Stuff - UK (2020-04)

VITALSTATS

Carbon 1 Mark II

€800 / carbonmobile.com

IT AIN’T HEAVY,

IT’S MY BLOWER

The clue’s in the name of

this eye-catching Android

that won’t weigh you down

OWeighing in

There are two very good reasons

carbon fibre is often used in racing

bikes and high-performance

car parts: it’s very light and very

strong. That also makes it ideal for

something you carry around all

day and occasionally drop on hard

floors, don’t you think? Carbon

Mobile’s Carbon 1 Mark II is the

first phone to be made from the

stuff (the Mark I never went on

general sale) – and at 6.3mm thin

and 125g, it’s 1.8mm slimmer and

63g lighter than an iPhone 11 Pro.

OPowering up

Holding a phone that light might

make you think it’s been pumped

full of coriander instead of the

necessary bits of silicon; but while

the Mark II isn’t going to worry

Android 10 flagships from the likes

of Samsung and Huawei, there’s

still a MediaTek P90 processor,

8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage

and a 3050mAh battery behind

the 6in 2160x1090 AMOLED

screen. You also get dual 16MP

cameras on the back and a 20MP

selfie-cam, plus a side-mounted

fingerprint sensor.

OCooling off

Those specs might sound a bit

2018, especially considering

the €800 asking price, but there

are hurdles to overcome when

making a phone out of carbon

fibre. It’s not good for reception

and doesn’t dissipate heat well,

so Carbon Mobile has had to use

‘Hybrid Radio Enabled Composite

Materials’ to make sure you can

still make calls and stop it turning

into an expensive hand-warmer.

OForking out

Only 2000 Mark IIs are being

made available for shipment

in June, which suggests Carbon

Mobile is expecting it to hold

limited appeal – but if you fancy

pocketing a featherweight slice of

F1-style engineering, it’ll certainly

make you stand out.

The screen’s

tough, with the

thinnest ever

Gorilla Glass 6

at just 0.4mm.