Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei are bringing cheap Android phones to the market. Those cheap Android phones can for example be bought for below £100 in the UK on Orange’s pre-paid plan today. US carriers such as Virgin-Mobile, Cricket, MetroPCS are also bringing these types of cheap Android phones to the US market on pre-paid plans, no contracts needed. This video features the upcoming cheap Android phones ZTE Racer+, ZTE Blade, ZTE P735E (with sliding keyboard), ZTE V852 Dreamer and ZTE V881.
This is exactly how Android has now become the number 1 fastest selling smartphone platform in the world. You thought Android’s 888% market share progress in 2010 was impressive? You haven’t seen nothing yet, as these types of sub-$100 Android phones are bringing Android smartphones to everyone else in the world who hasn’t got one yet. 1 Billion people in China, 1 Billion people in India, all those people are going to have access to the best of Android at more and more affordable prices.
Consumers in Europe and the USA are also going to buy these cheap phones in greater numbers even than the established $500 phones (unsubsidized), as consumers in Europe and the USA choose pre-paid plans for smartphones more and more.
“Hacking away with Android” on Beyond The Keyboard takes a look at Android tablets, what they can do, what they are not yet capable of and what they should do in their opinion.
It has several nice and colorful graphics to compare and show the positioning, differences, gaps, possibilities and shortcomings of tablets in general and tablets compared with each other.
One of the “problems” with Android identified is the lack of hardware drivers for printers and scanners and the lack of support for multiple external drives.
Tablets brands compared are: Archos, Dell, Samsung and Creative. The iPad 1 is – due to its impact on the tablet market – added as a reference.
Google may or may not soon be allowed to add Hulu Plus to its Google TV boxes, which may provide the Google TV boxes access to most of the TV shows and other content that currently is being blocked on Google TV by US TV Networks such as Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC and Viacom. Why would they want to block Google TV? Cause it’s the trojan horse that disrupts TV from within, once consumers are only one click away from any YouTube video, only one click away from all VOD, legal or illegal, once this is easy to use and available for all in a sub-$100 cheap ARM Powered Google TV box, this is when those 5-hours per day people watch TV start spending more and more of that time watching content that is not owned or controlled by these networks.
At the same time, something awesome is going on with Google and Sony vs Cable Networks and the Movie industry at the FCC. Arstechnica published this awesome article explaining how Google and Sony are supporting an FCC regulation called the AllVid system.
The trade association is trying to set limits on how easy it will be for devices like Google TV to access pay TV content and reassemble it into something that will reconfigure both television and the Internet.
That’s at the heart of the FCC’s proposal for an AllVid system, which Google very loudly supports. AllVid doesn’t exist yet, but the idea is to mandate an industry-wide gadget that you could plug into your broadband router and connect to your cable TV provider, then watch online video and pay channels through a variety of AllVid-friendly devices. Not surprisingly, Google and Sony love this idea, because it could transform the Google TV from just a neat product into a revolution.
Big cable hates the proposal, because that revolution could leave multi-video program distributors (MVPDs), if not in the dust, at least working in a far more competitive video environment.
Basically, what this could mean, is that content would be separated from technology. Content owners won’t be able to make exclusive streaming partnerships with one set-top-box maker and not be available on the other. What this means, is that Hulu and Netflix must be available on all devices and that there will be a standard user interface to access all those on-demand and streaming contents.
This probably also means that all of those TV Networks in the USA who are streaming their TV shows for free using ads from their websites, would have to provide all that content to all devices through standardized user interfaces. None of these content providers can choose to block any device from accessing any content, and the advertising and pay-per-view models will thus be standardized.
Big cable insists that the metadata used to create on-screen program guides is copyrighted. The Motion Picture Association of America protests that the AllVid idea would put studio content painfully close to sites like The Pirate Bay.
Program guides should not be copyrighted, that is ridiculous. Anyone should be allowed to list what is going to be on TV at any given time. And anyone should be allowed to list movie titles, directors, actors, plot and even display a poster for each of those contents.
The MPAA is correct, this will mean that pirated content will also just be one click away, but that will force content owners to allow for seamless access to all the contents either for free with ads or at very reasonable cost as pay-per-view. And this will also enable the next step for Government regulation, that is to standardize the all-you-can-eat subscription model so that one Global Licence cover the legal and free access to all contents.
The new BCM28150 HSPA+ baseband integrates a Broadcom® Merlyn™ applications processor with the latest VideoCore® IV mobile multimedia/graphics technology. This new baseband offers customers one of the highest performance, smallest footprint size and lowest power smartphone solutions available for Android™ and other open operating systems.
