HP Elite x3, review with price, characteristics and opinions

The HP brand has just launched its HP Elite x3 smartphone on the market. It is a DualSIM model specially designed for the company and for professional profiles , which easily transforms into a laptop and has several accessories to help workers in their daily tasks. Its price is 800 euros , and it can already be purchased in Spain.

The HP Elite x3 features a Bang & Olufsen speaker  to deliver high definition sound , and enables you to work with high-quality images thanks to its large screen and powerful camera.

The smartphone runs on Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system  . The choice may be difficult to understand, considering that the numbers for this mobile operating system continue to plummet.

However, the HP Elite x3 PC is designed to be a pocket -sized, smartphone-sized computer. For this reason, the possibilities of work soar thanks to Windows. It is a concept similar to the Acer Liquid Jade Primo.

Outside of business hours, the HP Elite x3 also acts as a good personal smartphone, taking great photos and watching videos on its big screen.

The HP Elite X3 has a large 6-inch screen

Specifically, we are talking about a screen of 5.96 inches with a resolution  Quad HD (1440 x 2560 pixels ) , and a 16 megapixel camera that takes very good pictures.

At the performance level, the phone also lives up to the needs on a professional level: it has a  Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor ,  4 GB of RAM  and a long-lasting battery, with 4150 mAh capacity.

Design and display

As we have already mentioned, the screen is one of the strengths of the HP Elite x3 smartphone. It is a large panel (5.96 inches), with Quad HD resolution (1440 x 2560 pixels) and a density of 494 pixels per inch .

The characteristics of the screen translate into a slightly higher weight than we usually find in other smartphones: the HP Elite x3 weighs 195 grams , and measures 161.8 mm long x 83.5 mm wide x 7.8 mm thick .

For screen protection, the phone features  Corning Gorilla Glass 4 .

On the front, just below the screen, is the Bang & Olufsen high definition speaker, in a strip of the phone with a shiny and metallic appearance. The rest of the surface is designed in black plastic, the only color available for this model.

View of the HP Elite X3 on / off button

The SIM card tray is on the left side; the volume and on / off buttons are on the right side , and on the back we find the camera, its flash, the fingerprint reader and the contact for the wireless charging station.

For battery charging, the HP Elite x3  has a Type-C USB port, located on the bottom. At the top we find the miniJack (3.5 mm) port for headphones.

Inside: good power and performance data

As we have already mentioned, the HP Elite x3 is specially designed for the professional world, with a series of technical specifications focused on high performance. The computer is nothing less than a pocket-sized work computer .

HP Elite X3 case

The smartphone is equipped with a Qualcomm MSM8996 SNAPDRAGON 820 processor, with four cores : two of them Kyro running at 2.15 GHz, and the other two Kyro at 1.6 GHz). The phone has 4 GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 graphics processor.

The storage capacity is also quite high:  64 GB available , which can be expanded with an external microSD card or by taking advantage of the space in the Microsoft OneDrive cloud.

Battery and autonomy

The battery is another of the strengths of the  HP Elite x3 , since it has  4150 mAh  of capacity and offers a full day of use without problems.

In addition, we can recharge the equipment with a wireless charging station: you just have to put it on top. The added advantage is that we can handle the phone or consult the screen while charging much easier, since when using cable charging you have to keep it horizontally on the table.

HP Elite x3, waterproof phone for rainy days

The HP Elite x3 Smartphone meets IP67 standards  for resistance to water and dust . This means that it can withstand up to 30 minutes of immersion to a depth of one meter.

Logically, it is not convenient to experiment to see what the real limits are, but the phone offers enough peace of mind to be able to handle it on rainy days. In addition, for users who work outdoors or in conditions of high humidity, we are guaranteed that the smartphone will resist.

Camera and modes

Detail of the main camera of the HP Elite X3

The HP Elite x3  is equipped with a 16-megapixel main camera, f / 2.2 aperture, autofocus, and LED flash . You can record video in  Full HD (1080p) quality .

For its part, the (front) Secondary camera is  8 megapixels . You can also record video in Full HD quality.

Night shot example with the HP Elite X3

The camera app has several basic manual setup options, as well as an automatic photo feature. These are the options that we can configure:

• Flash : automatic, on or off. Only for the main camera.
• HDR mode (to compensate for lighting mismatches in scenes with large differences in light): on or off.
• White balance : automatic, sunny, cloudy day, and various artificial lighting options.
• Focus : auto, close, medium focus, infinity focus.
• ISO : ISO Auto, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200.
• Shutter speed : 1/16000, 1/8000, 1/6400, 1/4000, 1/3200, 1/2500, 1/1000, 1/800, 1/640, 1/500, 1/400, 1 / 320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/40, 1/30, 1/25, 1/20, 1/15, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 seconds.
• Brightness : from -2 to +2, with intermediate values.

In the front camera, we can adjust the white balance, focus, ISO value, shutter speed and brightness.

HP Elite X3 front camera

As it is a smartphone for professional rather than personal use, there are no specific selfie enhancement options or beauty mode.

However, we can download lenses (special filters) for photos, as well as set a timer. These two options are available on the front and main cameras.

High definition sound

Close-up of the HP Elite X3 speakers

As we have already mentioned, the HP Elite x3 smartphone is equipped with a Bang & Olufsen technology speaker to deliver high definition sound . This speaker is located on the front of the phone, just below the screen.

HP Workspace and standard applications

Although the phone comes equipped with several basic applications (browser, contacts, Microsoft Office package), the most interesting are those offered by the manufacturer HP.

Specifically, we must highlight HP Workspace  the  main app to turn the phone into a real work computer .

HP Workspace is, neither more nor less, a computer in the cloud, with a series of computer tools and programs that we can use directly on the phone. Among these applications we find, for example,  Word ,  OneNote ,  PowerPoint ,  Internet Explorer or  Acrobat Reader , although we can also install others.

HP Workspace screenshots on the HP Elite X3

Another very interesting detail of this app is the possibility of accessing all the files that we have in the cloud from the same place. In the Files section we can connect our Dropbox ,  Google Drive and  Box accounts  to have a complete directory with all our folders.

The objective, therefore, is very clear: HP turns the Elite x3 smartphone into a work computer, offering all the possibilities of a smartphone and all the work options of a computer.

On the other hand, if we buy the HP Lap Dock accessory  , we can write more easily thanks to the keyboard. The Lap Dock is a structure similar to that of a netbook computer (with its screen and keyboard) but without a processor inside : it works as an external screen and controller for the Elite x3.

HP Lapdock with HP Elite X3

In addition to HP Workspace, we find the following standard applications on the smartphone:

• Basic tools : clock, storage manager, camera, contacts, file explorer, voice recorder, photo gallery, messages, etc.
• Microsoft's own apps : OneDrive, OneNote, Word, Microsoft Edge, the  Cortana assistant , Maps, Excel, Skype , etc.
• HP Apps : Financial Calculator, Wireless Printing Management, Phone Administration Tools (HP Device Hub and HP Mobile Hardware Diagnostics),

Price and conclusions

The HP Elite x3 can be purchased for 800 euros , although there are different options and combinations if accessories such as the Lap Dock are also purchased.

Although it is a fairly high price for a smartphone (it is approximately what the top of the range of different brands cost), we must take into account the almost infinite possibilities offered by this model .

As we have mentioned, the  HP Elite x3 is a telephone-computer , with all the work possibilities of a laptop, and it has added advantages such as water resistance.

HP Elite x3

screen

Design

Camera

Multimedia

software

Power

Memory

Connections

Autonomy

+ info

Price: 800 euros