It isn't a smartphone, it's a computer. This is the real "one laptop per child".<p>It is truly disruptive: in 1.5 years (Feb 2013), that $80 will buy twice the RAM, processing power, flash etc (or sooner, as they may well beat Moore's law via economies of scale).<p>Wow, I got shivers up and down my spine at the <i>Medkenya</i>: as usual, disruptive platforms carry disruptive applications atop. This can really change the world. All the great things that computers can do, these "smartphones" can do - not just angry birds.<p>Apple can't compete here, because they are only interested in cutting-edge technology that will not work unless it is put together with great ingenuity. It's essential that someone lights the way as Apple does; but it does mean that they have to keep inventing the next new thing to remain viable.<p><i>EDIT</i> oddly, they are priced $176-249 here in Australia (our AUD is currently worth 5% more than the USD). Guess it's priced by market. And of course, you still need to pay for connectivity (I wonder how much that costs in Kenya?). A review and specs: <a href="http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/mobile_phones/huawei/ideos_u8150/363402" rel="nofollow">http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/mobile_phones/huawei/id...</a>
I work in Rwanda (<a href="http://www.nyaruka.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nyaruka.com/</a>) and we're currently doing a project for an NGO that is using the Ideos for a variety of different things, the pricepoint really is amazing.<p>For one, we're using them to act as SMS gateways to generate activation codes. Essentially they receive confirmation messages for mobile payments to a particular number and we wrote an Android app that generates a unique activation code and sends it back to the payer. Better than a PC because it's cheap, has redundant power, redundant network and better connectivity with the GSM world.<p>The other task we're using them for is to act as network attached barcode scanners for inventory control. Essentially using the camera to read QR codes and allowing people to move / receive / send inventory using a rich app interfacing to the cloud based backend we are building. They are amazing for that.<p>I guess my point is that this isn't just a milestone for the consumer, it is a milestone to have an easily programmable, portable, GSM connected device with a camera and a touchscreen that only costs $80. Nothing else compares.
Hi, kenyan guy here. I bought the ideos 3 months ago. Love the android OS, I'm writing this using swype n what a breeze. the battery life off the phone is a but of an issue but if u disable things like GPS then you can get almost a full day worth of charge.<p>About data plans, i usually subscribe to 10MB per day at a cost of 8shillings(about 0.1 of a dollar). Though you can subscribe to 25MB pet day at cost of 0.25 of a dollar. You can also subscribe to unlimited data plan for 30 dollars per month. Of course this are figures for my carrier but those from other carriers don't differ by much.<p>I can say most people will move to android (at least my friends are planning to after seeing my apps). I mean, they were impressed by th fact that they can listen to any song using my jango android app.
I've said it before, but I'll repeat myself: Android will be the dominant OS of this decade (found in phones, tablets, netbooks and other devices) because it is the only OS that is both fully modern and flexible enough to be adapted to whatever needs people have.<p>One thing I'd love to see from Google is more support for "platform developers" - docs, examples, tutorials and tools to help anyone get Android up and running on different devices.
When I was travelling in Scotland I bought ZTE smartphone android 2.2 for 50 pounds without a contract just to use Google maps instead of paying expensive 10 pounds per day rental GPS. The touchscreen is horrible but the phone itself is pretty responsive ,Skype worked fine.
Basically throw away smartphone for two weeks of vacation.
I thought the article was a little low on content; found this one somewhat better written and more informative: <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/37877/?a=f" rel="nofollow">http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/37877/?a=f</a><p>Will probably be visiting Kenya shortly, so I'm definitely going to have a look at how 'mobile' is being used over there!
FWIW, T-Mobile USA sells this same phone stateside as the Comet[1] for $125 outright.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=T-Mobile-Comet" rel="nofollow">http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?c...</a>
Fantastic to hear about computing reaching the hands of the world's poorest. I wonder if poor battery life would be an issue in areas with limited access to electricity, but this could be powerful even if it reaches the more urban areas.<p>I love that it has a camera. I believe that omnipresent cameraphones have been an underrated deterrent for crime and government brutality in the last 10 years (in more developed countries).
I couldn't find much about data plan pricing in Kenya, but if I'm reading this[1] page right, there are unlimited plans for the equivalent of about USD $10 per month. Really not that bad.<p>[1] <a href="http://kalahari.xtgem.com/internet_tarrifs_in_kenya" rel="nofollow">http://kalahari.xtgem.com/internet_tarrifs_in_kenya</a>
Why no mention of that badly photoshopped image of the girl supposedly holding the phone?<p><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Kenyan.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Kenyan....</a><p>Beneath which they say 'Hwawei's IDEOS smartphone' -- meaning Huawei.
I have a variant of that Huawei phone charging in front of me. The battery life is appalling - It is charged twice a day. Luckily there are android mods that have multitouch integrated back into the rom.<p>However I paid €25 for it on prepay after a rebate from my operator. An incredibly inexpensive device!
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.
Why do we care about a $120 difference in the cost of the handset when you are going to sped at least $1600 on a contract over the 2 years you are required to sign it for?<p>Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't understand why anyone cares about the prices of phones (unless they're outrageously high i.e. the original iPhone's $500).
$80 in Kenya, with probably market-rate voice and data (ie, reasonably cheap) will never see the light in the USA.<p>First you have the IP battles (patents, trade-dress, etc), then you have a consolidated and generally anti-innovation telecom monopoly.<p>What will happen is that the feature and dumb phone will be killed by cheap Androids... this will be mildly threatening to (currently) weak smartphone lines like WP7 and Blackberry, but will leave the iPhone unscathed for the near future.<p>Any prognostication more than 2 years out is useless (what happens when the real FacePhone hits?)