At $169, HMD's new Aura² smartphone promises 51 hours of battery from a single charge
The HMD Aura² is not just two HMD Aura phones taped together – it's a new device that promises 51 hours of battery, 256GB of storage and a repairable design.
If you buy a cheap smartphone, it's not going to offer great performance. That's just the reality of today's modern smartphones. But what we are seeing is a trend to introduce features that may have been high-end a few years ago down into this entry-level market.
The Aura2 from Human Mobile Devices (or HMD) is the latest smartphone from the company that used to make Nokia phones offering self-repairability. That means if you smash the screen or the battery gives way, you can buy a replacement kit and fix it yourself, just like the HMD Skyline.
The difference here is that the Aura2 has a weaker processor, so it can only run Android 14 Go edition. That's the same OS powering the $129 HMD Key that launched last month, but where the Aura2 differs is an upgraded camera array.
You get a 13MP lens, offering numerous features such as Portrait mode, Night mode, Pro Mode, Slow motion, Quick Snapshot, QR Code scanner, Filters, Time Lapse and Panorama perfect. Of course, none of these will match the iPhone 16 for quality, but it's still better than you might expect at the price.
Other specs to mention here include the HD (1280 x 576 pixel) 6.52-inch display, powered by the Unisoc 9863A processor and 256GB on board storage. You can turn up to 4GB of that into virtual RAM, to match the 4GB already there.
The battery is 5,000 mAh, and thanks to the low power demands of the processor and display, HMD promises up to 51 hours of battery life. It also says that the battery will maintain 80% battery capacity even after 800 charging cycles, so the phone should be able to work for a few years.
What you don't get is NFC, so there's no tap to pay options on board here. It also only supports 4G networks.
Pricing and availability
The HMD Aura² is available for $169 AUD RRP at Harvey Norman and is coming soon to leading retailers.
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Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
Nick Broughall
