Walmart’s $10 Smartphone Has Better Specs Than the Original iPhone
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Then I went to check what version it actually runs, and it's 4.4/KitKat. I do not have any phone with a version more recent than 4.4 (and that's the case for everyone I know). In fact, my phone is only running 4.4 because I went through the trouble to look in Russian forums for custom ROMs for it, since the manufacturer didn't get it beyond 4.2. My phone is a not very popular model, but even for some former flagships the only way to go is to get custom ROMs e.g. on XDA. Sure, I (and my friends) could get a new phone... but we are not interested in changing phones before they are even out of warranty (2 years in Europe).
This is no surprise: Google's statistics[1] indicate 4.4 is still the most used version. Cheaper phones being launched with older Android versions doesn't help, that's true, but these cheaper models are good enough for many people. And to be honest, the features (and change in looks/functionality) introduced in the later versions do not interest me much. If only Android had an update policy more similar to Windows and some Linux distros, where you stay with a major release but get security updates for it, for a sane amount of time...
[1] https://developer.android.com/intl/zh-tw/about/dashboards/in...
An Android phone's security depends on whoever is responsible for maintaining the device's ROM, usually the carrier or phone manufacturer. Samsung, for instance, includes extensions intended to enhance security. Admittedly, for $10 I wouldn't expect much in the way of OTA updates. But except for a few changes to the framework in the way app permissions are handled, the version number isn't the best measure of security.
Less so about features and more so about semi-subjective statements like "heavy handed FS access"
My number one reason is simply the fact iPhone is built and sold by one company. This is a plus and a minus, but in the long run, amortize cost makes that a bigger plus than a minus. My experience so far, iOS devices can live up to at least four major OS updates. That's at least 2 years. I think my iPhone 3GS lasted about 4 years before I switched to iPhone 6 (at that time the power of 3GS was simply too slow to handle map and instant messaging).
Perhaps if you are spending millions on adwords, you "might" get some customer service, but I doubt then it will be great
I assume somebody will answer if I call there, but I have no idea about service quality.
My iPad 3 is limping along on its last leg after iOS 9 but I'm pretty sure it lacks the RAM necessary to run Safari smoothly on the newest update. Still works but not smoothly.
> My iPad 3
You do realize that you've undermined your point here right?
Apple is a hardware company Google is not.
That's Samsung's fault.
> Shouldn't have to buy a phone direct from Google to get that.
Oh, I completely agree, but Samsung doesn't want to simply provide OEM Android because they think that the add-ons distinguish them in a crowded market.
> Apple is a hardware company Google is not.
But Apple's limited hardware offering is why they can guarantee you such a pure Apple experience. The equivalent exists in the Google ecosystem. It's buying one of the phones directly from the Google Play store. The only difference is that in the Apple ecosystem there isn't choice, so you don't get to see better hardware spec'd phones that run IOS, while in the Android ecosystem you do.
And if weather turned for the cold, it will freeze in Hell!
I used my Nexus 4 for over 2 years and it received regular updates (5.x lagged a little though). Also, the Nexus devices are pretty well supported via CyanogenMod.
Beyond that, the Motorola phones since Google bought and sold off mobility have been well received as well, the Pure line should see updates for at least 2 years.
If you stay away from Samsung, LG, and other vendors trying to get you to upgrade every year and favor those not tethering to a specific carrier's upgrade model, you'll have better luck.
The problem here is that a lot of smaller OEMs will never bother. Google might put mandatory security updates into its next Gapps contract. I guess we'll see.
> the features (and change in looks/functionality) introduced in the later versions do not interest me much.
I think the advances in volta/doze/app suspend for battery life and the 6.0 privacy settings, not to mention the Material overhaul are very big benefits to Android. Android 6.0 is a much more mature OS than the 4.x tree. In fact, I'd say they only recently have reached parity with iOS at this release. I don't get many "I should switch to iphone" feelings anymore. Many of my privacy and battery life concerns were addressed in 6.0 and the 6P is amazing hardware for the price.
