Should Cheap Android Phones be Avoided?

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
As a big Android fan, an article posted earlier at TechCrunch called "Please Do Not Buy Cheap Android Phones" drew me in like few other articles could. I felt like I understood what was being discussed before I even looked at it; a bit of the "you get what you pay for" medicine. And as it turns out, that's just about what the article is. But whether or not the article's sole purpose was to stir up the community doesn't matter, because there's a lot to evaluate here with this subject.

samsung_galaxy_nexus_032212.jpg

Read through the rest of our post and then discuss it here!
 

Doomsday

Tech Junkie
I had a Huawei Ideos 'Android Smartphone'! Bought it for like $80!! It was a freakin' joke! Got tired of the little screen!

Buy a good smartphone like Galaxy S2 or even an affordable HTC Wildfire S, but dont go below them! NOT worth it! :D
 

RainMotorsports

Partition Master
I would figure coming across an article titled as such people are worried that the unknowing consumer would get a bad idea about Android because of a bad phone. Then again maybe we just need to educate the world.... nevermind haha.

First thing you will get with most cheap Android phones is bad battery life. Usually because of battery capacity but the components and software can also be to blame.

As far as ICS updates go even the previous flagship phone for Samsung the Galaxy S which now falls into that one year plus category is not getting the update based on one thing. Space, Space for TouchWiz and space in general. By the time they strip it of all its features and jam touchwiz in there. The user no longer has room to install apps. I mean we get the point of what your saying but even the best of phones in the category fell short.

This year seems like it will be good to phones. The middle should be well with all the left overs from last year and the high end is on the verge of a small explosion.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
First thing you will get with most cheap Android phones is bad battery life. Usually because of battery capacity but the components and software can also be to blame.

This is true. A friend of mine picked up the latest Razr not long ago, upgrading from an HTC Thunderbolt, and he was pretty blown away by the battery in it. He's able to go multiple days without worry, whereas his other phone would never last a full day.

As for ICS, it's kind of a sour note with me. By the time that reaches decent penetration at all, Jelly Bean will be out.
 

MacMan

Partition Master
You may love Android but I hate it with a passion. Reasons: Fragmention; security issues, and, as well, legal issues. As for the latter, Herr Mueller, the world's most quoted patent expert, gives Android two years, or less, before it's legally wiped out of existence by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and a host of others who they all say ripped off Android from their patents. Google didn't pay $12.5 for Motorola for nothing, but than again, according to Herr Mueller and other patent experts such as David Martin, they might have wasted their money with crap patents!
 

marfig

No ROM battery
>> Herr Mueller and other patent experts

Who other patent experts? As for Herr Mueller (*), he's president, chairman and founder of M-Cam, a largely unknown financial consultant and he is speaking on a Bloomberg segment. Quite interesting to see, not an employee, but the CEO of M-Cam speaking on a televised news segment. Must be either a very small consultant company or he must be a real dedicated hands-on guy. Pick an Occam's razor and choose.

That said, I agree the buy seems to have the advantage of securing an hardware manufacturer and this may not sit well with the likes of Samsung. But as for Google becoming more vulnerable to patent litigation, here's my patent expert opinion (if he is, I can be too. See below): Dream on!

....
(*) He's a financial markets specialist. Not a patent specialist: http://www.m-cam.com/management

Have to go now.
 
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marfig

No ROM battery
Back to the article,

This is all fine and dandy; No doubt a cheaper phone means a less stellar device, regardless of brand. But artificially fixing the price of smart phones on some magic number that makes people think they are buying a top product, only means smart phones are expensive products that only a segment of the market can reach.

There's no reason whatsoever for an open source OS like Android to not reside on cheaper builds. If we are going to make the market of smartphones an elite market, we will be doing the exact opposite of what allowed the mass adoption of cellphones some 15 years ago. And all for what exactly? Where's the purpose of limiting access to these new technologies and usage habits?

To me RainMotorsports hit the nail on the head:

I would figure coming across an article titled as such people are worried that the unknowing consumer would get a bad idea about Android because of a bad phone. Then again maybe we just need to educate the world.... nevermind haha.

Touché! This all seems like a horrible way to fight the real problem that Android fragmentation does put it in a bad spot when competing with iOS. But that is only on the minds of those for whom product fragmentation is a bad thing. For almost everyone else it isn't. It's in fact what allows for all walks of life to enjoy a cellphone today, including children.

If you go to the market for a cellphone today, you'll buy according to your needs. Heck, I spent 25 euros on a cellphone a few weeks ago to give to my daughter. And that was expensive! You don't buy according to some illuminated one perception of what my needs are. This is precisely the type of free market I want to exist around smartphones. Not be tied to a product and a price because someone is afraid that poor ol' Android will be considered an inferior product to iOS, the iPhone or iPad.

