I got an email recently that Marshall will have a soft launch on their new product. At first, it will be either a speaker or another headphone.
I'm surprised that Zound Industries Global Director of Sales Mr. Jens Henrikssen had brought something in the venue and it was the Marshall London smartphone. This music-centric smartphone will be available in stores and with the possible team-up with telco/s.
I already posted the specs of the Marshall London on my previous blog post so I took this opportunity to fill in the missing info from the news that I got from various international tech sites so here are the all of the sides of the phone
Based on my observation on it's physical attributes, this is quite a smartphone that is built to last yet it is quite light for a 5 inch phone. I also found out that it has a single nano SIM and at least can support a micro SD up to 64 GB (based on what I saw in Sir Jen's micro SD). He even tossed it a few times on the table plus the display has Gorilla Glass 3. The battery is removable at 2,500 mAh. The two 3.5 mm. audio jacks are both "audio in". The "M" button is on the top as your shortcut button to your music files. One thing that I need to find out - the LTE bands as there is no concrete info based on their official website marshallheadphones.com
On the music side, he has a demo track entitled "Chase To Dream" off on this micro SD and I also checked a few seconds of Highway To Hell by AC/DC thru Spotify with the help of a Marshall headphone. Boy, it really sounds so good. When me and some of my colleagues in media checked the dual front speakers, it proved at least to be the loudest smartphone right now even that we were on a restaurant. Sir Jens gave us a note that his own unit is not yet the final product.
On Android 5.0.2 OS (with his help as he set his phone in Swedish language), I found out that out of 16 GB ROM, 11.4 GB is for app storage which is also a good news. Two apps that we focused is phone's own Music app which has a lot of setting for your music genre including an equalizer specifically for Spotify. Just a right to be a smartphone for those who love audio, it can play all kinds of audio files including FLAC. They also have their own app which can easily record your own songs (he even explained that you can plug in your guitar, thanks that it has 2 audio jacks) great for aspiring and indie musicians.
One concern that I also brought to him is the service center or aftersales. He said that they are trying their best to put this device in partnership with telco/s so that it will be less hassle for consumers. I also asked him if he also went to our South East Asian neighbors and he said, no. Before this trip, he came from Hong Kong. Thumbs up to Marshall as we were the only SEA country to witness this first handset from the known audio brand.
There are no official info on it's Philippine price and as well as the availability. I hope that they will be successful in their meetings with either Globe or Smart and bring this smartphone in a reasonable price. The current international SRP of this phone is at US$500.