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The $12 “Gongkai” Phone (2013)
- class4behavior 8y agoFrom 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8646781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8646781
- ezequiel-garzon 8y agoThanks! In turn, from 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5703946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5703946
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- browsercoin 8y agoah, blast from the past! this has to be one of my top favorite HN submissions of all time, I recall 5 years ago when I first saw it posted here I was amazed. It'd be interesting to see a 2018 "Gonkai" phone.
- userbinator 8y agoIf you search AliExpress for "mini phone" you'll find plenty. Looks like the price hasn't changed much: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Ultra-Thin-AIEK-AEKU-C6-1-0-Card-Phone-Bluetooth-2-0-Calender-Alarm/32702911721.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Ultra-Thin-AIEK-... It's amusing to see some of them advertised as being "low radiation", presumably to appeal to the health quacks, but all that phrase connotes in my mind is "bad reception". Edit: a look inside reveals not much has changed from the one in the article, only the casing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h8Ca-yzKuc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h8Ca-yzKuc
- bacon_waffle 8y agoNot a Gonkai phone, but you might be interested in the iPhone aftermarket engineering behind this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY5R-7dgbEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY5R-7dgbEA
- reaperducer 8y agoA few weeks ago I tried to find the cheapest phone I could on amazon. I think it was $14, including shipping. I can only assume the battery life and reception are terrible. It got bad reviews. But if you’re someone who burns through burner phones, or might do in a pinch.
- ahofmann 8y agoIn Europe you can buy a mobile phone on Amazon for about 10,- € where the battery lasts for about two weeks and making calls works well. The manufacturer is called Wiko. Very convenient for children who constantly lose their mobile phones...
- Crosseye_Jack 8y agoDunno if the US stock it. In the UK at least its a 2G GSM phone so in the US you are going to be stuck to T-mobile and only till 2020. But we can get the Nokia 105 for £14(~$19) delivered from Amazon. Its a nice little dumb phone with a decent battery life that faithful to the old Nokia UI/OS. Its 2G is its biggest downside imo as it will only have a few years of life in it before network operators in the west start shutting down their 2G networks but if you are using it for a burner that might not be too much of an issue for the next couple of years.
- nielsbot 8y agoNeed an update for 2018...
- amiga-workbench 8y agoI bought a slightly fancier one of these earlier this year, if I could get rid of the rancid boot sound it would be perfect. http://mos6581.com/pictures/vaio/nanophone.jpg http://mos6581.com/pictures/vaio/nanophone.jpg
- TACIXAT 8y agoDo you have a product link?
- amiga-workbench 8y agohttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/itm/32816616368.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/itm/32816616368.html
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- elil17 8y agoThat’s not the phone depicted in the article
- amiga-workbench 8y agoIt's the same processor and operating system.
- lifeformed 8y agoDoes it do sms? How's the battery life? I might get one...
- amiga-workbench 8y agoYeah, it does SMS just fine. I had to charge it up every 2-3 days though and I'm not a heavy user at all. I call for the odd taxi a few times a week and that's it. Be warned, it charges via its 3.5mm jack. It comes with two USB adapters for you to charge and read its internal storage.
- lucasgonze 8y agoI'm less interested by the phone and more by the idea of "a unique innovation ecosystem evolved with little western influence, thanks to political, language, and cultural isolation." ... "gongkai isn’t a totally lawless free-for-all. It’s a network of ideas, spread peer-to-peer, with certain rules to enforce sharing and to prevent leeching. It’s very different from Western IP concepts, but I’m trying to have an open mind about it." Any suggestions WRT other writing about this sphere?
- Waterluvian 8y agoI'm fascinated by it too. Though it does seem to conveniently ignore that this is probably made possible by stealing IP to get started. Nevertheless, it's interesting to consider other mechanisms for technological evolution.
- abraham_lincoln 8y agoHow does one steal IP? Use BGP?
- jacob019 8y agoMade me chuckle
- chillacy 8y agoInfringe is a more suitable word for IP than steal, since nothing is physically taken. The real question (and the thing which should force self reflection on western ip laws) is if companies are incentivized to invest in developing new ip without laws to create monopolies for the new tech. Maybe open source software is a similar model (copyright vs patents).
- mbreese 8y agoYou could physically steal plans, drawings, or documentation describing inventions or technology. Infringe isn’t necessarily the best term here when the technology in question isn’t necessarily covered by copyright, but likely a mixture of patents or trade secrets. In these areas of, shall we say, ‘loose’ IP enforcement, I don’t think you’ve seen any instances of really transformational increases in technology, but rather incremental improvements. Evolution rather than revolution, if you will. I don’t think you’d see major changes without strong IP law enforcement. While there can be some rapid improvements in existing tech, with lax IP enforcement, how much new tech could you really expect? We’d end up stuck in a local minima.
- desireco42 8y agoSince this was 5 yrs ago, now there are regular phones that are similar if not a little more polished concepts. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Uniwa-AEKU-C6-Mobile-Phone-GSM-Bluetooth-Kid-Pocket-Vibration-Card-Small-Mini-Button-Russian-Keyboard/32918800489.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Uniwa-AEKU-C6-Mobile-Phone-G... I think this makes a lot of sense for some uses, kids, when you want to be tech-less.
- elil17 8y agoThe downside this approach to IP that is community based as opposed to legalistic is the culture of hazing it comes with. To learn about this I recommend listening to “Business and Fucking in China” by Sinica. https://m.soundcloud.com/chinafile/sinica-podcast-business-and-fcking-in-china https://m.soundcloud.com/chinafile/sinica-podcast-business-a...