Adaia, a Finnish startup comprising of sixteen ex-Nokia employees are developing a range of premium Android smartphones which will debut next year in three countries: the US, UK and their native Finland. Unlike other premium smartphone manufacturers, however, Adaia’s idea is wholly different: Adaia’s premium devices will be reinforced with tough materials such as titanium and is built with water and dust resistance, allowing it to survive up to 10m underwater and even 9000m in the high altitudes. The 4.8-inch display is also built around impact-resistant material, and there’s also a dedicated SOS button which connects users to the nearest emergency facility via a Texas-based emergency company – not to mention satellite telephony.
In addition, there are two batteries on the protoype device shown to Finnish site Digitoday, one primary and one smaller non-removable secondary. The presence of the secondary battery allows the primary battery to be hot-swapped with a fresh one without requiring the device to be switched off. The final device will also sport a 12 or 13MP rear camera.
There are, naturally, downsides to a device capable of working in such punishing environments. The final device will have a thickness of between 17-18mm (the thinnest smartphone, the Umeox X5, is more than three times thinner at 5.6mm) and will weigh close to twice that of regular smartphones, at 240-250g. However, Adaia’s roped in BMW DesignWorks to help design this device, so it might turn out to be a pretty handsome device.
Adaia is producing rugged smartphones for extreme environments as it is a market with “hardly any competition”, more so a high-end one. With prices ranging from 1000-5000 Euros for its devices, Adaia might well find themselves in a very niche market all to themselves when it eventually launches its first devices next year – unlike the other Finnish mobile startups comprising mostly of ex-Nokia staff, Jolla.
Find out more about Adaia via it’s official page here.
