Fwd: Walmart is selling $10 Android phones [feedly]

[beernutz]

Saw this and instantly thought: $10 touchscreen Linux computer/controller.

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Walmart is selling $10 Android phones
// Ars Technica

What a difference a year makes. This time last year we were blown away
by the fact that you could get a smartphone for $35. Sure, you were
stuck running Firefox OS, but it was amazing to get a functional
pocket computer for that much money. Walmart's latest smartphone
selection makes that $35 Firefox phone look positively expensive,
though: America's biggest retailer is now selling an Android phone for
ten bucks.

Two phones, actually—the LG "Sunrise" L15G and LG "Lucky" LG16 are GSM
and CDMA versions of the same basic $10 TracFone prepaid phone. They
have a 3.8-inch 480×320 LCD, a quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 SoC, a
3MP rear camera, a 1540 mAh battery, and 4GB of storage with "up to
1.15 GB" of usable space.

The RAM isn't listed on LG's spec sheet. We're going to guess it's
more than "zero gigabytes," but not much more. The devices have Micro
SD slots and even come with a 4GB SD card. You get Wi-Fi B, G, and N,
along with Bluetooth 4.0. There's no NFC, 4G, or front-facing camera.

[Ray Scheufler]

I have a Sunrise.  I paid the princely sum of $20 for it from best buy.  That was a couple of months ago.  I cut up the back side of my phone to be able to install wireless charging.  Mine has some amount of fixed internal storage and also came with a 4GB micro sd card.  I don't know about the spec that they are listing.  My package says that it has a dual processor not a quad core snapdragon.

If anyone would like to play with it before gambling their $10, let me know at open house tomorrow evening.

Ray Scheufler

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[David Champion]

Might be nice if you could root it and install your own cyanogen / other rom.

-dc

[beernutz]

Looks like you can root it:
http://appuals.com/best-guide-steps-root-lg-l15g-android-4-4-2/

[Paul Mohr]

I have studied the phones for a customer and I still find it confusing. The idea of locked and unlocked and the networks that they are inter operable with.

I have taken a look at it several times and it seems to be a maze of technologies and patents as well as companies. I can understand how it is confusing to a non-technical person as I don't even get the big picture as it seems to be driven by companies to maximize profit by obfuscation.

It is less confusing than Chinese dialects and slang though.

Sent from my jPhone ,
 It is like an iPhone but uses the electrical engineering abbreviation for imaginary numbers instead, since it is imaginary.

[David Champion]

The US cell phone market is pretty messed up. Would have been nice if they all would have standardized, like most of the world does on GSM.

Sadly, seems like the best coverage around the Midwest, especially in rural areas is with the CDMA carriers.

-dc

[beernutz]

Are you sure that CDMA has the best coverage? My experience has been
the exact opposite. GSM has been MUCH better, and anecdotal evidence
from every one of my friends suggests the same.

[Ray Scheufler]

In central KS, Verizon CDMA is the best coverage.  It may be changing but it has been that way all through when I was in school.

Ray Scheufler

[Brett Neese]

My understanding is that GSM requires that towers be closer to each other to function well, which works well for dense Europe and much of the rest of the Western world but not as well for us and that's partially why CDMA gained ground over GSM.

However, to make matters more confusing, technically AT&T's 3G service is W-CDMA based and LTE is really its own thing, though it is based more on GSM than CDMA.

While I'll bet there is some deception/shady marketing going on, really it's just a matter of different standards of quality, and the fact that we were one of the first major cellular markets and are still cleaning up the spectrum mess we created for ourselves.

It may help to think of a phone like a radio. An AM-only radio can't pick up FM signals but AM radio can travel much further. But FM has better sound. And some radios do both and also pick up shortwave signals! 

[Nabil Hanke]

It's more than technical. Yeah you have confusingly identicalish standards on differing spectrum - creating almost identical handsets, differing standards, then marketing lingo including partial G increments... Whatever..

What's more frustrating is how abundantly slimy it all is. Even after you say "yes,I want you as my carrier" they still try to confuse the crap out of you to hide how badly they want to screw you over. Ugh... I'll hold back the venting, but trust me, I've been in multiple discussions in the last two weeks to get a game plan on our companywide upgrade. NIGHTMARE!!!

[Benjamin Miller]

There are a lot of phones now that will work on any major carrier's network: the Moto X Pure Edition, various Nexus devices, and I believe the last few generations of iPhones.

It costs money to include antennas for different bands, and a lot of money to FCC test those bands for radiated emissions.  Most phones in this country are purchased by carriers to sell to individuals, so it makes sense they aren't going to pay for more frequency bands than they need.

- Benjamin Miller <b...@benjamintmiller.com>
________________________________________
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
    - Antoine de Saint-Exup'ery, In Design

[Ray Scheufler]

Additionally, to be effective antennas must occupy quite a bit of physical space and different antennas need to be separated from each other to prevent interference.  Phones must have a 2.4Ghz antenna for bluetooth and wifi.  They also need an antenna for their cell network.  When you start adding more antennas for more bands the back side of the phone starts to get pretty crowded but everyone want smaller more compact phones.

Ray Scheufler