Hands-on: Flashy Smart Outfit
HMD Fusion is a budget-friendly mid-ranger with a slightly different design from what we’re used to seeing from HMD. I like the industrial minimalism approach taken with the Fusion, but its bare look suggests something is missing. The missing part is smart accessories or smart outfits that should give the Fusion more options and make it more versatile.
The regular case that comes with the device is thin and transparent, making minimal changes to the look of the device. However, smart outfits are not designed that way. They function like covers with extra features, and the first one I tested was the outfit I expected to be the most fun of all.
The Flashy Outfit features a cool-looking LED strip mounted on a bracket that allows it to be rotated forward, serving as an extra light source for selfies and videos. It’s built into a rubberized case that feels super soft to the touch, which I like. The case is also quite robust, offering good protection for the Fusion while adding an extra millimeter in thickness, making it a chunky mid-ranger.
The case is not easy to remove, suggesting it’s not meant to be taken on and off frequently—defeating the purpose. If you or your kid get a Fusion as a gift along with smart and gaming outfits, switching between them will be frustrating.
The case doesn’t interfere with the phone’s functionality. As mentioned, I like the soft-touch feel, the buttons are easily accessible, and the rotating mechanism is simple to operate. Thanks to its sturdiness, the LED ring can even be used as a stand.
However, there are two things I don’t like. First, the individual LED lights in the strip are visible, which looks cheap, and they aren’t bright enough to serve as a proper light source—even a torch is stronger. At best, they provide some ambient lighting for selfie streamers. Second, the LED strip’s potential feels underutilized. HMD could have made it function like the Glyph interface on Nothing phones—as a call reminder, a charging indicator showing battery percentage, or a custom notification light. For example, WhatsApp notifications could be green, and calls blue.
Since Flashy only works through the camera app and its camera-centric usability isn’t great, I wouldn’t recommend it. Now, it si quite simple to use it since the user interface is pretty intuitive. You can even set your own colour of preference and save it for future uses.
All in all, I give kudos to HMD for being bold and trying something new in a world of sameness. Smart outfits are a great idea and aren’t meant to be expensive add-ons like Motorola or LG’s past attempts. However, they should offer more functionality.
Here are some samples. I didn’t want to scare you with my old face, but you’ll get the uses of Flashy.
Another key issue is the Fusion’s hardware—HMD needs to improve the camera software and definitely include a better display, ideally a sharper OLED similar to the one in Skyline. Finally, I hope future Fusion devices keep the same dimensions so that smart outfits, especially the Gaming one, remain usable over time.
