the world’s first carbon fiber smartphone

If you have never heard of Carbon Mobile, then that is not very surprising. Carbon Mobile is a German start-up that recently launched their first smartphone, the Carbon 1 MK II. The special thing about this device is that it is made of carbon and the housing is also made by hand. In this review you can read whether the Carbon 1 MK II is a successful attempt.

Carbon 1 MK II review

What is immediately noticeable about the Carbon 1 MK II is that the device is very light in terms of weight. The device weighs only 125 grams and is only 6.3 mm thick. For comparison: the Samsung Galaxy S21 weighs 170 grams and the Ultra variant 227 grams. You might think that such a weight difference doesn’t really matter, but the Carbon 1 MK II feels really light. We have extensively tested whether the device can also count among the heavyweights in terms of performance. We must add that we received the Founder Edition from Carbon Mobile. Among other things, the camera software and the fingerprint scanner are not yet “final” in this version.

Sales package

We received the Carbon 1 MK II in a square black box with the brand name “Carbon Mobile” in white lettering on the box. If we slide open the box, we immediately see the device. Below is the USB-C to USB-C cable and a separate box containing the manual, a pin to open the SIM tray and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. Below that, on the bottom of the box, is a welcome message written by CEO Firas Khalifeh. A charger is not included.

Design, display and interface

The Carbon 1 MK II is all about design. The device looks nice and minimalist. The carbon housing feels very nice, partly due to the weight. What is also immediately noticeable are the large screen edges at the top and bottom. Partly because of this and because of the square design, the device looks very business-like.

On the right side we find the volume buttons, below the on and off button and there again under the fingerprint scanner. The bottom offers space for a speaker and the USB-C connection. On the left we find the sim tray. This tray offers space for two SIM cards or one SIM card and an SD card.

The Carbon 1 MK II has a 6.0-inch Full-HD AMOLED screen. This screen is very pleasant to look at, displays colors clearly and realistically and is also easy to read in direct sunlight. The brightness can also be low enough, so that the screen is also pleasant to read in the dark. We think it is a shame that this screen only has a refresh rate of 60Hz. Devices in this price range do have a higher screen refresh rate.

There are large screen edges at the top and bottom of the screen. The selfie camera and speaker are incorporated in the top edge. The brand name is printed on the back of the device. When the screen is on or a notification comes in, the letters “Carbon” light up.

Interface

We are positive about the interface, this is a bare Android version without unnecessary additions. Carbon Mobile has only added one option to the settings and they call it “DuraSpeed”. The feature helps apps running in the foreground by restricting apps running in the background. This function can be switched on or off per app.
The device is currently running on Android 10, unfortunately, Android 11 will be rolled out to the device in May. Carbon Mobile also promises to provide the device with a security update every two months.

Communication and multimedia

Of course, the Carbon 1 MK II is perfectly suited for calling, texting and all other forms of communication that go via the internet. We think it is a shame that the device does not have 5G. So you will have to do it with a 4G connection. You can store two SIM cards in the device, but this is at the expense of an SD card.
The device runs on a clean version of Android, this also means that the standard apps with which you call, text and internet come from Google. So no extra additions here.

Multimedia

The beautiful 6-inch screen makes it a pleasure to watch movies. At the bottom we find the only speaker. The sound of this speaker is a bit on the shrill side and has little bass. The device does not have a 3.5 millimeter connection for a headset. You will therefore have to connect a headset via Bluetooth or via the USB-C connection. No adapter is included for the latter option.

Camera: photo and video

The Carbon 1 MK II has two cameras of 16 megapixels each on the back. The camera app has a minimalist design. It is therefore not possible to set very much. You can switch between the options to take photos or videos, switch HDR on or off, an option to enable the beauty filter and to what extent it should be applied, low, medium or high. We must add that this app will be expanded.

The quality of the photos varies greatly. This is probably also due to the fact that the camera app is not yet the final version. Photos taken in the dark contain a lot of noise. The camera app therefore does not have a night mode. It is hoped that Carbon Mobile will include all these points for improvement in the stable version. The selfie camera has a 20 megapixel lens. The quality of the photos taken with the selfie camera is generally reasonable, but also variable. All photos we have taken with the Carbon can be found in the digital photo album.

Video camera

You shoot video in maximum Full-HD. It is also possible to shoot videos in 720p. The quality of the films is good, we have little to say about this. We do think it is a pity that it is not possible to film in 4K.

Performance and other possibilities

You can unlock the device by means of the fingerprint scanner on the side of the device. This scanner is very slow and is a bit deeper in the side. The slowness of the finger scanner is a known problem with the Founder Edition, this problem has been addressed and devices that are made in mass production are no longer affected, Carbon Mobile has informed us. There is no option to unlock the device via face recognition.

The Carbon 1 MK II has been given a MediaTek Helio P90 processor. In itself, this processor is fast enough for daily tasks, we would have preferred that the device had a processor that supports 5G. What we can talk about is memory. No lack of RAM and storage space, the device has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space. The latter can be expanded with an SD card.

Battery

The battery has a capacity “only” of 3000mAh. Compared to other smartphones, this seems on the tight side, but nothing could be further from the truth. At the end of the day you have about 20 – 30 percent left with medium to heavy use. The screen-on-time is between 4 and 5 hours for medium to heavy use. Not the best battery life, but certainly not bad either.
The device has fast charging, but you must have or get a fast charger yourself for this.

Update Policy

We have already discussed it in the review. Carbon Mobile promises to release a security update for the Carbon 1 MK II every two months. The device will also receive an update to Android 11 in May and will also get Android 12, but it is not yet known when this will be. Our device has Android 10 installed with the security patch from November last year. Not too recently. During the test period, we were offered an update with the March security patch.

Review

We think the Carbon 1 MK II is a very interesting device. Unfortunately, there are a number of significant downsides. Perhaps a number of these drawbacks can be remedied by means of a software update, such as the quality of the photos and the camera app. We would also have liked to see 5G on the device. With 5G, the device would have been a bit more “future proof”. We are satisfied with the speed of the device, the screen and the battery. Sure, the screen could have had a higher refresh rate and a larger battery in the device, but with all our wishes, we estimate that the device would be well over 1000 euros in that case.

You can buy the Carbon 1 MK II at Mobiel and Belsimpel.