Vodafone has launched its Smart Ultra 6 smartphone, its latest own-brand device that joins the Smart prime 6 as one of its top flagship handsets for 2015. The phone, which costs £125 on PAYG or £17-per-month on contract, aims to bring 4G to the masses, and its specifications certainly seems to be punching well above its price range.
With a 1,920x1,080 Full HD IPS display, an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor and 13-megapixel rear camera on board, it shares an almost identical specification to the £200 EE Harrier. The key difference is that the Smart ultra 6 has a larger 5.5in display, so its pixel density will be a fraction lower than EE's PAYG handset.
That said, a pixel density of 401ppi is hardly to be sniffed at, and it's unlikely you'll be able to notice any difference in sharpness compared to the Harrier's pixel density of 441ppi. Measuring 154x77x8.4mm and weighing 159g, the Smart ultra 6 is a fraction thinner than the Harrier as well, which measures 8.9mm thick.
The Smart ultra 6 also has a 3,000mAh battery, which Vodafone says should be able to last for up to two days on a single charge. It doesn't say what kind of usage will produce that figure, but we'd imagine it's a mixture of light and heavy use with a good deal of standby time. It also comes with 16GB of onboard storage but supports microSD cards up to 128GB. As you'd expect it, it runs Android 5.0.2, but it also comes with a new 'Flipboard' feature which Vodafone says will let you access all your favourite apps with a single swipe.
The Smart ultra 6 is on sale now (although the silver variant will be launching in July) and is available on Pay as you go for £125. PAYG customers will be top up the phone with Vodafone's Big Value Bundles, the cheapest of which starts at £20 and gets you 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB of 4G data. You can also get free access to either Spotify Premium, Sky Sports Mobile TV or a Now TV Entertainment Pass by opting for the £30 or £40 Big Value Bundle.
We'll be publishing our full review shortly, so stay tuned to see how it compares to EE's £200 Harrier.
