

The Cheap Android Phone Is Here, But It's Not What You'd Expect. - pdelgallego
http://www.osnews.com/story/25118/The_Cheap_Android_Phone_Is_Here_But_It_s_Not_What_You_d_Expect

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Steko
Given the similar specs on HTC Sensation (shipping 1.2 Ghz not 1.5) which
sells for $550 unsubsidized leads us to some possible conclusions:

(1) Xiaomi is going with razor thin margins on this first model to establish
their name.

(2) $310 price unlocked won't apply for most of the people reading this.

(3) time to short higher margin android handset shops like HTC as
commoditization hits with a vengeance.

(4) Conversely high end component makers look to win out as low margin phones
explode everywhere and vendors bid for high end chips, screens and batteries.

~~~
wnight
All of the above.

Well #1 for sure. And they'll sell the phone for more where possible, but also
play the other side by selling it dirt cheap via the net just to grow, so #2.

And yeah, #4. We're always going to need components and without a pesky OS
vendor to demand a cut HW manufacturers will either make more, or simply win
through increased volume at the new low prices. I'm sure a lot of us are
waiting for the entrenched interests to crumble.

So #3, for sure. As the market opens up, and cheap hardware like this makes
everyone a potential android developer, the high-margin players are relegated
to the more clueless of their customer base as the rest are enticed away.

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spinchange
It's "cheap" (aggressively priced) insofar as the value you are getting at
that price point, not absolute price tag. The 'not what you'd expect' is that
they are competing on price _and quality_

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wccrawford
I don't consider $310 'cheap' or 'mindblowing'.

~~~
gacba
A $99 unlocked phone would be both, IMO. Just like the TouchPad went
ionospheric at that price, the sub $100 phone with that kind of power would
likely do the same.

The issue isn't just carrier subsidy in this case, having an uber-cheap
Android phone will open up huge markets that are currently underserved by
smart phones (Africa, anyone?). There are projects afoot that would greatly
benefit from seriously cheap, capable hardware right now--my friend is working
on a water finder project for rural areas in poor countries (think Botswana in
the sticks) to help track well quality and production. This is a huge issue
for these areas and having something that is as powerful as Android with GPS
and network capabilities is a game changer.

At $310, that's a harder sell. At $99, it's a no brainer.

~~~
wmf
$80 Android phones are available:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2892031>

This article is pointing out that cheap _high-end_ Androids (superphones?) are
also becoming available.

~~~
AlexeyMK
I'm partial to Companion Devices, or Companions, if you're looking for a
better word than smartphone.

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epsilondelta
Anyone who knows anything about the Chinese mobile phone market would not be
surprised about something like the Xiaomi phone being labeled "innovative." As
much as Chinese companies have a reputation for making cheap knockoffs and
cloning anything from baby food to Apple stores, there's a significant and
competitive domestic Chinese market for cell phones which does reward
innovation. Not necessarily YC-caliber innovation, but cell phones became
prevalent and dominant in China faster than in the West, because of the large
domestic market, low regulations, and international manufacturers eager to
jumpstart the market. For example, Motorola was for a while the largest
foreign business in China and was the market leader in mobile devices. Cheap
operating costs and a rising affluent middle class = lots of cell phones sold.

You want an anecdote? I remember when I was in China in 2003. (Or 2004. Around
that time.) Back here in the US, Motorola RAZRs were sorta popular. Here's an
image for comparison of scale:

[http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/2498240940_80a83f70e9.jp...](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/2498240940_80a83f70e9.jpg)

In China, the popular phones were very different. They were much smaller, they
had more varied ringtones, they were more colorful. And they were not all
Motorola phones either, Chinese domestic manufacturers were all trying to make
their phones as thin, sleek, and minimalist as possible. (Sound familiar?)
Since then Motorola has lost a lot of market share to Chinese manufacturers
who mostly are not delivering tasteless clones. Part of it is that expensive
cell phones become a status symbol, and the people who can afford those phones
take them seriously. I couldn't find any pictures by Googling combinations of
"china," "cell phone," "2003," etc. So take my word on it or not, but that was
the case. (Of course, the Xiaomi device looks like an iPhone. But then
everything looks like an Apple product these days.)

