The smartphone world is pretty much homogenous in terms of both hardware and software. The world voted for Android and iOS inside a flat slab. That is it. Which means most manufacturers must produce smartphones like that if they want to make money. If you want a particular type of smartphone different from what the rest of humanity has agreed to, you have to make it by yourself. And that is what XDA has done.
The F(x)tec Pro1-X is the first XDA Phone. I say the first, because it is hoped that this will not be their last attempt. It has the slab everyone loves, but also has a hardware slide-out QWERTY keyboard that a number of core XDA community members want.
Buit it isn’t just about the hardware. In terms of software, the XDA Phone runs LineageOS 17 out of the box. That is a first. In addition, if you don’t want to use Android, yours can boot with Ubuntu Touch OS.
F(x)tec Pro1-X has a 6-inch AMOLED curved display, a 3200mAh battery and Quick Charge 3.0. There is a dual camera at the back and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Powering it is a fairly old Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. If the pictures and specs sound familiar, it is because the F(x)tec Pro1-X is an enhanced version of the F(x)tec Pro 1, a 2019 smartphone.
Instead of 6GB RAM and 128GB internal memory though, XDA has bumped the F(x)tec Pro1-X up to 8 GB RAM and 256GB internal memory.
The XDA Phone is a collaboration between XDA Developers and F(x)tec, the mnufacturers of the Pro 1. Selling price is $899, but XDA Developers members can get it for an early bird price of $599.
The XDA Developers community is large and may be able to make this phone sustainable. The Indiegogo goal is already over-subscribed[1], so the figures are looking good.
References
- Indiegogo: source.
Apart from the lineage OS, nothing unique nor really differentiating from the predecessor.
Well… the figures certainly don’t look so good for the backers anymore…
Turns out F(x)tec promised a lot of things it can’t deliver.
And there are no refunds. As a result, many of their customers feel scammed.
I’d stay away from F(x)tec. Too dodgy!