There's a new phone on the market, but it isn't from Apple, Samsung, Sony or any of the usual suspects. The Turing Phone is a one-off product from Turing Robotic Industries, a San Francisco-based company that aims to one-up the competition by delivering a device with a unique body and extra security software. It's made from liquidmetal, an easily molded yet strong alloy of five metals that's often used for smaller parts, but never yet for a whole device. This should make the phone fairly tough — it's not waterproof, but the company said that could change.
In addition, the Turing Phone includes what its creators call a "decentralized authentication technology," which lets the device recognize others like it and exchange information securely without having to verify things with a third party like Apple or Google devices. Could be handy for limited trusted networks like small businesses — if they're OK going with an unproven brand of phone.
On the side you'll find a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone, and on the bottom is a magnetic charger like Apple's Magsafe. Inside, it's fairly standard high-end smartphone fare: a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, 3 GB of RAM and a 2.5 GHz quad-core processor inside, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel one on the front for selfies.
At $740 for the 64GB version, the Turing Phone sure isn't cheap, so unless any carriers take a risk and offer it for a discount, buying the device outright and unlocked is likely your only option when it ships in August.
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