed with a slight curve around the rear of the device and while it’s a fairly minimal look and feel, the U3 certainly looks like a classy piece of hardware. That 5.5-inch display makes the device no larger than Sony’s Xperia Z1 and smaller than Oppo’s Find 7 which also features a 5.5-inch display. Seemingly out of nowhere, an unknown Chinese firm has managed to create an excellent device to hold a stunning display.

The best part about the U3 however is not its hardware however, but rather its price tag. For 2,000 Yuan (roughly $320) the U3 can be yours from September 10th onwards, but sadly the company has said that the device will be available as part of a queuing system to avoid stock congestion. We’ll obviously have to see the device in action to believe how good a piece of hardware this relative unknown is, but on paper this looks like one of the best devices to come out of China for a long time.