Broadcom’s new Merlyn applications processor technology is integrated into the BCM28150. Merlyn processors combine ARM Cortex A9 class processors with Broadcom’s high performance low latency bus architecture and world class multimedia to create a scalable processing engine for all future Broadcom basebands targeted at smartphone applications.
The accompanying reference platform includes the 40 nanometer (40nm) BCM28150 HSPA+ system-on-a-chip (SoC) smartphone processer, the BCM2091 radio frequency IC, the BCM59056 advanced power management unit (PMU) with charger and audio support, and a full complement of Broadcom’s world-class connectivity technologies. Broadcom will be demonstrating its newBCM28150 smartphone processor reference design at next week’s 2011 Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, fromFebruary 14th through February 17th.
Highlights/Key Facts:
The BCM28150 HSPA+ baseband processor integrates the Broadcom Merlyn applications processor technology, providing an optimal combination of high performance and low power applications and multimedia processing power for smartphones. Key features of the BCM28150 SoC include:
Dual ARM Cortex™ A9 cores at 1.1 GHz frequencies that incorporate the ARM Neon™ 128-bit SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) engine, which is vitally important for delivering flexible, powerful acceleration and low power operation for consumer multimedia applications such as Adobe® Flash®.
An integrated HSPA+ release 8 category 14 modem that supports 21 Megabits per second (Mbps) of downstream connectivity, as well as Class 33 EDGE support for greater flexibility and worldwide roaming.
Broadcom’s industry-leading VideoCore IV with vector processing unit (VPU) offering a ‘third processing core’ for offloading MHz from the Cortex A9 cores, reducing power consumption while improving the Android user interface experience.VideoCore‘s high performance graphics engine supports powerful shaders and over 1Gpx/s fill rates and can render 3D mobile games natively at up to 1080p resolution at high frame rates which, in combination with a HDMI output, allows a console-quality gaming experience on large screen HDTVs.
Advanced imaging with support for 20Mpx sensors and multiple camera inputs for stereoscopic (3D) capture and gesture recognition with advanced ISP feature support (red eye, face tracking, smile detection, etc.).
A small 12×12 PoP memory package.
The BCM21850 baseband reference platform has been tailored to deliver the most advanced smartphone features along with built-in HSPA+ connectivity, enabled entirely with Broadcom silicon to ensure the highest level of integration and seamless functionality across its various components.
Installed with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and support for popular audio and video codecs, including VP8 and Vorbis audio for support of HTML5.
Other platform features include:
4.3-inch WVGA TFT LCD with capacitive touch screen
1080p30 camcorder using Broadcom’s integrated ISP
Simultaneous LCD and 1080p60 HDMI output with 3D graphics
High quality 3D gaming and graphics at 1Gpx/s
Blu-ray-quality 1080p60 video playback at very low power levels
12 megapixel camera imaging (up to 20Mpx)
Release 8 Category 14 (21 Mbps) HSPA+ modem support
The reference platform also incorporates Broadcom’s industry-leading wireless connectivity technology:
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and other connectivity options are pre-integrated into the platform, enabling OEMs to efficiently add best-in-class wireless technologies and expanded functionality for next generation smartphones.
BCM4329 for best-in-class integrated Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and FM technologies
BCM47511 GPS transceiver with integrated support for GLONASS, providing a high-performance solution with access to the widest possible constellation of satellites for improved location performance
Broadcom’s InConcert® co-existence technology is also featured within the Merlyn platform, applying interference mitigation techniques to make Broadcom’s leading wireless technologies work better together and with less interference.
The talk on the blogosphere and on blogs.forbes.com is that the Motorola Atrix 4G will be $199 alone on 2-year contract, or $499 with the Laptop Dock on 2-year contract. I’m not sure what the Multimedia/Desktop Dock will cost, my guess is $199? (if someone knows the price of the multimedia/desktop dock, please post in the comments).
Notice, as most phones sold in the USA, consumers have to signup for a 2-year contract. I always think all blogs should make it a rule that all prices should include minimum and maximum pricing both unlocked, terminated (with early termination fees) and with those 2-year contracts.
AT&T 2-year contracts seem to cost approximately like this:
– $85 per month for 400 minutes of voice,
– $95 per month for 900 minutes of voice,
– $105 per month for Unlimited minutes of voice
with 2GB data and WiFi hotspot support. That’s between $2040 and $2520 for 2 years.
Total price of Motorola Atrix 4G (with both Laptop and Multimedia Docks) on AT&T for 2-years: between $2740 and $3220
This is not really new. Telco carriers are in the business of making tons of cash and money. This is business as usual.
