Android OS is subversive? ($25 smartphone)

"...the Android OS is subversive and changes the math insofar as handset development is concerned. Once Apple figured out what was going on, it fired Google's Eric Schmidt from its board. Microsoft stayed clueless and decided to do an unnecessary third OS for these phones."
That statement is in this article
"Former Apple CEO Sculley's Revenge: A $25 Phone"
BY JOHN C. DVORAK (no dummy, eh?)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2469542,00.asp?obref=obinsite

I'm wondering just what is meant by the first sentence. Also what y'all think of a $25 phone…would you buy that? Can we get it in America? (or other places you Hoffmanites come from)

 

Dvorak is a misleading sensationalist because he has no other means to draw an audience. There is no $25 smartphone, Scully’s Obi phone costs >$75, Scully makes no mention of a $25 one, and Microsoft does have a fantastic $50 (no contract) smartphone.

 

As a Microsoftie whose software has been unfairly panned by a know-nothing "tech" journalist from a London online news rag, I can second GreenDrazi's assertion about Dvorak. Sensational sells ads. Integrity does not.

 

Dvorak is a sensationalist idiot.
There is no $25 Android phone, or $75 Android phone. At least not in a form that any Westerner would want.
Think of the Amazon Fire devices and knock them down a lot in features (hardware and software and services) and you'll end up with something that no Westerner would want. It's already near impossible to get people to even want an Amazon Fire device because of their limitations. Getting Western people to want one of those cheap Android based phones? Ain't gonna happen. Which is why those cheap Android based phones are being marketed to Africa and India.

Those cheap phones will have no services. They'll be more limited than the Amazon Fire devices. No interaction with Google services. No Microsoft services. No app store. No Google Play store. No maps. No anything that people think of as helpful and necessary as a smartphone.

Android OS is available in a freeware form. Which is what Amazon uses. But that freeware form does not allow you to use (in fact explicitly forbids) taking advantage of Google services and the Google Play store and even certain APIs. Which is why the Amazon Fire devices are so crippled. Amazon has attempted to replace those missing services with their own. But even with Amazon's resources they've not been successful enough with that to get people to accept it as anything other than a crippled device.

This $25 Android phone that Dvorak the idiot is saying will take over the world does not exist. Amazon Fire will take over the world before those cheap Androids will. And the Android Fire ain't doing that. Nobody wants it.

 

You can get phones such as the Moto G (1st gen) with no contract for under $75, or maybe even under $50. And I know Westerners that use them.

 

$75 or $50 would be for a well used one or a stolen Craigslist one. Finding an unlocked new one or a gently used one will cost you $140 and up according to a quick Google search.

A cheap "smart" phone without Google services, Apple services, or Microsoft services is not much of a smart phone by Western standards. The cheap phones that Dvorak is talking about won't have those services. Which makes Dvorak's vision of those phones taking over any part of the Western market very suspect.

 

My $125 unlocked Samsung mini S3 works great down here in CR. Got it on Amazon new. And just slid a chip in down here. Works great. Could imagine some third world countries have smart phones now for around $50.

 

The problem is that a $50 third world phone version of an Android phone would not have any Google services. Try imagining your phone without any Google services. That means no Play store. No maps. No Google Now. No Gmail integration. No anything Google. What you'll be restricted to are manufacturer supplied apps (and they'll be awful and never updated) and trying to find any other apps on malware infested alternate app stores and/or learning how to sideload potentially malware infested apps. Nobody in the Western world wants that sort of experience. I doubt a company would even be able to give away a "smart" phone in the Western world that is like that. And Dvorak seems to think that such a phone would take over the Western world. Not a chance.

 

Not Android, but only costs $35:

"Testing a $35 Firefox OS phone—how bad could it be?"

 

That's the reality of devices designed to be cheap. Westerners aren't going to accept that. And Moore's Law isn't going to get that sort of device to catch up with Western user expectations any time soon. Keep in mind that Western user expectations of what is acceptable performance and usability will also be advancing. And these sorts of inexpensive and under performing devices will be more longer term before they are even remotely viable. Dvorak's vision of cheap devices taking over in the Western world ain't happening.

 

I bought a Galaxy S4 clone a couple of years ago for fun. Full Android suite, Google Store, Play, Maps, the lot. Performance was fine, the phone lasted just over a year and became glitchy.

The point is for the developing market of Asia and India where incomes are low but lots of financial transactions are done via a handset, currently on old models. This phone here would sell well. There are plenty of examples on Ebay and Amazon of Asian brands selling mimic products that work. So I would be less inclined to rubbish products like this. They have a valid place in the global market.

 

Oh I didn't post that implying such a phone would be acceptable here - it was just to show that a thirty-five dollar smartphone existed.

 

They do exist. But as far as Westerners are concerned they may as well not exist because no-one will accept that level of quality.

Just 15 minutes ago I read this on my local TV new web site:
http://www.katu.com/news/problemsolver/Safety-Concerns-with-a-Popular-Tablet-303962901.html
A $50 tablet that is bursting due to expanding, nearly exploding, batteries. And sold by Walmart, the king of cheap products that might burn your house down (Walmart has also sold too cheap surge protector power strips that have burned down homes). Beware.

How about we send Dvorak a big box of these cheap $25 phones he imagines and force him to keep all of them charged. Is he willing to risk burning down his own home on his ideas of what the future of cheap Android smart phones will be?

 

Fires you say...?

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/...injures-man-after-catching-fire-in-his-pocket

The point is that it's not just $35 phones that can overheat, this is a problem that potentially affects any phone (even my Sony has started to overheat following the recent Android upgrade). QC is the issue here I think.

 

That happens with iPhones too. Fortunately it is very rare with iPhones and the premium level Androids.

It's the very cheap devices where exploding batteries are more common. Due to cheaper batteries with less QC, and also due to counterfeit level batteries with pretty much no QC finding their way into devices. If you're selling a device like this for $25 then QC will suffer. With no QC you end up with batteries that explode getting into the supply chain.

Moore's Law applies to semi-conductor devices. Doesn't apply so much to batteries and the cost of manufacturing devices like a smart phone. Moore's Law can reduce the cost of the processors and the circuit boards and the display screen that go into smart phones. But it can't do much for the rest of the costs and for the battery technology and for the risks of sub-standard batteries getting into the supply chain.

 

...Or 787s...!

 

And Teslas.

 

so if I am understanding this thread, 787s and Teslas will eventually be $25 due to Moore's Law?

 

I was really thinking of the overheating batteries on the new Dreamliner.

 

The smartphone I have by LG was introduced about this time last year in the US at $79 and I bought it on Black Friday for $10. It's locked to Tracfone, but I don't care - it has KitKat Android and a good processor, I see essentially the same thing hardware wise in AT&T and Verizon stores for around $80 or so. They have even been giving away refurbs for free with a $20 time card on and off, I got my wife one.