Apple did their choice on how they wish to market their product. And I'm only glad Google and its hardware partners didn't go the same route. It gives me true choice according to my needs and my wallet.

... Because tomorrow I may need to by a new refrigerator and I will be able to choose from all sorts of brands and price tags, with the cheaper being necessarily less good. What does anyone think makes smartphones special that we shouldn't enjoy from the same ability?
 
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Greg King

I just kinda show up...
Staff member
I think the cheaper Android options serve their purpose and their lower cost makes the entry into the world of smart phones more accessible. I also feel that if a company releases a product, they HAVE to commit to supporting said product for a typical life span of the phone. At a minimum, in the USA, I would like to see half of a typical carrier contract, so 1 year. If they do not plan on doing so, they need to be up front. With any computer, and I consider smart phones to be pocket computers, support is paramount to a agreeable experience.

Working for a software company, I know first hand how many resources have to be allocated just to support your existing platform. On top of that, you need a team or teams to work on your next product. With the release cycle of Android, this can quickly get out of hand when you are supporting over a dozen different smart phones.

I can agree with the column that the cheaper phones can degrade the overall experiences but not many power users, the ones who will dig into Android and make the phone their own, will be getting those cheaper phones. Cheaper phones will be used primarily by folks who won't venture far past default settings. As long as it's stable, who cares what version you're on, right? Though I will point out that the majority of people that are basic users don't need a smart phone at all. They tend to be the people that "just have to have one" and then the loudest to bitch when they have outlandish data charges. The other side of that coin is that with the growth of smart phone presence, people are forced into getting smart phones as the old convention phones are quickly fading into history.

Speaking of stable, my wife has the HTC Evo 4G, Sprint's flagship phone for the past year. While updates for it have continually come, it's been one nightmare after another. I admit, she isn't as tech savvy as most of you in here but she is smart and can operate a phone. That being said, she has had terrible luck with hers. Between random hard locks where the only way to reset the phone is to remove the battery, to the phone physically failing to a malicious app bricking her phone to the point it was easier for Sprint to give her a new one and rebuild the old than try to fix the original one. I see the merits in Android but I don't care for the platform based on my own experience with the "top of the line" device. I know it's unfair to judge the platform as a whole when I have only experienced one single phone but I am. Deal with it.

Concerning Apple, I love their approach. It doesn't give the choices that the other makers do but damn they are stable and once a new phone comes out, the previous generation gets marked down to a much more affordable price point. They have one phone per generation but their support is out of this world and every single person that gets one knows exactly what to expect. I depend on my phone FAR too much to leave it to chance. I commend Apple for the experience they provide.
 

marfig

No ROM battery
Though I will point out that the majority of people that are basic users don't need a smart phone at all. They tend to be the people that "just have to have one" and then the loudest to bitch when they have outlandish data charges.

I personally know two people who don't even have active data plans on their smartphones (one of them a $350 Xperia Arc). They just bought them because they just had to have a smartphone.

Of course, being me, I wished I was allowed to break their necks. But on a conversation with one of them, I did come to appreciate her arguments: It's indeed a fact that cellphones features have stopped evolving with the introduction on the market of smartphones. In fact it has regraded as all major manufacturers chose to look at cellphones as inferior products to smartphones and in their product lineup cellphones end where smartphones begin. Heck, even aesthetics have stopped being developed on cellphones. Basically she wants a bigger screen, to have a better PIM, more options to manage her contacts, better applications overall and a better experience. Certainly a nice looking phone too. And that's just very difficult to find in today's cellphones.
 
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waterbeds

Obliviot
I think the underlining answer to this topic is yes. HTC recently went on record stating they will in the future avoid the low-end small form factor in the future. I don't think Samsung will follow the that trend as they are making money hand over fist on smaller devices.......With that said, i constantly dream of a super small, but high powered handset.....i don't think i would want one...I just want to see it done. The opportunity would open up if attention to the small factor was given...
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
I've got a Huawei Ascend M860 which is about as cheap as you can get ($70 new a year ago) and while it's better than an abacus glued to a cup with a string, it's not much better.

Spend a bit more money and buy a used Android based phone. There are literally tons out there in the secondary market for under $200 used with clean ESN's. Some, like the HTC Evo 4G, can be picked up for around $150 all day on Craigslist.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Spend a bit more money and buy a used Android based phone. There are literally tons out there in the secondary market for under $200 used with clean ESN's. Some, like the HTC Evo 4G, can be picked up for around $150 all day on Craigslist.

Yup, not a bad idea at all. I'd just recommend buying from a reputable place, and make sure it has a warranty, even if it's used (and if buying from a company).
 
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