What's the moral of the story? Don't be like Motorola, don't throw away your
Chinese market share, and don't force Google to acquire you just for your
overpriced IP.

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eekfuh
> It's faster than any other smartphone

Higher clockspeed != faster. One thing I've noticed about a few products from
China and even on Android device variants, that this number does not
definitively make it faster. Niether does the addition of a "fast" GPU and
loads of ram.

Maybe its because China tends to write poor drivers and on Android,
manufacturers and carriers love to add their own custom UI or applications
that take a toll on the speed and experience.

~~~
joenathan
Did you even watch the video demo? sounds like you are just running wild with
your predetermined judgments.

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Apocryphon
Are there any other currently existing smartphones that are even cheaper? The
comments there mention the ZTE Blade.

~~~
angusgr
I have a Huawei Sonic (successor to the Ideos), cost $180AU unlocked and I
like it very much. My previous smartphone was an iPhone 3GS.
<http://projectgus.com/2011/08/huawei-sonic-review/> . Specs are not high end
like the phone mentioned in the article, but its very usable.

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yason
Well, it's all relative. A $310 for a phone is quite expensive but can be
considered a decent price if you insist on those specs. But it's still
something like a luxury toy. There are cheaper smartphones already on the
market priced well below $100-$130 and there are genuinely cheap Android
phones, too.

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Xlythe
For 100$ Android phones, there's the Samsung Gio (800mhz). Aside from it's
small screen, I don't have any complaints. It comes with Android 2.3.

But obviously, for the specs listed, no phone competes at that price. It makes
me wonder what margins they're expecting per phone.

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jinushaun
An awesome custom ROM which looks to finally match iOS in its awesomeness and
smoothness, but that begs the question: what version of Android is it running?
Can I upgrade this thing?

~~~
ag3mo
MIUI is currently running Android 2.3.5. These guys push out a new build of
MIUI every Friday and I highly recommend it over any other ROM. Been running
it on my EVO since late last year and never want to go back to stock. There's
ports for a bunch of different devices here: <http://miui.us/>

~~~
cageface
Does the MIUI rom alter the stock Android UI in any significant way?

How do they achieve better performance than other roms? Better drivers or just
more tuning?

~~~
ag3mo
It's a lot more iOS like. No more app drawer, instead all your applications
are icons on the homescreens or in folders on the homescreen. Also there's an
iOS like dock at the bottom where you can put up to 5 icons.

I can't really comment on how they get the better performance cause it's
closed source. All the ports for the various devices are using the drivers
from CyanogenMod I believe so it just has to be better tuning.

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wanorris
I don't suppose they'd be willing to make one with a keyboard?

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ww520
Is there any "cheap" Android phone that has reasonable support for Flash 10.x?
I need one mainly for dev testing.

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arihant
HTC Wildfire is about $80 cheaper than this. Ships with Froyo.

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nollidge
Wow, a video with an ad I can't even pause or stop. That is absolutely evil.

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CJefferson
After 30 seconds of googling, I can get the "LG GT540 Optimus" unlocked for
$129, and it can be updated to Android 2.3.

This phone certainly isn't the cheapest android phone, so I'm not sure what
it's selling point is.

~~~
JonLim
My mom got an LG Optimus cause she wanted a smartphone with wifi without
having to shell out the cash for an iPhone or Android phone.

It has a terrible screen, is hardly responsive, and is only useful as a phone.
And barely, considering how difficult it was to place a call using that awful
screen.

~~~
EwanG
I have an Optimus LG V. While the way it came from the box sounds familiar, I
have to say that rooting the phone and installing the Bumblebee Rom has made
it incredibly reliable and reasonably responsive (being able to overclock to
850 helps). I replaced my dying Nexus One with this, and I can't say I've
missed much (other than a real version of flash, but I have a tablet for that
stuff).

