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New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

arstechnica.com

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Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#21

Post by amiga-workbench »

bruceb wrote: post #19

Not sure what the point of this article is. There are plenty of Quad core, 2gb ram, 16gb phones for under $100 already available in the US. Of course some are initially locked but they are locked to MVNO that have relatively cheap plans $20-$40 a month. This configuration (Quad,2gb,16gb) seems like a good minimum that you can use most apps without major problems and have enough space to not uninstall stuff all the ti…

I'm pretty much through buying "flagship" devices due to the pathetically short software support lifetime they have, I bought a second hand Xperia Z5 Compact for £150 about 6 months ago and loaded Lineage OS onto it.

Even my old Xperia Z3 has a port of Oreo available, and its perfectly functional.

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#23

Post by StudentStuff »

tudelo wrote: post #13
StudentStuff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the idea, but with only 8GB of internal storage, using Progressive Web Apps for things like Reddit would be best.

Hah. I have a phone with 5GB (probably marketed as 6 but I don't remember) and you really can not have many apps installed at once. Add to it the fact that if you run something like Spotify it will cache like 1GB of data over a few days. I have something different every week. As a bonus, it keeps my home screen free of almost any icons...

It almost certainly has 8GB of storage, but Android + Google Apps eats a bit under 3GB of space. Worst part is, when you update those Google Apps, the version of Gapps your phone shipped with isn't deleted :(

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#24

Post by StudentStuff »

ktpsns wrote: post #18
StudentStuff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even compared to a $5 Android Tracfone you can get at any Safeway, these are pretty underwhelming. Why would I pay 12x more and only get double the RAM & LTE compared to a $5 Alcatel Android phone? Essentially the only reason is for modern Android, but its not as though any of these Android phones (except the Nokia) will ever see multiple years of software updates.

Can you provide a link to a shop where to buy a smartphone for $5?

Sure, I bought a bunch of LG Sunrise phones, but the current offer seems much better: https://slickdeals.net/f/11329603-8gb-alcatel-pop-icon-2-lte...

Brick and mortar only though, and stock varies. I usually power dial all the local stores, then go to the ones with the most stock and clean 'em out. Easy way to get a few dozen Androids in short order.

Sadly, at the $5 price point Amazon and eBay will never beat Brick & Mortar stores, as shipping is more than half the cost.

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#25

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

tudelo wrote: post #11
jdietrich wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won't get a 4x for that price, but you can get a 5A for under $100. For that price you'll get a Snapdragon 425, 2GB of RAM, a surprisingly bright 720p display and a non-awful camera. I can only assume that these devices will sell for vastly below the listed price in their target markets, otherwise they're going to flop miserably. https://www.banggood.com/Xiaomi-Redmi-5A-Global-Edition-5_0-...

These phones seem like really good deals... too good to be true? I'm in the market for a cheap phone coming from a moto E 1st gen and these seem like promising options.

Moto E4 can be had for ~$130 unlocked. I got one as a temporary replacement for my beloved Moto G LTE until I could find a decent 4.5" phone. I'm mostly happy with it other than I wish it was smaller.

The Samsung 2017 A3 is what I wish I could get but thanks to pointless market segmentation, the only variant that works well in North America is impossible to buy and it's now being obsoleted by a replacement with a 5" screen.

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#26

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

tudelo wrote: post #13
StudentStuff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the idea, but with only 8GB of internal storage, using Progressive Web Apps for things like Reddit would be best.

Hah. I have a phone with 5GB (probably marketed as 6 but I don't remember) and you really can not have many apps installed at once. Add to it the fact that if you run something like Spotify it will cache like 1GB of data over a few days. I have something different every week. As a bonus, it keeps my home screen free of almost any icons...

They key is to get a phone with microSD support. Then Spotify and other apps can put their data on the card and relieve pressure from the limited on board storage.

You can also go for LineageOS with minimal to no GApps to free up some space on small memory phones.

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#27

Post by pishpash »

amiga-workbench wrote: post #21
bruceb wrote: post #19

Not sure what the point of this article is. There are plenty of Quad core, 2gb ram, 16gb phones for under $100 already available in the US. Of course some are initially locked but they are locked to MVNO that have relatively cheap plans $20-$40 a month. This configuration (Quad,2gb,16gb) seems like a good minimum that you can use most apps without major problems and have enough space to not uninstall stuff all the ti…

I'm pretty much through buying "flagship" devices due to the pathetically short software support lifetime they have, I bought a second hand Xperia Z5 Compact for £150 about 6 months ago and loaded Lineage OS onto it. Even my old Xperia Z3 has a port of Oreo available, and its perfectly functional.

Flagship is just companies trying to emulate Apple to fleece unsuspecting price-taking fools.

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#28

Post by emerod »

ktpsns wrote: post #18
StudentStuff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even compared to a $5 Android Tracfone you can get at any Safeway, these are pretty underwhelming. Why would I pay 12x more and only get double the RAM & LTE compared to a $5 Alcatel Android phone? Essentially the only reason is for modern Android, but its not as though any of these Android phones (except the Nokia) will ever see multiple years of software updates.

Can you provide a link to a shop where to buy a smartphone for $5?

You can get one online from Tracfone for $10, but then you have to pay shipping. https://shop.tracfone.com/shop/en/tracfonestore/phones/tf-al...

Re: New “Android Go” phones show how much you can get for $100

#30

Post by StudentStuff »

Grazester wrote: post #16
StudentStuff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful, this seems to just be another soon to be orphaned Android variant (like Android One). Uninstalling Google Play Newsstand and most of the other Google Crapware should get you close, perhaps replace Google Play Services Framework with microG to save a few hundred megs of space?

Go apps are stripped down version of their normal counterpart. These stripped down versions are smaller in size and maybe be optimized for slower internet services. Android Ones is still going well in places like India but Google usually has a say in what hardware is used on Android One phones as they push the updates for these devices. With Android Go any hardware can be used.

> Go apps are stripped down version of their normal counterpart.

They're slightly smaller, but the update model is still a total mess. You can never uninstall the baked in Google Apps, and updates are extremely bulky (basically storing a 2nd copy of each Google app).

> Android Ones is still going well in places like India

The #1 & #2 non-Apple phone manufacturers are totally uninterested, and Xiaomi (the current Android One leader) is effectively banned from India after spying on millions.

Nokia, the #3 phone manufacturer (excluding Apple), is showing tepid interest in Android One: https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/25/hmd-android-one-nokia/

But yet they're also bringing back FirefoxOS since low performing Android devices at high price points aren't pushing great volume: https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/kaios/

> With Android Go any hardware can be used.

Sounds like a great way to orphan a device with no software updates!

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