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The Archos 50d Oxygen smartphone promises to be high-end for $150

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A lot of new phones will get announced in about two weeks during Mobile World Congress 2016. However, Archos decided to get a head start by announcing its newest premium handset, the 50d Oxygen.

Archos is calling this one a high-end smartphone, but how can it be with a $150 price point? Let’s see what it has to offer.

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For starters. the 50d Oxygen has a sleek and minimalistic design, and according to the presser, it’s ultra-slim and lightweight. However, 8.1mm thick is far from ultra-slim when you consider the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6S are 6.9 and 7.1mm, respectively. Its weight of 140 grams is more on par with the “lightweight” description though.

The new phone comes with a 5-inch IPS 1080p display, which equates to a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It’s powered by a 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek (MTK6753) processor, and has 2GB of RAM along with 16GB of internal storage. You can add an extra 32GB of additional storage via the MicroSD slot.

It has a 13-megapixel rear camera, which includes autofocus and LED flash, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

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The 2,100mAh battery is on the small side, but it could be enough to get you through the day based on the display resolution.

The phone is compatible with 4G LTE and its dual-SIM capability means that it will support two phone lines.

Finally, the 50d Oxygen comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop, which is a disappointment given that Android 6.0 Marshmallow launched last October.

So based on its specs, the 50d Oxygen is far from a high-end phone, but its $150 price tag is more than attractive for what it has to offer. Archos says that it will be available starting in May, but we don’t expect it to launch in the U.S.

Robert Nazarian
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