Yet, as AT&T is making so many tons of money on the 2-year contract, I don’t exactly understand why AT&T doesn’t just give the Motorola Atrix 4G with both docking accessories at a more affordable price than something like this $700 upfront payment.
I mean, comon AT&T. Don’t you want to have some price competitive Android super phone options to destroy the iPhone now that your exclusive distribution deal with Apple is finished?
I’d hardly even consider the Motorola Atrix 4G for $499 with both Docks when the whole thing would be sold unlocked. I may be looking at a package for something like $1000 if I want it unlocked.
Anyways, it’s for sure Motorola still deserves “Best of CES 2011” award, no matter the pricing. Just because they are courageous enough to push the industry forward in terms of all-in-one ARM Powered device. It is understandable that Motorola wants to take ample profit margins on the accessories and not sell the laptop dock for $150 and TV dock for below $100 as they are supposed to. But for AT&T, well, it’s up to them. How fast do they want to sell these devices in the USA? If AT&T would sell the phone $199 on contract, and provide the accessories for $150 for laptop dock and $100 for tv/desktop dock, then they would have something really powerful to outsell the iPhone quickly and quickly get mass adoption. One can hope AT&T and the other carriers around the world who are looking into selling the Motorola Atrix 4G, that they all think hard about pricing, and that they bring the device with accessories to as many people as possible at some reasonable pricing.
Last month I filmed the awesome dual-7″-screen LT-W prototype from NEC, already then was it really fun to have an idea of how cool dual-screen web browsing can be and to imagine other apps such as email that can become more useful when used over 2 screens. I really like the idea of the pocketable dual-screen convertible Android touch screen device. Typing mode may not be as fast as with a hardware keyboard, but some really interesting dual-screen applications can be imagined. I’m definitely saying Thumbs up for the innovative design, perhaps their next one can have even less screen bezel in between the two screens to make it more seamless as one big foldable touch screen.
Alcatel One Touch is one of the makers of cheap Android Smartphones such as the Alcatel OT-980 which is sold for only £99 on pre-paid plans in the UK. Alcatel One Touch is a brand of TCL Corporation, a $16.7 Billion valued Chinese consumer electronics company.
Alcatel One Touch’s partnership with Archos would enable an easy sharing of data from a low cost Android Smartphone using a ‘’One Touch Connect’’ button to share the 3G data automatically with the Archos tablet over a mobile WiFi hotspot. This may be a one-click process, and the carrier may be able to limit access of that WiFi hotspot only to the Archos tablet through Mac address filtering and not as a totally open or encrypted WiFi hotspot for use with other devices.
The idea is that one affordable subscription plan include the voice and data through the low cost Android smartphone as well as the low cost yet high-end Android tablet. This way, consumers don’t need to subscribe to more than one package. I think it can be expected that Alcatel One Touch will present a new range of cheap Android Smartphones at Mobile World Congress next week with this One Touch Connect mobile hotspot functionality built-in.
Here is expectation/guess/suggestion for a pricing model which I think would make this kind of offer a sure hit:
Pre-paid only, no contract: $299 for the basic 3.5″ capacitive Alcatel-OT Smartphone and the latest Archos 7″ capacitive tablet, both are on pre-paid and no contracts are needed, pricing for pre-paid should be below $30 per month for something like 300 minutes or unlimited use of voice and 3GB to 5GB of data per month to be used on the Tablet and the Smartphone. The 3GB monthly data hotspot may be open for other devices as well if the carrier wants to allow it. For example $10 to $20 extra per month it could open up the mobile hotspot to any other device and increase monthly limit to something like 10GB per month.
Phone alone on pre-paid no contract should be $149. Tablet alone no contract needed would be $249.
6-month contract, then pre-pay: $249 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $50 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
12-month contract, then pre-pay: $199 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $100 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
18-month contract, then pre-pay: $149 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more, $150 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
24-month contract, then pre-pay: $99 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $200 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
What do you think of the idea to use a cheap Smartphone mostly for voice and basic apps and tether it with a larger screen Tablet, use all on one same low cost voice+data plan, and even have this work for pre-paid plans?
According to French market analyst GfK, Archos is now the second biggest tablet maker on the French market, far in front of Samsung (4%), Toshiba (3%), Huawei, Viewsonic and others. Sure enough Apple has the biggest market share with 67%, but I think that’s mostly due to Apple having more cash for manufacturing and distribution. If Archos had been able to spend more money producing more units and having better stock availability at all resellers and never run out of stock during these past 3 months, then I think Archos would probably be number 1 in market share, even in front of Apple.