Why not just build the Android OS yourself and upload it?
Drivers, drivers, drivers.
Even with a Nexus device this is far from straightforward. With a $10 walmart phone I doubt even Wifi would work properly-- let alone GPS, bluetooth or cellular data service.
(source: https://source.android.com/security/overview/updates-resourc... - "Android security team currently provides patches for Android versions 4.4 (KitKat), 5.0 (Lollipop), and 5.1 (Lollipop MR1). This list of backport-supported versions changes with each new Android release.")
Google themselves dropped the Nexus 7 v1 from security support a while ago, after having updated it to 5.1.
I just paid $60 (no commitment/contract) for a Lumia 640 (it was a gophone, which works fine on my regular AT&T plan). It's a reasonably fast, decently built phone, and I must say the Windows phone UI is starting to grow on me (and I HATE windows 8/10 on the desktop).
Besides voice calls, I use a smartphone mostly for texting, email, web browsing, maps, music, and the occasional (netflix) streaming video.
A $60 phone can now handle all of these things easily, so I would be stupid to spend more (vanity? status symbol?). If I drop it onto the sidewalk and it shatters, I'll merely sigh, mumble something obscene, and go buy another one. My reaction to dropping a $600 phone would be a bit more... extreme (mostly because I can't afford to replace a $600 phone on the spot).
e.g. Look at Fairphone http://fairphone.com/
http://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/progress-report...
It most likely won't :) it's (was) a Nokia.
They arn't the cheapest carrier you can get, but seems a good tradeoff for device interchangeability and price.
(This is just carrier locking. Anything that changes IMEI is illegal with a maximum 5 year prison sentence)
PS: Then again, I am on a legacy plan 60$/month unlimited data + lots of rollover minutes, so signing a 2 year contract for a large discount seems more reasonable.
I don't mind the phablets, what bothers me is that they're forgetting that some people want a phone that they can use with just one hand. Apparently there aren't that many consumers committed to buying only those kind of phones.
I pick up the old phone and wonder why I bought the new phone. Then as I am using it I remember how slow it is. How bad the camera is. How I struggled to keep good battery life. How it was abandoned for updates.
One can absolutely get by fine with a cheap phone. But they are not quite "just as good", in a mildly pernicious fashion.
I do miss the small size though.
It's amazing that as recently as five years ago, I was paying around $100 for a dedicated MP3 player for exactly this purpose.
I'd have no interest in the "phone" feature... and would never even install a SIM card. I have to believe that many people have thought of this idea, and that has to be a problem for TracPhone since they're probably selling this device at a loss in order to sell phone/data services.
So since it's "Out of Stock" right now, I wonder how many ever were in stock in the first place? My suspicion is that they released a small number of devices as a P.R. stunt to attract publicity. The hope being that some number of people who click the link to check it out will proceed onward to buy one of the "real" devices that isn't being sold at a loss. I'd be surprised if you ever do see this $10 model "In Stock".
It looks like it may not have been released yet. If you try the "buy in store" option it won't let you have it until Friday.
This also seems to be perhaps a rev on their $20 phone: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Net10-LG-Lucky-Prepaid-Smartphone/...
Can you really buy these with no service plans?
(TracFone is the company behind many of the phones at Walmart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless )
For $40 its a very good internet device on which you could install almost all apps.
That phone is not out of stock, you can walk into any Target/Walmart outlet and you can get one, its a prepaid phone without any contracts.
However you'd have to be insane to go into a store.
Maybe offered online though.
However you will never get third party roms for it.
I'm planning on getting one and adding a bluetooth remote music controller as a music player on my motorcycle.
Is this just the bare phone without SIM? But how do you know it though?
>>However you'd have to be insane to go into a store
Why?
>>However you will never get third party roms for it.
Again, Why?
There's plenty of sensors --and opportunities-- for less than $10.
- Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 1.2 GHz Dual-Core MSM8610
- 1.9 GHz CDMA PCS, 800 MHz CDMA
- 65K Color TFT, 480 x 320 pixels, 3.8" (HVGA)
- 1,540 mAh / 7hours talk - 9day stand by
- microSD 4Gb (included) -- up to 32Gb
- 3MP Rear-Facing Fixed Focus Camera with Flash and WVGA Camcorder
- Accelerometer
- 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS
I'd like of another sensors not listed there; like light, proximity, or magnetic .. maybe anyone with the phone can confirm?
With this thing, I'd much prefer to wipe Android from it completely and install a custom Linux (or BSD) distribution, to get more control over how it works. Unfortunately, while this is most likely possible, by the time it gets stable the phone will probably have vanished from the market. The profit margin on these cheap devices is so slow it only takes a tiny market shift to drive them into unprofitability.
1: http://blog.voltagex.org/2015/08/01/booting-the-nexus-4-from...
Looks like Ubuntu, Bodhi and something else all came out with distros for the N7, and then all gave up on them. The only current one is Ubuntu Touch, which is a total dead loss. (They've disabled apt-get...)
At the moment I'm trying to run a Debian userland in a chroot, and it's not working particularly well. If only Android supported virtualisation!
It depends which Nexus 7, but your path will be something like mine: get a kernel running (even if it doesn't complete booting), get libhybris [1] working, get userland working.
You're going to need some kind of serial-out for this.
1: https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris/porte...
Edit: https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Nemo may be useful for both of us
- car GPS tracker (its actually smaller than dedicated ones)
In the past I'd see low end devices for $50 or less but $10 is honestly hard to believe. Even if all you use it for is a handful of desktop widgets that turn things on/off that's already cheaper than some regular remotes and switches, much less ones that give you information and can be customized to look however I want or perform different tasks.
Would be nice to use them for voice control too, I am hoping Amazon will release some Alexa apps/APIs that are not tied to specific hardware
Agree with you on 1. and 2. though. One day you'll be able to run full linux on more hardware like this
I'd love to use something like this to monitor the water in a tank on a hillside. The battery + the Cell connectivity + (potentially) the camera would be perfect. (I'm sure there are suitable solar phone chargers that would work with it too)
It's so cheap I could afford to break a few...
If you need remote logging, the 3G Particle Electron boards (particle.io) should be released soon, which I'm pretty excited for.
Has anyone traced the origin of this model? Is it remaindered stock from somewhere (and therefore a sunk cost)?
They are designed to sell minutes/data plans.
No contract needed but unless an unlock is available, you are stuck with their minutes/data rates.
Target stores had "Brightspot" which is a T-Mobile mvno and it went under, but they had $10 phones with these same specs last year at this time.
http://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Valet-Android-Prepaid-TracFone/dp/...
http://androidforums.com/threads/lg-306g-running-android.900...
http://tracfonereviewer.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html
http://www.amazon.com/LG-Optimus-Exceed-Verizon-Prepaid/dp/B...
$20
Twice the memory at 1gb and the screen is something like 800x400
But they are locked to verizon 3g network, not gsm and definitely not lte.
The smallest/cheapest thing that can hyperbolicaly yet somewhat reasonably be called a supercomputer nowadays IMHO is a PC with several beefy GPUs.
(Actually, I recently had an opportunity to get some tablets for $8/piece from a bank that was getting rid of the equpiment, but unfortunately me&my friends got outbidded by some company :<.)
EDIT: any source for tablets that are less than $40 / piece and decent enough to work as wall-hanged touchscreens (doesn't look like total crap, is able to run Android and some apps while connected to Wi-FI without getting unresponsive) would be much appreciated.
http://www.seeedstudio.com/document/pdf/Shenzhen%20Map%20for...
http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Display-Wi-Fi-GB-Includes/dp/B00T...
$50 for 1
$250 for 6 ($41.67 each)
While it's certainly true that the cpu/memory are faster or better than an iphone was 8 years ago.. and at such a low price.. when people compare specifications they always lose perspective on build quality.
It's very hard to quantify that from a product data sheet, but if this thing was built like a early 00's Nokia, then it would be worth a lot.
