5 ms·
Very exciting to see $10 pocket supercomputers in ubiquitous retail, but surely this is a just a loss leader? Wouldn't the patent transfer payments alone put th
by djfergus 11y ago
Very exciting to see $10 pocket supercomputers in ubiquitous retail, but surely this is a just a loss leader? Wouldn't the patent transfer payments alone put this underwater?
Has anyone traced the origin of this model? Is it remaindered stock from somewhere (and therefore a sunk cost)?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- ck2 11y ago$10 phones have been around for a couple years now. They are designed to sell minutes/data plans.
- gambiting 11y agoReally? What other phones you could buy for $10 without a contract?
- ck2 11y agoZTE has made several phones for carriers that have sold for $10 over the past couple years without contract. They are locked to the carrier and require airtime purchases. No contract needed but unless an unlock is available, you are stuck with their minutes/data rates. Target stores had "Brightspot" which is a T-Mobile mvno and it went under, but they had $10 phones with these same specs last year at this time.
- joezydeco 11y agoHere's an example. ZTE Valet, $9.99 http://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Valet-Android-Prepaid-TracFone/dp/B00FM7R1WG http://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Valet-Android-Prepaid-TracFone/dp/...
- sthakur 11y agoOr this for $6.99: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JG3M47E http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JG3M47E
- joezydeco 11y agoDoesn't seem like that's an Android phone.
- sthakur 11y agoIt says "Operating System: Android OS" under "Compare to Similar Items"
- joezydeco 11y agoBut the verdict isn't completely in on that. http://androidforums.com/threads/lg-306g-running-android.900142/ http://androidforums.com/threads/lg-306g-running-android.900... http://tracfonereviewer.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html http://tracfonereviewer.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html
- sthakur 11y agoThanks for the info. It's interesting that on Amazon, it says "Android OS" for this phone instead of just "Android" as it is for all the other phones.
- josefresco 11y agoCheapest "smartphone" I found on Amazon just now: http://www.amazon.com/LG-Optimus-Exceed-Verizon-Prepaid/dp/B00K2XX4OY/ http://www.amazon.com/LG-Optimus-Exceed-Verizon-Prepaid/dp/B... $20
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- ck2 11y agoThese have periodically been $10 on sale but have much higher specs than most other $10 phones. Twice the memory at 1gb and the screen is something like 800x400 But they are locked to verizon 3g network, not gsm and definitely not lte.
- agumonkey 11y agoAlso, it's 1/4 the price of a Sansa Clip mp3 player.
- anc84 11y agoWith 1/4 the number of physical buttons, a crucial feature for many people. I bought an ebook with a touchscreen and there is nothing more frustrating about it than not having physical buttons for page navigation.
- agumonkey 11y agoVery good point, I realize beside the price, it would be very impractical as is. The physical interface doesn't cost 30$ though :)
- unsigner 11y agoOK, I understand the value of hyperbole here and there, but calling this a supercomputer is akin to calling it a floodlight because its screen glows, or a space heater because its back gets slightly warm when charging. The smallest/cheapest thing that can hyperbolicaly yet somewhat reasonably be called a supercomputer nowadays IMHO is a PC with several beefy GPUs.
- scentoni 11y agoThe first supercomputer was capable of at most 160 MFlops, which is much less than this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1