A 5G rugged smartphone with a difference but will that be enough to sway users?
A second display on a rugged smartphone is a bit like yeast-based spread Marmite (or Vegemite depending where you are), you will either like it a lot or not like it at all. Unihertz has been known for producing some of the most innovative smartphones we’ve seen in recent years, adding keyboards to Android smartphones or shrinking them for Lilliputian hands. Its latest product is the TickTock 5G and while we understand that the inclusion of a round rear display might wow an audience looking for such a feature, it didn’t knock us off our socks. For us, that screen is too limited to count as a compelling unique selling point. That said, for $279, it is a good deal for those looking for a rugged 5G smartphone. The Unihertz TickTock 5G is currently on Kickstarter with 29 days left. At the time of writing,440 backers had pledged nearly £100,000 with the Early Bird prices set at $279 (about 150 left) and an estimated delivery date of April 2022. That’s a 35% discount off the suggested retail price and do remember that the price doesn’t include delivery. Unihertz bucks the trend of rectangular-shaped rugged smartphones by going for one with six sides. That’s right, the TickTock 5G smartphone has pointy ends at the bottom and the top of the device. There’s an infrared sensor there while a flap hides a Type-C connector on the opposite apex. Other than trying to look different, we can’t really think of any good reason to opt for an hexagonal shape. We can think of at least one reason why it is a bad idea. You can sort of make a smartphone stand by leaning it against a vertical flat surface (wall, monitor etc). You can’t with the TickTock 5G as it will awkwardly tip to the left or to the right. At the back are two camera sensors, one of which seems to be a dummy one (that’s the one without the LED flash on above it) while the other one is a 48-megapixel model.
