Many companies produce Android devices without google maps, gmail, play store... It solves a lot of privacy issues.
In 5 years smartphones will be cheap commodity and there will be also good opensource community fork. I can see Debian on Android.
In 5 years smartphones will be cheap commodity and there will be also good opensource community fork. I can see Debian on Android.
1) That's in Shenzen. Might as well be Mars for most people. When Shenzen hardware is sourced by global brands, they usually have a generous markup where that "$30" quickly disappears.
2) How long do they last? "Oh, but they're cheap. If it breaks in 3 months, just buy another!" No. People just don't want to go through possibly losing data and having hardware just suddenly drop dead on them.
So, yeah. I'll go with the guy who said five years. That's for stuff that won't drop dead in three months.
Ah, yes, if only some smart people could invent some kind of global network for people to buy things remotely, and created some site where you could order these things. They could call it, for example, Ali Baba.
or
http://www.aliexpress.com/category/5090301/mobile-phones.htm...
depending on the quantities you would like to purchase
That's how I got my first one. But since then I've started ordering direct from Alibaba/Aliexpress and for many products the savings are large enough to "self insure" and still be worth it with a good margin.
Edit: actually, it looks like $50 is already enough to get a pretty good entry-level Android phone; look up the Jiayu F1.