- Dreame debuted a pair of Aurora phones at Dreame Next
- The standard model boasts some impressive modular accessories
- The Lux designs look more like fashion statements than smartphones
After its rocket car debut on day 1 and its army of armed smart home appliances on day 2, Dreame Next day 3 has showcased a few smartphones – and I don’t know if I love the design or if I’m going to throw up.
I’m not talking about the more standard Dreame Aurora model with its Nex accessories – this thing looks pretty neat. Borrowing the kind of giant circular camera bump you’d find on the Oppo Find X9 Ultra or OnePlus 13 Pro, this thing boasts a 200MP camera with a 1-inch sensor.
Plus, with a 7,000mAh battery, I expect this phone to actually live up to its all-day battery promise.
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However, the standout aspect of the design is the Aurora Nex additions. A kind of mag-safe-like attached assembly with various uses: there’s the 50MP action camera with lightning-fast autofocus, the 50MP telephoto snapper with LOFIC sensors for one-shot HDR, a satellite communication module to stay connected wherever you are, a cooling module (aka a fan) to keep your phone cool during intense gaming sessions, similar to an agent AI comp session, and the details were kind of agent AI company. limited to exactly what its support would look like.
Dreame suggested that other add-ons could be launched later, and it’s an interesting approach to smartphone modularity – although we’ll have to try these discs to determine if they live up to the promise.
Luxury or ugly
Where things start to get a little sick is the Dreame Aurora Lux – intricately designed smartphones coated in vibrant prints, jewels and effects to look more like a wallet than a smartphone.
With names like Imperial Totem, Regalia Shield, and Axiom Geometry (yes, those are real phone names, not JRPG ultimate attacks), there’s an undeniable oomph to these designs that definitely stand out from the crowd of iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones in the world. But they are not to my taste personally.
We also got a look at Aurora OS 1.0. A booth at the show gave me an early impression of the OS, and right now it seems a bit of a work in progress – the underlying Android 16 architecture is very clear to see, which still makes the OS feel more like an aesthetic theme than its own true take on Android.
There was also talk of artificial intelligence and the usual personal context assistance that all phone companies have promised – combining data between apps to help organize your real and digital life – but again the presentation felt light on specific details about how this would be achieved.
Additionally, two key details are also missing: price and release date.
Dreame Next has been a strange showcase, and the lack of firm commitments on when this technology will be available has put a damper on the celebrations – it’s hard to get excited about technology I may never get to try.
If you’re looking for a flashy phone, keep your fingers crossed that the Dreame Aurora devices will see the light of day soon, although for now you might have to settle for the blingy iPhone case.
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