But for $10, do you need a smartphone at all? why not grab one of those "burners" that have a battery life of 2 months which additionally can survive some abuse?
I understand that for $10 people should curb their expectations, but the title is comparing apples to oranges.
"$400 smartphone from 8 years ago with high build quality vs $10 phone now with unknown build quality"
http://detroitography.com/2015/11/13/map-detroits-digital-di...
For poorer people, a smartphone may be their only access to the Internet.
My only negative would be that the touch screen accuracy is sometimes subpar which is a real hindrance when trying to find a starter smartphone for tech curious retirees.
Sometimes you don't need a smartphone with decent specs, but you'd still like to use Whatsapp, Uber, etc.
This isn't being sold as quality at all though, and I think that most people will be well aware of the build difference between this and an Apple product or similar.
That are talking about what it can do when working, not how long it will work for.
> But for $10, do you need a smartphone at all?
As has already been mentioned, for some a mobile phone is their only Internet access so a cheap device with something approaching modern smartphone features could be quite a boon for those in that economic category.
Also for the slightly better off they are a good choice for kids. It might keep from trying to grab your phone (though they'll still want your's for the better games a higher spec device can play), at the price it doesn't matter as much if they break the thing, and if you disable network access (or just don't put a SIM in at all) so they just use WiFi it'll not cost any extra beyond the initial price.
They would also be useful as an emergency spare, for when you need one (due to loss or damage of your main phone) and a less capable burner isn't sufficient.
As ten bucks combined with prepaid cards this phone is astounding. If not a loss leader think of it this way, anyone could buy these with phone cards and hand them out like candy
Of course, this is fundamentally a "look how far we've come in a short time" article.
As for "why not grab a burner", many of the people who will buy this device won't have internet at home (assuming they have a home--a recent Harvard study showed that 40% of the homeless in Boston had a smartphone), so internet access through a smartphone has huge value.
It is still amazing that technology has evolved to the point of finding a similar phone 2 orders of magnitude cheaper. Especially when you think of all the stuff that were going on at the time of the iPhone like the OLPC. Good reference point also to compare with today expensive technologies that ship with subpar performance, like all those "smart appliances" that cost thousands and offer ridiculously small performance, or car entertainment systems that even in luxury cars can be beaten by a 10$ phone.
A colleague uses this site with a class set of iPods on the open College wifi (clean feed/walled garden).
A cheapo device of this nature would allow access to pdfs of lessons and socrative quizzes whenever for the minority of teenager students who do not get Internet access at home or have a device of their own. The 'slush fund' could stretch to one of these if they can use wifi.
[1] https://www.panic.com/blog/the-lightning-digital-av-adapter-...
512mb of memory (which is limiting)
480x320 screen (this is the weakest part)
dual core (which is nice for the price)
Obviously in the latter case the money is made on the contract, not on the phone.
It's fine if you just want a cheap phone. I only use it for calls, because that's all I've been able to do with the phone. So, even though it has Internet access; I haven't got it to work.
Oh yea, you need to unlock the screen whenever you call, and the touch screen software has a bug in it. It's hit it miss if you can access the answer button.
That said, if you don't have much money, or hate paying huge monthly bills--this phone plan is fine. The phone is chitty. I have a iPhone 4, and an android I use at home. Both are not with a carrier, but work for my needs.
Will I buy another year's worth of minutes--maybe? I like not paying a monthly phone bill to some company that I really never cared about, and only frustrated me, for years, with their rediculious billing practices.
Kinda messed up, still even for the UK that phone is a steal price wise.
Vectonemobile runs on the T-Mobile network and been pretty good coverage wise for me over O2's network.
Also if you port your number they give you £15, maybe some other deals - was just happy for cheap PAYG unlimited data myself.
Now worth noting if you have the old deal Three did that allowed tethering then may want to keep hold of that if you use that feature.
In the UK can get for £10 (7.50 for 3 months)
unlimited calls/text and...data.
Where should I look to find unlimited data, calls and texts for £10/month?
[1] http://www.knowyourmobile.com/mobile-phones/4g-uk/16065/unli...
