HP Elite X3: a feature-rich phablet running Windows 10

It’s not often that you hear the words “exciting smartphone” in the same sentence as “HP”, so take heed. The new HP Elite X3 is the company’s most exciting smartphone probably ever.

In its bid to revive its ailing revenue streams and shrinking household name, HP is looking to restablish itself in the smartphone scene, and where better to punt its wares than in the market it knows — the enterprise.

“Commercial mobility is prime for disruption, and has never seen innovation at this scale,” HP’s CEO Dion Wiesler explains in a press release.

“The HP Elite x3 is a revolutionary mobile platform that enables mobility and computing to come together in a truly meaningful way.”

The Elite X3 then is an unashamedly enterprise-first. It’s running Windows 10, and therefore takes advantage of Continuum — Microsoft’s snazzy Windows 10 feature which allows smartphones to act as desktop machines. HP also includes a dock with the phone, which allows it to drive a monitor and connect to a keyboard and mouse.

More interesting though is its specs — it’s massively powerful. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 at its heart, 4GB of RAM for good measure and a wad of 64GB of storage to boot. There’s a microSD card expansion slot too, and all this is hidden beneath a beastly 5.93-inch quad HD screen.

Imaging isn’t neglected either, with a 16MP rear snapper and an 8MP camera taking boardroom selfie and video calling duties to heart. There’s also a 4150mAh battery, enough juice to likely last a day or more.

Even though its aimed at the enterprise drone, HP will sell the device on its website for a yet-undisclosed price. Availability is also unknown, but it will likely rear its head mid-2016.