As I run the biggest Archos fansite community at http://forum.archosfans.com and I have been publishing the earliest and most popular video reviews of Archos products for over 6 years, publishing the earliest and most popular videos of Archos full Tablet line such as the 70 Internet Tablet, 7 Home Tablet, 101 Internet Tablet, 32 Internet Tablet, 43 Internet Tablet, I may be biased. But I am sure that if all stores had enough Archos in stock to satisfy the demand for tablets over these past 3 months, Archos would sell even more than Apple.
What matters to the consumer is the value proposition. What features they can get for what price. Archos newest Gen8 Android tablets are about half the price of the iPad and provide more features.
Market research firm Canalys released this global smart phone market data analysis for Q4 2010, October-December 2010, revealing that over 100 million smart phones have been sold worldwide in those 3 months in which Android is the new leader in worldwide smart phone sales, even in front of Symbian sales and selling more than double as many as the iPhone.
I don’t think the Verizon iPhone is going to change anything, on the contrary, now AT&T will focus selling more Android phones than Verizon is to sell iPhones. AT&T plans to launch at least 12 Android phones this year and Google is looking forward to enable the release of cheaper Android phones, as Eric Schmidt recently said:
we want to increase the availability of inexpensive smartphones in the poorest parts of the world. We envision literally a billion people getting inexpensive, browser-based touchscreen phones over the next few years. Can you imagine how this will change their awareness of local and global information and their notion of education? And that will be just the start.
This type of ARM9 Rockchip RK2818 based 7″ capacitive tablet presented by Hott can now be manufactured for below $140, possibly sold around or below $199 at US retail stores. It supports USB host, 3G USB dongle or a built-in 3G modem can be included for about $50 more.
Shenzhen Geniatech Co. Ltd presents some interesting Android Powered Set-top-boxes. These could be sold for around $100 like the Apple TV or Roku box, but they just run the full Android OS including support for lots of video codecs. While Android is not yet really optimized for use on a TV with a remote control, this type of device will support the Google TV software (in this case, without HDMI pass-through overlay features) pretty soon once Google releases that software source code. As you can see on androidauthority.com, it has an AmLogic ARM Cortex-A9 800Mhz processor. Same ARM cortex-A9 platform as used by InnoDigital for their next generation WebTube product.
Touch Revolution makes projected capacitive touch screens, and demonstrates here at CES 2011 some of their large capacitive touch screens integrated in demonstration prototypes for training bicycle, in-flight entertainment and just some very large 32″ multi-touching fun showcase.
At CES 2011, Sharp showed their 3.8″ parallax barrier 3D screen in their Android powered 3D phone on the Softbank network. Sharp is making the 3D screen that is in the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, it allows for amazing 3D screen without the need for 3D glasses. Thus as Sharp is ramping up mass production of that “parallax barrier” 3.8″ WVGA 3D screen, they are able to put it in Smart phones as well, which is how they are now shipping in Japan the Sharp 003SH and 005SH (with slide-out keyboard). Sharp is also entering the Tablet market with their new Tablet optimized screens at 5.5″ and 10.8″ super sharp high resolution LCD screens in the Galapagos Tablets now released in the Japanese market.
Here’s a 3.2″ 480×320 resolution capacitive touch screen. Has an ARM11 600Mhz Qualcomm MSM7627 processor with Adreno 200 graphics acceleration (also called AMD z430) it has smooth Android 2.2 support. The really cool thing is you will be able to buy this in ever super market, CVS Pharmacy, Wallgreeens, for $150 with no contracts required, it uses the pre-paid Virgin Mobile network. And the same phone is also available as “LG Optimus M” on MetroPCS (seems to be $229 on there no contract required) and it’s also on Sprint and T-Mobile, but I don’t know if those networks offer pre-paid plans with no contracts required.
As more and more Android phones reach sub-$150 pricing on pre-paid plans, this is becoming a big deal, especially when those get to approach or overtake the 3.5″ capacitive form factor, most consumers might think the experience with Android on those is just as good as any iPhone or other expensive Android phone on 2-year $2400 contracts, this is a big deal, look forward to more on cheap Android phones leading up to my Mobile World Congress coverage.
On June 26th 2010 I published this video which unveiled the Indian $35 Tablet project’s Bill Of Material for the first time:
India’s Minister of HRD, Shri Kapil Sibal, or one of his colleagues, watched my video.
On July 22nd 2010, the Government of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development announces the $35 Tablet, announces they plan to have a Chinese manufacturer deliver a few million of these in India for education.
