Marshall has shocked everybody today by announcing that they will be entering the smartphone market with a new low-end handset.
Called the Marshall London, it carries a design language which closely resembles their line of guitar amplifiers. It’s a magnificent looking device with rugged metal buttons, a gold volume scroll wheel and a leather skinned rear. On the front you get two massive speakers, which should be great for those of use who enjoy watching films and TV on our devices. The focus in this device is clearly music-driven, with two audio outputs, allowing multiple people to listen tracks on the move. There’s also a dedicated Marshall button on the top for quick access to your music library. The device will feature a dedicated Wolfson WM8281 audio card that operates separately from the CPU and takes over all audio processing duties. This should help it achieve it much better audio quality versus the competition. There’s also duel microphones as standard with high resolution recording capabilities.
As for the phone hardware itself, it’s definitely on the lower end of the spectrum. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, a fairly entry-level chip that won’t mesmerise but it still a capable performer. It has a 4.7-inch 720p display, which just manages to squeeze past the 300 DPI standard. There’s also 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and an 8-megapixel camera. Not much has been said about the quality of the camera so will likely have to wait and see. The 2,500mAh battery is decent for a low-end device and it’s also removable, which is always a bonus. And, well, it’s about that surprisingly awesome design. The London has been priced at 4,995 Swedish krona (roughly $590) for an expected delivery of August 21st.
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