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Google's Android One Initiative Launches In India With Three $100 Phones

Posted by samzenpus on from the cheap-at-twice-the-price dept.

An anonymous reader writes Google has unveiled its first set of Android One low-cost smartphones in the Indian market, partnering with Indian hardware vendors Spice, Micromax and Karbonn. The three phones will be available online on Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal and via Reliance Digital, Croma and The Mobile Store, offline. The phones provide a minimum set of features determined by Google, which has sourced several of the components to help cut manufacturing costs. The company has also teamed up with a local network to make it cheaper to download Android updates and new apps.

1 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Re:$100 by mlts · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is a point where phones are "good enough". If it can run basic apps (usual popular ones, and a large game or two), for a lot of people, why buy something else?

    For example, my HTC One X Plus and my HTC One M8 both have NFC, decent CPUs. The biggest difference is the M8 has a MicroSD card slot that can go up to 128 gigs, but if I had to go back to the HOX, it is doable.

    The mobile industry is running into the same issue that the PC industry has about a decade ago -- what is out is good enough for most tasks, so why bother running the upgrade treadmill?

    A $100 phone would still be a decent unit. Not with all the bells and whistles, but still fine for daily use by a lot of people.