I would like to be serious a bit, as there are literally billions of children on this planet who are waiting for tools for a better education, they are growing old with a missed opportunity to learn. I don’t have anything against Governments watching my video-blog to find out what are the best ARM Powered devices on the market, but I would like to suggest a few more things they can do if they would like the project to be successful all the way:
1. Don’t work against OLPC, announce you want to join their efforts. Doesn’t mean you use OLPC’s Marvell 610 platform, just means you share all knowledge and collaborate towards a same goal. You are supportive of each others goals, this is not a competition, this should be a collaboration.
2. Turning a tablet into a successful educational tool is not a piece of cake. It’s probably not enough to just take whatever cheapest materials and deliver it like that.
3. Denounce Intel’s blatant corruption attempt, 4 days after the announcement of the $35 ARM Powered Android Tablet project, Intel India is quick to suggest the Government should rather (basically give up on the ARM Powered Tablet) and just use the “Donation of 1500 Intel powered tablets” for pilot project (to last a couple years or so preferably, enough time to delay all other real mass low cost deployment attempts), same thing Intel did all over the world to block OLPC from reaching developing countries. Intel has subsidiaries all over the world, they may not be instructed centrally by Paul Otellini for all it does all over the world, but they seize any opportunity at preventing other potentially disruptive technologies from catching on. I mean seriously, what could Intel seriously want to do helping a project to make a $35 ARM Powered tablet for education running Android? Intel can afford to buy India a couple million of these ARM Powered tablets to help get things started, but is that anything near what they had as intention?
4. If you are a Governmental Non-profit project, you setup a Website, open source the code, informations about potential suppliers (real-time information about manufacturing requirements). Tell me in the comments if India’s HRD has been open about this project, I haven’t seen it. If they chose to make their project secret, it would have a harder time to get implemented. Be open about the full Bill of Material. If you listen to my video, you can hear the AllGo Systems representative list these Bill of Materials:
ARM9 Processor: $5 (Freescale i.MX233)
Memory: $3
WiFi B/G: $4
Other discrete components: $3
Battery: $5
7″ 800×480 resistive touch screen: $15
Total bill of material: $35
If this is it, then clearly publicly say this is it. Let people know what alternatives there may be, let the community discuss what alternatives could be used.
For example, I am pretty sure an educational tablet cannot be made without a 7″ Pixel Qi screen. For one it’s the only way to hope it has low enough power consumption to last long enough for children in India who don’t have a lot of power, perhaps no power at all (let it be powered by Bicycles, hand crank, sub-$5 A4 sized solar panels..). A reflective screen is the only way the tablet can be used for reading ebooks, the only way it can be used outdoors during the day in places where a child might not even have a roof on the school or no school at all.
5. The Bill of Material should be calculated openly with the prospect of using that budget that you have for it. Meaning if you can produce 1 million units, that obviously affects the price of each Pixel Qi 7″ screens, perhaps making it as cheap as a normal LCD screen.
6. Be open with how you plan to finance the project. This whole deal with the Chinese manufacturer not wanting to pay HRD $13 Million just sounds weird. Why should the manufacturer pay India and not the other way? Usually, as far as I know, a manufacturer would be paid on shipping of completed product, and India’s engineers can work at the factory to monitor yield, quality and batches before mass production is started and while they are being mass manufactured.
7. Be open about how it is designed. The reports (2) on this tablet being a copy of some Chinese design may be true for the casing, but that does not mean that the cheap Freescale i.MX233 ARM9 based SoC on Motherboard, electronics, Android software porting to that specific ARM9 processor (perhaps one of the cheapest ARM SoC in the world), all that does not mean AllGo Systems didn’t actually do this original work. I believe they have. The fact is the Chinese market, Chinese manufacturers have so-called Open and Free designs for those cases that can be used for cheap ARM Powered Tablets, cheap ARM Powered laptops, cheap ARM Powered e-readers. But that does NOT mean that what is inside is always a “clone” of some other design. OEM’s might have turn key solutions, all ready made designs that they produce and deliver low cost, but they also produce the designs of foreign companies.
A rumor coming from nocutnews.co.kr is that Samsung may have its Dual-Core Samsung Orion ARM Cortex-A9 processor ready to put in their upcoming Galaxy S2 (and likely also Samsung Galaxy Tab2) to be presented February 13th at Mobile World Congress.
Other possible specs:
– Android 2.3
– 4.3-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen
– 1GB RAM
– 9mm thin
– 1080p camcorder
– Mali-400 means 1080p 60fps support, or 1080p 3D playback through HDMI output
Watch my video of the Samsung Orion processor. When I spoke with the Samsung representatives before shooting this video, they hinted that it could be ready earlier than June, thus a February unveiling and demo with mass production a bit later is a possibility.
