HMD Key

The HMD Key has a conventional, non-folding form factor measuring 166.4 mm tall, 76.9 mm wide, and 9 mm thick, with a total volume of 115.16544 cm³ and a weight of 185.4 g. It carries an IP52 rating, meaning it offers basic protection against dust ingress and light water splashes, though it does not feature a rugged build designed for harsh environments.

The HMD Key features a 6.52″ IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 576 x 1280 px and a pixel density of 215 ppi. The display does not include branded damage-resistant glass, and there is no support for HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision content. Always-On Display functionality and a secondary screen are also absent from this panel.

The HMD Key is powered by the Unisoc SC9832E chipset, built on a 28 nm process with a quad-core CPU running at 4 x 1.4 GHz and integrated graphics clocked at 680 MHz. It comes with 2 GB of DDR3 RAM operating at 667 MHz and 32 GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage, which can be expanded by up to 128 GB via external memory. The SoC includes integrated LTE and supports DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 1.2, though it does not use big.LITTLE architecture. Benchmark results show a PassMark multi-core score of 453 and a single-core score of 276.

The HMD Key has a single-lens 8 MP rear camera with a CMOS sensor and a single LED flash, alongside a 5 MP front camera that lacks its own flash and is not positioned under the display. The rear camera supports phase-detection autofocus for photos, continuous autofocus during video recording, and touch autofocus, but does not include laser autofocus or optical image stabilization, and offers no optical zoom. Manual controls cover exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, while shutter speed adjustment is not available, and RAW capture is not supported. Additional shooting features include HDR mode, burst mode, panorama, timelapse, and slow-motion video recording, though 360-degree panorama, HDR10 recording, Dolby Vision recording, and 3D photo or video capture are all absent.

The HMD Key runs Android 14 as a free and open-source operating system, supporting multi-user accounts, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, widgets, and sharing intents. Privacy features include clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access controls, and the ability to block app tracking, though cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are not available. Customization options cover dark mode, dynamic theming, theme customization, and customizable notifications, while focus modes and app offloading are not supported. The OS also includes on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, live text selection from images, full-page screenshots, a media picker, battery health check, an extra dim mode, a child lock, phone tracking, and the ability to play games while they download. Wi-Fi password sharing, Quick Start, direct OS vendor updates, and the ability to use the device as a PC are not part of the feature set.

The HMD Key is equipped with a 4000 mAh rechargeable battery that supports fast charging at 10W, and a charger is included in the box. A battery level indicator is present for monitoring charge status. The battery is not removable, and wireless charging is not supported.

The HMD Key includes a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a built-in radio, with a single microphone for voice capture. It does not feature stereo speakers, and none of the high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs — aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, or LDAC — are supported.

The HMD Key supports dual SIM cards and connects via Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Bluetooth 4.2, and a cellular module, though 5G is not supported. Wired connectivity is handled through a USB Type-C port, while HDMI output is absent. For location, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, and an accelerometer is present, but there is no gyroscope, compass, barometer, or any motion or optical tracking. The fingerprint scanner serves as the primary biometric option, as 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not included. An external memory slot is available for storage expansion. NFC, ANT+, DLNA, infrared sensor, heart rate monitor, crash detection, emergency SOS via satellite, and a built-in projector are all absent from this device.

The HMD Key includes a video light to assist with recording in low-light conditions. The display is flat rather than curved, and it uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.