Huawei Pura X View: A Wide-Screen Smartphone Without a Folding Hinge
· By immi
Huawei’s Pura X View is a flat, hinge-free handset with a wide 16:9.5 display, and it went on sale in China on 9 September. It is aimed at people who like the wide shape of foldables such as Apple’s iPhone Duo but don’t want an actual folding phone.
A note first: the Pura X View is sold only in China. It runs HarmonyOS 7 without Google services and, for the most part, can’t run Android apps, so using it day to day outside China would be a stretch for anyone except dedicated enthusiasts. Its standout feature is the 16:9.5 aspect ratio, which makes the screen much wider than a typical smartphone’s. The idea is to make video, comics and web pages easier to view. In the hand, the extra width is obvious straight away. The display is 6.39 inches with a resolution of 2,232 by 1,320 pixels. The body measures 87.0 mm by 144.1 mm (3.4 by 5.7 inches), and the phone weighs around 201g (7.1oz). With no hinge, it is a thin slab.
The wider screen makes video appear larger and gives comics, manga and e-books a bigger page. Browsing websites may also show more content on each screen. Huawei markets the phone for video, photos and comics. With 16:9 video and photos taken on the phone, there are fewer black bars around the picture, which makes viewing more immersive.
Also read: Vivo Y32 5G Debuts With a Whopping 8,000mAh Battery and Military-Grade Toughness
The cameras are not an afterthought. The back carries a 200-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 50-megapixel telephoto. A 7,000 mAh battery fits inside the slim body.
A wide display doesn’t guarantee that every app will use it well. Some apps showed margins at the sides or didn’t lay out as expected, and some websites aren’t built for wide screens. How well the phone works day to day depends on the apps you use most, so it’s worth checking those first.
Also read: iPhone Duo vs. Buffalo: An Honest, Funny Comparison of Two Very Different Investments
In China, the model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs 5,999 yuan, or about $895. Huawei hasn’t announced a release elsewhere, and no US or UK sales channel has been confirmed. Several brands have brought wide-screen phones to market this year, but all of them fold, and all are expensive. Apple’s iPhone Duo starts at $1,999, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $1,899, and Xiaomi’s 18 Fold costs 10,999 yuan, or about $1,640, in China.
