Vodafone goes up market with the Smart Platinum 7

Vodafone has been pushing its own brand handsets for some time (ten years in fact), but few have been as premium as the new Smart Platinum 7 announced today.

The Smart Platinum 7 is a big step up from the £100 Smart Ultra 6, and that’s no bad thing for anyone wanting the best of the best.

That means a 5.5-inch QHD (2K) display, fingerprint sensor, NFC for Android Pay support, the very latest octo-core Snapdragon 652 SoC (giving a performance comparable to the top models of 2015), 3GB of RAM, 16-megapixel camera, and a large battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support.

But, it’s also a step up in price too. The new phone goes on sale next week ((Monday 20th June 2016) for £300 on pay as you go, or £28 a month on contract with unlimited minutes and texts, 1GB of UK data, and 500MB of European roaming allowance.

As a special promotion to early adopters, Vodafone is also bundling a free virtual reality handset – the Vodafone Smart VR.

I’ll be able to go hands-on with the Smart Platinum 7 (and hopefully the Smart VR too) later this week, and will update you on my first impressions after.

But, from the specs alone (see the full details below) it looks like a very impressive bit of kit.

Smart Platinum 7 Specs

Original Press Release

A decade of Vodafone Devices marked by launch of premium Smart platinum

• 85 million sales of Vodafone Devices in 10 years.
• Smart platinum 7 is first premium 4G+ smartphone: super slim aluminium and glass frame; 2k AMOLED display; 16MP rear camera with zero second shutterlag; up to two days’ battery lifetime.

Vodafone has launched the Smart platinum 7, its new flagship smartphone to mark a decade of creating mobile devices. Customers can pick one up for £300 Pay as you go or £28 per month – which includes unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB of UK data and 500MB of inclusive roaming allowance.

Back in 2006, Vodafone began creating devices to reduce the cost to its customers of owning the latest mobile technology, and therefore to enable more of them to access well built, slim and sleek handsets and its fast and reliable mobile networks.

The first Vodafone Device was launched in October 2006. The Vodafone 710 was a low cost 3G clamshell feature phone.

The Vodafone Devices range now includes 3G and 4G smartphones, tablets, mobile data products and broadband routers. Over 85 million Vodafone devices have been sold to date.

Vodafone has built up a wealth of experience in creating devices over the last decade, working closely with component makers and manufacturers. Its aim has been to deliver great value experiences using the latest smartphone technology, while never compromising on build quality.

The Smart ultra 6, Vodafone’s highest specification smartphone of 2015, was praised by many expert reviewers. The smartphone won a series of awards, including: best value smartphone 2015 – Recombu; best budget smartphone of 2015 – Mobile Choice; best budget smartphone of 2015 – PC Advisor; best budget smartphone of 2015 – Btekt; and best buy award – Expert Reviews.

Vodafone has now leveraged its experience to create its most compelling smartphone, the Smart platinum 7.

The Smart platinum 7 is designed to meet customer requirements for a smartphone that contains the latest mobile technology, delivers top class performance and is tuned to the operator’s fast and reliable 4G+ networks.

Daniel Schubert, Head of Industrial Design for Vodafone, said:
“We’ve designed the Vodafone Smart platinum 7 to be beautifully elegant. It is super slim, below 7 millimetres thick, has sensually curved 2.5D gorilla glass on the front and back to give it extra depth and tone and its aircraft grade aluminium body and diamond cut detailing have a precision finish that evokes the feel of luxury jewellery.”

The Vodafone Smart platinum 7 also contains the latest smartphone technology. Its features include:

• fingerprint sensor placed on the back of the device (in a convenient holding position) for fast activation and added user security;
• 5.5” 2K AMOLED display and front facing landscape stereo speakers that deliver a cinematic experience ideal for watching high definition multimedia including virtual reality;
• octa-core processor supported by 3GB of RAM delivers significant computing power;
• 32 Gigabytes (GB) of internal memory (22 GB available to end user), which can be expanded by up to 128 GB with an SD card;
• Up to two days’ battery life from 3,000 milliampere hour (mAh) battery and Quick Charge 3.0, which will restore half the smartphone’s charge in just 30 minutes;
• 16 megapixel (MP) HDR rear camera with super zoom, Phase-Detection Auto Focus and zero second shutter lag. Both the rear and 8MP front camera have flash. There is also a dedicated key to take photos and launch the camera with a double press from sleep mode or the lockscreen to ensure users never miss a shot; and
• The smartphone is 4G+ capable with a responsive antenna tuned to the Vodafone network.

Vodafone will also be selling its first virtual reality (VR) headset as a separate accessory to the Smart platinum 7. The Vodafone Smart VR headset is comfortable and lightweight (260 grams) to deliver a fully immersive VR experience.

Patrick Chomet, Group Director of Terminals at Vodafone, said “A growing number of our customers take a closer look at Vodafone Devices when choosing a new smartphone because they deliver outstanding quality and value for money, particularly when combined with our Vodafone Red price plans. I am particularly excited about the Vodafone Smart platinum 7, which makes premium smartphone design and technology more attainable, so many more Vodafone customers will enjoy streaming everything from HD TV to virtual reality over our fast and reliable 4G+ networks.”