Affordable Andriod Phones | Telecom Consumer Discussion Forums

I thought I would chime in after reading the list, in all honesty I don’t buy into the cheap phone logic purely down to lack of guarenteed software support – I’m a software person so this matters to me but for most pick up and go is all they need and these devices will certainly accomplish that. After reviewing the list the Starmobile Icon is the standout device for me – it happens to be one of the most pricey and while pixels dont matter it does play a part in the 5-12 region so that 8 pixel rear facing shooter alongside a front facing 5 mega pixel shooter (which is unusual with most being in the 2megapixel range even on ‘high end devices’)

The one big let down on the Starmobile Icon would probably be the lack of a 2200 mAh battery like on the Torque droid motion keeping in mind it’s pushing more pixels although it’s probably running a less power hungry Qualcomm processor (mediatek + dual sim = power drain) If your not overly concerned about camera quality then Huawei Ascend G525 is basically the same device with a 5mega pixel rear shooter and a terrible 0.3 megapixel front facing camera and slightly smaller batter but a 1000 peso saving – for me I would cough up the extra 1000 for that cam quality.

The Flame 2 would likely get my second place, its big let down for me would be the older version of android and no sign of an over-the-air (OTA) coming forth in the future and poor 1600 battery (its pushing 245 pixels, two sims, possibly 3G/HSDP+ your facing a very often recharge of batter replacement rate)

just my two cents.

It’s a good device, certainly when you consider price but at least on paper compared to the other two it’s pushing a lot of pixels and a small battery as i noted it’s a huge display and filipinos love to rock full brightness! So that battery wont last long and again I’m a software guy so running outdated software would irritate me too no end but for it’s price point it’s a decent phone but then if you shop around the Lenovo devices are on par and have a huge brand backing them – local doesn’t imply bad and it’s not what im aiming to get across (samsung is in every word of the sense ‘local phone’ in south korea.

I think for me one of these vendors to really get a grip on the market needs to pick up on the software side, importing these devices from china as they do with the mediatek powered devices and sticking a quick custom tweak or two is fine as it keeps the device light and doesn’t distract the user but – updates ? you buy a device in this day and age you expect updates and the local vendors dont deliver in that area – it Cherry mobile as a prime example took near 2 months to address an issue on the CM Flame in regards to multi finger touch (the device was locked to two finger input but was capable of 5 finger input) 

My advice as ever is try before you buy and try everything! camera, wifi, sound, video anything you can try it with a demo unit.

I agree, to most of what your saying obviously you purchase whats within your means purchasing outside such is laughable those that do it simple bring trouble unto themselves. However if you purchase a device with wifi, gps, bluetooth etc etc then it implies you intend to use such features, I’m aware many people purchase such devices simply to use facebook, skype, whatsapp for the free calling functionality it providers and I’m all for it I just feel that if the local vendors wished to do ‘better’ at what they are doing already then inhouse or local software developments would provide a fantastic platform for those local vendors to push on.

Acer and Lenovo sure, good manufacturers more so Acer than Lenovo however but Compaq pretty much do not exist anymore since being taken over by HP years ago – wouldnt touch those. Just for the sake of clarity we are all aware how the local phones in both India and PH come to be right ?

What happens is phone manufactures normally in china as they are the cheapest list on the usual Chinese sites (they aint hard to find) then they (local vendors) spec the device and order a shipment of significant value (500-1000 units) and ask for specific modifications logo added, boot screen logo, etc etc

They then get distributed out to you the user as ‘local phones’ and no before anyone asks I dont have an issue with this but the biggest ugh factor i do have with these phones is the lack of software support provided with them but thats not for everyone so no big deal – a cheap phone that works.. all for it..

I find it funny however when you goto a local vendor and none of the phones look alike.. I think really only cloudfone and 0+ in PH have managed to get phones that look similar between models – is that a bad thing .. nope goto a samsung store and everymodel from a specific genre looks the same – so it adds some variety