Chinese smartphone maker Protruly was among the last smartphone manufacturers to showcase their products at this year’s Mobile World Congress before the event came to an end. Those products were the Android-powered Protruly Darling D7 and Protruly Darling D8, which are currently the only smartphones in the world equipped with 360-degree cameras. Aside from various differences in terms of design, both smartphones share many similarities in terms of hardware components and features.
Although both the Protruly Darling D7 and Protruly Darling D8 are wrapped in metal bodies and share roughly the same internal hardware, the exterior design is where they mostly differ. The Protruly Darling D8 makes use of gold, diamonds, and leather elements for a more luxurious look, and features a fingerprint sensor within the front-facing physical home button. In contrast, the Protruly Darling D7 lacks precious stones and other exotic materials, and instead, it accommodates a fingerprint sensor on the back panel. Both models feature 13-megapixel rear-facing cameras with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash, as well as an 8-megapixel front-facing unit with an f/2.4 aperture. Both cameras oddly protrude from the smartphones’ front and back panels, making them look somewhat uncomfortable to carry around in one’s pocket. However, this is the result of both cameras boasting 360-degree capabilities, which makes the Protruly Darling smartphones unique in their own way.
As far as other specifications are concerned, the Protruly Darling smartphones make use of a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, a MediaTek Helio X20 SoC (System-on-Chip) featuring a total of 10 CPU cores – four of which are clocked at up to 2.1 GHz -, and a Mali T880 MP4 (four-core) graphics chip. However, it’s worth noting that while the Protruly Darling D7 carries 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, the more luxurious Protruly Darling D8 features 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of on-board memory. Both models take advantage of a microSD card slot, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and A-GPS, a USB Type-C connector, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 3,560 mAh battery with support for fast charging. Lastly, as far as availability goes, both smartphones have actually already enjoyed a market release in China last year, but their arrival in Barcelona, Spain, at MWC 2017 marks the first time they have been showcased outside of their homeland. In China, the Protruly Darling D7 is sold for 4,980 Chinese yuan (roughly $721), whereas the Protruly Darling D8 costs 8800 yuan, or around $1,275 at today’s conversion rate. At the time of writing, there’s no official word regarding these smartphones’ release outside of China, but for a closer look at the Protruly Darling smartphones, feel free to check the presentation video below from last year’s Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen (courtesy of Ruptly TV).