Xiaomi’s recently established gaming brand called Black Shark has launched a new phone called Black Shark. The smartphone has all the ingredient of a flagship phone, plus it comes with support for a detachable Bluetooth gamepad.
Design and Display
Measuring 161.6 x 75.4 x 9.25mm and weighing 190 grams, the metal-bodied Black Shark phone has a unique rear panel that has an appeal of a sports car. The green-colored S logo resides at the center of the rear panel and the top lies the dual camera setup. The right side of the handset is equipped with volume buttons and power key whereas the left side is fitted with Shark key that gives access to gaming mode on the phone.
The Full HD+ resolution supporting InCell display of the phone delivers an aspect ratio of 18:9. It supports DCI-P3 color gamut and the MEMC intelligent motion compensation technology brings stutter free video quality while gaming. A fingerprint scanner enabled home button lies in the bottom bezel of the phone.
Performance
The Black Shark gaming phone is powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC. To prevent the device from overheating while enjoying games on it, the smartphone is equipped with multi-stage cooling technology which includes liquid cooling, heat dissipation through heat pipe, high thermal conductivity coper alloy substrate and more. The multi-layer cooling setup can reduce the temperature of the Black Shark phone by 8 degrees.
The 64 GB and 128 GB UFS 2.1 storage variants of the Black Shark include 6 GB and 8 GB of RAM. It is fueled by 4,000mAh battery that includes support for Quick Charge 3.0. The handset is loaded with Joy UI which is nothing but a gaming centric Android 8.1 Oreo ROM that includes some core features of MIUI such as Mi Cloud, Mi Messaging and more. The Shark Dock functionality can be accessed while playing games to quickly access features like silent mode, DND and more.
Cameras
The back panel of the Black Shark gaming phone has 12-megapixel f/1.75 aperture main sensor that is accompanied by 20-megapixel f/1.75 aperture secondary sensor. Both sensors have 6p lenses, dual-tone LED flash, bokeh effect photography and HDR.
The 20-megapixel f/2,2 aperture frontal camera is equipped with 5p lens, intelligent beauty, 4K video shooting and facial recognition. Black Shark has included a dedicated image processor for better photography experience.
Shark GamePad and Other Features
The fingerprint scanner on the phone can not only be used for unlocking phones, but while playing games it can be used to access Shark Dock. For better audio experience while gaming, the Black Shark phone offers Biso stereo speakers, Hi-Fi audio and dual Smart PA. The optimized microphone can be used for radio chats while playing games. The connectivity features available on the phone include dual-SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac with 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, aGPS and GLONASS. The X-shaped designed that the company has employed for the antennas ensures that the connectivity is not obstructed when the device is held in palm for gaming.
The Shark GamePad is what it sets it apart from the other flagship phones. It features a joystick, a trigger and battery of 340mAh capacity. The battery can last for up to 30 hours of gaming. It gamepad works with Bluetooth 4.0 enabled devices that are running on Android 4.0 or higher.
Pricing and Availability
The 64 GB storage + 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage + 8 GB RAM variant of the Black Shark phone respectively cost 2,999 Yuan (Rs. 31,180) and 3,499 Yuan (Rs. 36,380). The GamePad can be purchased separately by spending 179 Yuan (Rs. 1,861). The handset comes in two color choices such as Polar Night Black and Sky Gray.
Xiaomi Mall and Jingdong have started receiving the pre-orders of the Black Shark gaming phone. The handset will be shipped beginning from China. At present, there is no confirmation on whether the Black Shark gaming phone will be made available outside of China.
