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QVGA (320x480) is a different aspect ratio than most Android phones which are 480x800 or 480x854. The size makes it look bad, but the aspect ratio makes designing a layout that looks good on all handsets really hard. Guess which one will get left out.

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When the choice is between "no smartphone" and "smartphone with suboptimal/clumsy layout", guess which one gets picked?

Not to mention that screen res and "looks good" is a specs geek problem not a real problem, anyhow. It somehow isn't stopping people (in Kenya, where I am in Australia, presumably all round the world at all economic levels) from finding these phones useful.

Have one in Australia, the aspect ratio is more of a problem for Market manifests blocking downloads than actual usage - once you get an .apk, most apps scale such that they are still usable.

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