The Windows Phone market hasn’t seen any interesting Windows Phone devices for many years. Last year, Microsoft launched its new flagships – the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, but these devices didn’t have many impressive features compared to some of the other offerings in the market. We are indeed talking about the Elite x3 from HP, a powerful device that offers (almost) everything you could possibly need on a modern smartphone and more. The x3 has the usual matte black plastic on the back. You can also see the HP logo near the bottom of the device, which looks pretty gorgeous. From the front, the HP Elite x3 does look pretty good thanks to the front-facing speakers at the bottom. The speaker grille at the bottom gives the Elite x3 an interesting look that makes the device look even better. If HP had just gone with the usual speakers at the back, the device wouldn’t have looked that good. Smartphone displays today are pretty similar to each other, with most devices sporting the usual AMOLED displays, and what you see on the displays of most new smartphones isn’t all that surprising. Likewise, the HP Elite x3 comes with a massive 5.96-inch display. It sports a WQHD AMOLED display, which is something you’d typically find on a high-end smartphone. The Elite x3’s 5.96-inch display produces bright colors, and the display’s viewing angles are also very good. In short, Windows 10 Mobile looks gorgeous on the Elite x3 — that is, when you’re not in the sun.
Performance-wise, most high-end Windows Phone devices don’t disappoint. The same is true for the Elite x3. . Sure, the Elite x3 can struggle in certain situations, but that’s something you’ll see on most smartphones. It’s worth noting that the out-of-the-box performance of the device may not be very impressive, but once you download all the available updates, everything should feel much faster. The HP Elite x3 is already very fast, and if Microsoft focuses on improving the performance of Windows 10 Mobile, the device should be even faster. Video recording on the Elite x3’s rear camera is actually pretty good for the most part. The audio quality of the videos is good, and the video quality is good enough. However, the autofocus issue remains disappointing, and the camera can take 5-10 seconds to finally focus, which is really annoying. This is obviously something HP can fix with a firmware update, so hopefully it’ll be addressed in the near future.
On the other hand, the front camera of the Elite x3 isn’t very impressive, but it’s not bad. The 8MP sensor can take some decent selfies – that is, in good lighting conditions. The front camera of the Elite x3 can also record high-quality videos and excellent audio, which is very important for business customers. Battery life is also very important for smartphones these days. Most smartphones don’t have great battery life these days, and that’s because most companies are focused on making smartphones thinner (I’m looking at you, Apple). On the other hand, HP has equipped the Elite x3 with a massive 4150mAh battery, which is larger than what you usually see on most high-end devices. For example, the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone batteryhas a 3500mAh battery, theiPhone 6s Plus smartphone battery has a 2750mAh battery, and the Lumia 950 XL smartphone batteryhas a 3340mAh battery. Thanks to the Elite x3 smartphone battery, you can expect to get about 1.5 days of smartphone battery life with moderate use. Daily tasks like replying to emails, browsing the web, browsing Twitter, etc. should easily get you 1 and a half days of use out of the device. Of course, when you push the limits and use the device frequently, the device’s smartphone
battery may struggle to last 24 hours. In case you’re wondering, the phone’s Continuum also reduces significantly smartphone batterylife. As I mentioned earlier, the Continuum’s Desk Dock can charge the Elite x3 while you’re using it, which is very useful because Continuum consumes a lot of the HP Elite x3 smartphone battery. HP also includes the usual features like fast charging and wireless charging, both of which work well on the Elite x3, just like most other smartphones. Overall, I have no complaints about the HP Elite x3 smartphone battery life: it can easily last a day, fast charging is nice, and using the Desk Dock to charge the device while using Continuum is also very neat. The good thing about the Elite x3 earphones is that they are not the ordinary earphones that you’ll find on most smartphones.
The earphones on the Elite x3 do sound great, and the design is stylish as well. The earphones on the device come with a fabric braided headphone cable to prevent tangling. The earphones obviously don’t include any “premium” features like noise cancellation, but they’re still very good and much better than the crappy earphones you get with most smartphones. For businesses, the Elite x3 is a great buy for Continuum, HP Elite x3 smartphone battery life, security, and a large display
For consumers, the story is less rosy. HP Elite x3 performs poorly in some important areas, such as camera quality, outdoor screen quality, speaker quality, app availability, and importantly, value for money, especially when the comparable Lumia 950 XL offers such a great price. Consumers generally don’t need Continuum, don’t have access to HP Workspace at all, and will be put off by the high prices of HP accessories and should probably steer clear.