Dreame Technology is best known for its excellent lineup of robot and cordless vacuums, and, more recently, air purifiers, but it hasn’t really broken through as a phone company. That changed this week during Dreame’s NEXT event in San Francisco, where the company unveiled two new smartphones: the Aurora Nex and the Aurora Lux.
Xinwei Change, the global president of Dreame, introduced the new devices alongside tech legend Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.
CNET staffers were on site to see both phones firsthand, though we weren’t able to do much with them.
The Aurora Nex appears to be the flagship device, with modular hardware that lets users reconfigure it to their preferences. Detachable modules will include a stabilized action camera, a telephoto module for low-light distance shooting, a satellite communications module for off-grid and emergency communication, and a smart module, likely involving AI, that learns and adapts to user behavior. A magnetic attachment point lets you snap on the various modules.
From the front, the Dreame Aurora Lux doesn’t look much different from any other smartphone.
The hardware details emphasize camera capabilities. The Nex should have a full-focal-range 200-megapixel camera with 3D spatial modeling, 8K/60fps video recording, and 14-bit raw multiframe compositing. Put simply, it’s designed for more professional imaging and photo editing use cases than the typical consumer smartphone.
It includes improved temperature frequency stability and lower handshake latency for satellite voice calling.
The Nex has custom software, with Aurora AIOS 1.0, Dreame’s proprietary operating system running under the hood. Dreame says the software is designed to be more proactive than the typical OS. It’ll have a traditional user interface, but also a native “intelligent mode” that should adapt to user habits and initiate actions without prompting. This includes multiple modes of interaction, including touch, voice and vision.
The Lux is a bit flashy.
The Aurora Lux is the company’s luxury model and is not modular. Dreame says the device draws on techniques from fine jewelry and traditional crafts, such as hand detailing and 3D engraving. To start, the Lux will feature five designs.
Here’s one of the designs for the Aurora Lux.
“Outside the US, there are folks who buy posh phones like these,” said Patrick Holland, CNET managing editor. “To them, it’s like getting the fridge with doors that can be made to match their kitchen cabinets, and it’s less about brand.”
There’s no pricing or release date information for either phone, so it’s unclear when it’ll come to market.
A representative for Dreame did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The modular phone idea isn’t new. Other companies have tried it, including Motorola with Project Ara and LG with the LG G5, but neither was particularly successful. Project Ara was scrapped before ever reaching market, while the LG G5 wasn’t much of a market success, and the company eventually exited the smartphone market entirely.