There’s something about the humble walkie-talkie that activates certain neurons. The folks at Blackview seem to know this, which is why they’ve come up with the Xplore 1. That’s a smartphone that features a decent set of regular features, plus one extra — a functional walkie-talkie.
It’s not just an afterthought, either. The Xplore 1 uses a two-in-one dual-band antenna and supports AES encryption. Pair that with a range of twenty kilometres, and you’ve got a smartphone that’ll work just about anywhere (provided there’s another ‘talkie within hailing range). In town, though, expect a range closer to 4.5km. It’s all those buildings in the way, you see.
Blackview of the future
The rest of the phone isn’t bad, either. The Xplore 1 uses a rugged frame with IP69, IP69K, and MIL-STD810H ratings, a massive 20,000mAh battery, and 55W wired charging (dock optional). The 6.78in display has a resolution of 1,080 x 2,460 and refreshes at 120Hz. Gorilla Glass 5, continuing the toughness theme, covers the front display. There’s even a rear secondary display (2.01in, 240 x 296), in case you need another reason to be impressed.
Inside, there’s one of MediaTek’s Dimensity 7050 chipset, conferring 5G capabilities on the handset when you’re in range of a cell tower. Two storage/RAM combos exist — either 12GB/256GB or 16GB/512GB — and the phone will accept up to 2TB of microSD (they call it TF card) storage.
The camera tech might be a little above average for a phone like this. Samsung’s 50MP ISOCELL JN1 sensor lives in the front of the Xplore 1. Around the back, Blackview has opted for a 64MP main sensor and a 20MP night vision camera. That seems awfully trendy right now.
If none of that does anything for you, the Blackview Xplore 1 is also available as a standard handset, as well as one with a FLIR Lepton 3.5 thermal imaging camera. It’s your call — thermal vision, or push-to-talk childhood fantasy fulfillment. Either way, you’ve got to pay for it first.
The Blackview Xplore 1 is available online for roughly R9,000 ($560) for the lower-spec model, but be aware that you’ll need to get it to South Africa. That’ll bump the price up. And since you’re going to have buy two of them, ensure your credit card can take the hit.
