The NuAns Neo, a smartphone running Windows 10 Mobile, has failed to meet its ambitious $725,000 Kickstarter campaign target. The project launched at the beginning of July, and was Japanese company NuAns attempt to launch the Neo phone internationally, following its local release at the end of 2015. Donations managed to top $142,000, after nearly 500 people pledged at least $270 for one of the phones. The unsuccessful campaign says more about the state of Windows 10 Mobile than about the device itself, which looks great.
Packing a 5-inch, 1,280 x 720 display that features an anti-fingerprint coating, the Neo is powered by a 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 and 2GB RAM, making the phone powerful enough to support Continuum, a Windows 10 Mobile feature that turns the phone into a pseudo PC when connected to a monitor. A 5-megapixel camera sits above the display, while a 13-megapixel shooter sits around back, with both cameras featuring wide-angle lenses.
The 3,350mAh battery should be considerable enough to let you use the Neo from morning to bedtime, though the 16GB of native storage might be too minuscule for some. Thankfully, the Neo features a MicroSD card slot that augments the storage by up to 128GB. Similar to the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, the Neo features a USB Type-C port that, thanks to the processor powering the phone, supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0. Finally, the Neo supports near-field communication, which should come in handy once Microsoft Wallet becomes available sometime this summer.
The real story of the Neo is not what its insides look like, but rather what it looks like on the outside. The Neo is sold as the “Core,” which is the phone itself without a back panel. To cover up the rear, you can either get the Flip, which is a wallet case that doubles as a kickstand for the Neo, or a pair of two-tone panels, which use materials like wood and synthetic leather.
Is this the end of NuAns international plans? Not according to the company. In a comment left on the Kickstarter page about the phone’s future, NuAns said it’s planning other ways of making sales outside Japan possible. “We have not given up on bringing Neo to the rest of the world, and we hope you won’t either. This is only the beginning,” the campaign’s creator says. It promises updates will come soon. In the meantime, Windows 10 Mobile fans will need to have patience.
Article originally published on 07-01-2016. Updated on 08-09-2016 by Andy Boxall: Added in news the NuAns Neo failed to meet its Kickstarter goal.
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