Energizer smartphones set for 2018 in SA – but will you care?

Energizer revealed a range of smartphones at MWC 2017 this year, following on from the firm’s previous forays into the arena. It makes some sense after all, given it being a battery company and all. Sure, you’re not plopping AAs into the phones, but there is a marketing angle right there.

Now, a visit to the company’s stand at Africacom 2017 has yielded more information. And a concern about pricing.

Mohsin Abdul Khaleq, director of business development for Energizer distributor Hypertalk, tells Gearburn that the phones should be available next year.

“Basically, we’re launching the Energizer brand in South Africa. It should be available in retail in January 2018,” Khaleq says.

The hero model of sorts is the E520 LTE, packing a 13MP main camera, fingerprint scanner, IP68 water/dust resistance and shock resistance. The handset also offers a 4000mAh battery, 5.2-inch 720p display and quad-core Mediatek CPU (MT6735) with 2GB of RAM.

Energizer smartphones are set to launch in January, but what are you getting for the price?

What about the price, then? Well, that would be a not amazing R4999.

Granted, you’re getting a water/dust/shock resistant smartphone, but it’s difficult to be excited about the product when the Hisense C30 Rock offers the same rugged proposition for a hair under R4000. In fact, with the exception of the battery (3000mAh), the Hisense phone is better in every way, featuring a sharper screen, more RAM, double the storage (to 32GB) and an octacore chip (Snapdragon 430).

Still, if you must have a rugged smartphone and a longer lasting battery, you don’t have scores of options. But your other option is to visit Rugged SA, being a local distributor for BlackView and other rugged phone brands. Over here, you can find the R4799 BlackView BV6000, packing a Helio P10 chip, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, 4200mAh battery and IP68 credentials.

Fancy a cheaper smartphone that’ll go the distance? Energizer is also bringing the S600 to the country, offering a 6-inch 720p display, 13MP/5MP cameras, a chugging MT6737A processor and 2GB of RAM/16GB of storage. Of course, the phone also packs a 4000mAh battery.

The S600 has a more reasonable R3700 price tag, but it’s not water/dust/shock resistant. Again, you might as well get a Xiaomi in that case (or the Hisense device, if you must have an IP67/68 device).

Featured image: Hypertalk South Africa