Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google CEO Says Next Wave Of Affordable Smartphones Should Cost $30 (phandroid.com)

Posted by msmash on from the dirt-cheap-smartphones dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google started the Android One program to get affordable smartphones into all corners of the globe. Those devices cost around $100, which is very good for an up-to-date device. However, Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn't think $100 is good enough. Even $50 is too much. His goal is $30. "The right price point for smartphones in India is $30, and pursuing high-quality smartphones at the price point will unlock it even more." ndia currently has the largest base of Android users, and most of those users have phones that cost less than $150. Pichai went on to say that cheaper devices are only part of the solution. They also need services that can run reliably on "flaky" networks. He says Google is working on making more services adapt to slow internet.

9 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Follow the leader... by Hydrian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This coming from the company that taking away their affordable mid-ranged phones and has only released an expensive high end phone. Google needs to lead... not order.

    --
    No good deed goes unpunished.
  2. Easily done by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He says Google is working on making more services adapt to slow internet.

    Ad-free solves 90%+ of the bandwidth problem for many uses. And killing off the financial viability of youtube and facebook is a great idea. I'd be happy to pay $10 a month for 1 gig of ad-free, graphics-free, css and javascript free internet.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Easily done by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The original web was just fine with no javascript, no css, and no "let's try to make html into a page layout language and let's turn the web browser from an html document viewer into an application platform."

      Javascript is a mistake, same as CSS. Just look around, you'll see how bad things have gotten if you take off the rose-colored glasses.

      Text messages have no problem with usability, even though they're limited to plain text and the occasional image. Sure a heck of a lot better than twitter.

      Forums such as slashdot could easily be replaced by bringing back usenet. Threading discussions were around long before the web. So were text-only BBSes that were actually more secure than anything you'll see nowadays on the web. 99% of the web today is shit - and that's if you're being optimistic.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Easily done by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In other words, you were doing it wrong. HTML was NOT supposed to be about layout or presentation. That was supposed to be entirely left to the client side. It wasn't only to be html to be rendered in a specific way by a web browser. You were supposed to be able to make your own decisions of how it was to be rendered on your end - this way, everything would have a consistent look and feel that was good for the end user. A person with low vision would use software that rendered it differently, for example. It's people wanting shit like you wanted that fucked it up. You should have just stuck to posting links to pdfs if you wanted that much control over look.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  3. Maybe not that low... by Ayanami_R · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe not that cheap, but to me $650 for a phone is PATENTLY RIDICULOUS, regardless how many features it has or what it can do. My Nexus 5 just died, and I got myself a Huawei Honor 5X for 160 last week. On paper the specs look terrible, in use it's just as fast as the N5, and never feels "slow" All the apps I need work, the camera is more than good enough, and there are no showstopper bugs with the screen. Does it feel "cheap?" can't tell you a phone feels like a phone to me. What am I getting for 3x the price? Apps that open 2ms faster?

    The ultimate point is that people are at this point, only buying flagship phones because marketing is telling them to. Everyone that has held and used my 5X think it's a high end phone, and will not believe me on the price, until I show them the sales slip. Once the marketing stops working (soon) well, Apple better be prepared.

    --
    "Science is the power of man"
  4. It doesn't matter if it's $30 or $300 by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I should be able to get software updates for a phone for at least 10 years before I have to replace it. That it costs $300 is not so big of a deal if I'm not buying a replacement every 2 years.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  5. And they will be covered in spyware. by emil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The market leader for cheap phones is Mediatek, part owners of ADUPS, the wonderful partnership that recently siphoned off texts, location, and call logs from BLU phones.

    This is the same Mediatek that was caught doing the same thing with dozens of brands in the Russian market.

    The only way to use such a phone safely is an immediate wipe, followed by a 3rd-party OS install to the eMMC.

    The market will shortly realize this.

  6. I already have one... by mspohr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Was in the Philippines and needed a local phone number. Bought a "Cloudphone" for a little less than US$30.
    Definitely not top of the line but works just fine:
    - Android
    - Dual SIM
    - Micro SD card slot
    - 2 megapixel rear camera (yes, that's all of 2 megapixels)
    - front camera (don't know the resolution but it works)
    - Access to Play store, all the Google apps, etc.
    - Screen seems cheap
    It's a bit slow at times but amazing that it works at all

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
  7. Security implications by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why should India or any other advanced nation trust a US based firm with links to 5 eye spy networks?
    Any data captured from "ads" will be sold onto groups that could build a vast digital picture of India.
    What areas, buildings, bases, sites have normal cell signals, what don't allow cell signals? That swarm of "cheap" US cell phones with "ads"could help map some of the most sensitive and secure sites.
    Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and UK would get to buy into the results that build up a vast digital map of India.
    Remember the West missed the India nuclear tests as India kept Western spies out and understood the paths of most of the US spy satellites.
    Now vast numbers of engineers, technicians and other staff with sensitive jobs in India will be walking around with US linked cell phones...
    What the US did not see looking down with infra-red sensors or with human spies it will uncover with a nations own workers with cell phones.
    What the US missed with satellite constellations it hopes to make up for with swarms of cheap cell phones.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"