Urm, pretty much all of the rest of the world. The contract system is big only in the US and EU, and it is a somewhat broken system.

It doesn't have a poor camera, it has a very good camera, only not as good as the GS3 or iphone

The GS3 is the only other high end smartphone that has expandable memory, and you don't see that selling at $350.

LTE - well i'm not even going to go into this one

I'm not on contract so I don't get my phones subsidized (for this exact reason - I want more choice). I don't need LTE and in any case the carriers in my area charge more for LTE than HSPA+. The value proposition seems very attractive to consumers like me. And I'm sure there are many more out there who find this phone in the "sweet spot" of price vs. features. Price is no gimmick in the free market.

"Value" is an aggregate of features, service and price among other data points.

And contract subsidies are slowly falling out of fashion as phone tech stabilizes, more people are interested in prepaid, and operators realize that the subsidy game is making them all collectively lose money to manufacturers.

Looks like your opinion is not welcome on HN anymore. Unless we are bashing Apple and praising Android its not going to get anywhere in afraid. I completely agree with you on all those points, for instance if it was an Apple device it would be 'featured' on HN every day for weeks ripe for the trashing. Its an uninspired device with little to offer, built down to a price to undercut to competition.