Ten weird Chinese mobile phones Shopping for a mobile phone this Christmas? You could make the easy choice and get an Apple iPhone 5, one of Samsung's recent releases or take a punt on whether enough apps will emerge to make the Nokia Lumia 920 worth your hard-earned cash. But no matter how refined those phones, they're also common as muck, so they're never …
Travelling regularly between two countries I do have a SIM for each for private use - in a dual SIM device. The third one, now in a separate handset, would be for business use. And I could easily add a forth one, e.g. prepaid, with a favourable deal for data. Pretty sure it's not just me...
I really really want a watchphone too. I actually had a look for one not long ago, but couldn't find any that aren't crap --- they're all featurephone grade, and I really want something with Android.
I did find this: http://www.linuxslate.org/Review_Z1_Android-2.2-Watch.html
...but it's less of a watchphone and more of a smartphone with a wristband. Also, Froyo, eeagh.
The one in the article may be a low-rent featurephone but at least it looks like a watch.
It should be easy to program. That way I could write software for it to do what I want it to do. Obviously telephony isn't really practicable with those, however a little "wristputer" with Internet access would be useful. The problem is that the input is quite limited, therefore you'd need software customized for your needs.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/19/10_paper_mobile_phone/
Pictures here: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/digestmobile2k1jan/index.html
Given it's shape, it's clearly designed for ninjas. You'll find that a user-definable keypress causes it to split in half revealing a set of shuriken inside, cunningly positioned between circuit boards so as to pass through airport security (they're visible, but not seen, IYSWIM).
No shit, there's a Lamborghini version of that same phone too.
http://www.chinatronic.com/products.php/LamborguiniX8/cPath,1
I cant say Id buy either of them myself but Im also not a masochist with a gold fetish.
Nor am I from New Jersey.
The sony-ericcson t303 i had a while back isnt much bigger than that tiddly phone, probably a lot more reliable as well.
Note that this isnt a recomendation, as a phone it was bloody awful with its lo-res mirrored screen that made it impossible to see outside (doesnt anyone fieldtest these things?), crippled bluetooth stack that wouldnt connect to anything and a truly awful keypad. It did feel good in the hand though, very solid.
tbh some of these are pretty interesting, I wouldn't want one but it's nice to see all the random ideas as opposed to rectangle screen (with or without round corners) with a button and a touch screen. Suppose that's the bonus when you barely have copyright or ip law and costs of manufacture are pretty low and you can get left over parts from any old factory.
when you consider the pure technical aspects of these products, it should make people sit up and think.
Apple couldn't make it's products in the West and, even if fully automated, couldn't do it for the price. And British readers shouldn't laugh, Britain doesn't even make cell handsets. Period.
These products represent viable products to the masses of Chinese, and Africans, who can't afford iThingies and highlight why Apple might not do so well in China. The Babiken is available in VietNam and is an affordable buy for school children. (The standby terminology used in their website means that incoming calls on any SIM will be detected,) With 16GB of SD memory priced at an honest $16.00 these things are set to sell.
The only area the Chinese fall down on is finish, but given they have the talents to make Apple and Samsung products, this area could be effectively addressed as if need be.
Gotta admit, for a 'party-phone' (One you're less likely to lose with a night out on the lash with the lads, or drop out of your shirt pocket when you're puking over the Great White Telephone in the bog), and at £50, price of a couple of beers, pack of fags and a decent 'Ruby Murry' it looks good to me. Think I'll have one. Tells the time, makes calls, no need to try to listen to the music when your buddies are yelling into a Karaoke microphone...
Actually, floats my boat! When I get my dole money, I'm going for it!
.. one of those suppliers to make an exact clone of the gun metal grey Motorola RAZR V3i, and only swap out the keyboard for something that is actually usable when there is more than 10 Lumen worth of light in the vicinity. Hell, I'll even suffer the same crap software as Motorola installed, and a dual SIM option would naturally be appreciated.
That silly thing is the most discrete, most portable PHONE I have had in my hands for as long as I have used phones (and I started with mobes just past the Motorola Brick years), and I still have them as they are small enough to fit in a suit pocket, yet large enough when open to place mike and speaker near where they actually physically are on my face.. I think it's getting time I got some new batteries for them. And spares, before they vanish. The physical design of that phone is nigh on perfect, and any flip phone after that has only been a poor imitation of that specific golden combination of elements (I did already exclude the keyboard from that praise, though).. Shame.
But hey, I still have a working 6310 as well :).
Bought some small credit card sized touch screen java phones a couple of years back £15 each (they were K9 model), they were great for receiving calls and the ring tones were great - no one and I mean no one had my ring tone on their phone. They were great for times when you needed to leave the expensive branded phone at home boating, beach etc....
Really enjoyed using them - until the time when I needed to make an outgoing call at that point I might as well have gone to the nearest pay phone - mental menus!
This sort of stuff is a lot more varied than digital watches, because of the variety possible in what smartphone tech can do. In the early days of digital watches, they were pretty much the same, and then the makers realised that these standard, rather cheap, circuit boards could be put into all sorts of different cases. There's a place for the cheap plastic, and a place for expensive quality. And when the analogue dial electronic watch appeared, it happened all over again.
I have a Chinese-made mechanical pocket watch with a skeleton movement. I doubt it will last, it was so cheap, but it is a marvel to behold.
This is where bling is intersecting with technology. And sometimes we're forgetting the technology. I expect those wristwatch phones will work best with a good Bluetooth earpiece, but we all think of Dick Tracey or Brains when we see the idea.
When HP revealed the near bizarre postage-stamp sized Veer last year, contrary to all signs that the market wanted giant screened slab-phones, they seemed convinced that they had conducted lots and lots of consumer research into it and argued that a phone you could lose down the plug hole was what everyone wanted. Now it seems clear that all the respondents were sWaP Nova Phone owners!
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