Your right about fair usage but never had an issue myself and had moments of heavy usage often hitting around 15GB+
First of all, the Sales Tax is tacked on when you buy a phone, and in the case of subsidized phones it can be more than the advertised cost of the phone..
As far as monthly bills:
1) there are a number of legally mandated taxes that are added on.
2) There are legally required services (e.g. emergency phone calls, our equivalent of 999) that the phone company is required to provide, and the phone company won't include the costs of these in the advertised price.
3) Whatever the hell else they want to add on as a fee. My provider adds a $10/mo. fee for a smartphone and another $10/mo. fee if the phone is capable of 4g. This means any smartphone that isn't more tan 2 years old will be $20 more per month than advertised.
I end up paying about $180/mo. for two lines with unlimited data where the advertised price is $99/mo. for 1 line and $20 for each additional.
[edit] And if you're curious, this does not include tethering, which would be an additional per-month fee were I to want it.
Pretty outrages they charge for 911 access and more so they charge for you having a smartphone when they still charge you for data - criminal I'd say.
Still, thought it may be cheaper, which is more messed up and ironically you won't get charged to be able to do 911 calls, or premium for owning a phone that thinks it is smart etc etc.
Crazy but heck, why not offshore your phone provider and teach companies a lesson.
So yeah, we are already in a era where you can buy an internet device + phone for as little as $20-$30.
Unless your target audience is exclusively wealthy people who run only recent iOS devices. In which case, carry on.
But if you are building something that needs to be widely available then this should be one of the devices on which you do extensive testing.
/rant of a classic hardware enthusiast
The invisible costs are huge.
Chips are cheap on the margin; the big expensives are chip design, testing, and constructing fabs at evershrinking scales.
The only plausible way imho is if all the stock to make it was already fabbed and not sold, so either they lose the already invested money or discount it significantly to minimize loss (and it'd still be a net loss)
I encourage people to spend a bit more on various vendors and encourage what little diversity we can. Not sure what to do otherwise aside from not carrying a mobile.
Anyone got good project ideas for a lazy weekend? I was thinking of a Sonos replacement.
I also can't figure out who the carrier on this phone is.
I haven't, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's locked. Even if it could be unlocked easily, it's not likely you'll find anyone developing for it. It's not listed on the XDA Developers website, which is the authority on Android phone hacking.
> I also can't figure out who the carrier on this phone is.
It's in the first line of the article:
"Walmart is now selling a TracFone-branded LG smartphone that costs $9.82 (it also ships free if your online order total tops $50)."
TracFone is one of the many brands of conglomerate América Móvil, and sister brand of Walmart-sold Net10 Wireless and Straight Talk Wireless. They are MVNOs, leasing spectrum and bands from the major US carriers; I've used Straight Talk in the past on both AT&T's and T-Mobile USA's networks. At one time TracFone was Sprint PCS only, but I believe you can get TracFone devices that use any of the major carrier networks now.
And the government won't pay, they'll be scavenged out of the trash.
at&t mvno for gsm (usually) and verizon mvno for cdma markets
And also because I saw Dave Jones do a teardown of one of these things. He tried turning it on with no SIM and it said "please insert SIM" instead of booting to Android.
Bonus points for Ireland/UK related
Appreciate it!
that's too bad :(
Kitkat marked the transition of android webview to be based on chrome but it wasn't made updateable.
Lollipop upwards have an updateable android webview which tracks the latest chrome version and isn't very far behind usually.
I should have been more clear mentioning from 4.4 onwards you can debug a webview in a app(for all those hybrid apps).
So the big takeaway isn't that you can get a cheap mp3 player, it's that technology will rapidly improve and decrease in price once it hits the mainstream. Now if we could only applie this to consumer robotics, genetics, or renewable energy.
But it wasn't really top notch back in the days either. I had a Droid/Milestone and the iPhone just looked and felt like some plastic garbage in comparison to it. It took the Apple til the iPhone 4 it became a real gem and now it seems that they're going back.