And the Contenders Are.......

If you have been following my posts here then you will be familiar with my quest. If so please skip on to the next paragraph, otherwise, are you watching closely? I have set out to find my next Android device, but not just any device, it has to have a few certain qualities, Firstly being the price. A strict budget of £200.00 rules out Galaxy S3 and Nexus devices straight away. Secondly it must be robust enough to survive a 11 mile cycle commute 5 days a week in my pocket connected to headphones but most important is the un-sung hero factor that my little Huawei G300 has.
The first contender in this little mission is this.

Link to Blu products

Specs

The first thing i noticed about this one was the display spec and dual core processor which are significant upgrades over the G300 I currently use. The camera count is one better and the MP is higher as well. So not too shabby for around £169.99.The issues with such a device are always going to be customer support and DEV support, after firing a few emails to Blu and looking on XDA developers I dont feel overly confident that the support would be there, Blu did not respond at all. Would that be enough to put me off? Simply put yes. If I damage the screen I want to know I can get a replacement and seeing as Blu didn't even respond to an email for more details on their products and shipping times I can honestly say my confidence is gone.
Next up is a phone you might have seen somewhere else recently........

Link to cect-shop

This phone has all the hallmarks of being one of the best and worst knockoffs ever. The designers clearly used a very special copier when they came up with this, It looks like the bastard child of a S3 and an iPhone 5 on 70% quality. However at $199.99 [dollars not GBP] this is a sensational bargain, Quad core, 1gb of ram 5.7 display?? Should be the bargain of the century........ but I can tell from the pictures the plastics will be like from a chocolate box, the screen will be as fragile as Sienna Miller and the reflections in sunlight will be blinding!

This is as long as the list is getting for now and for a good reason. Hit this linkhttp://www.cect-shop.com/en/ and go have a look at the range of cheap knockoffs there are available. Go on, ill wait...........

They all [and the Blu phones] in my mind lack one important factor. Originality, Yeah I know I'm going to get called a hipster again but oh well, after this little post I probably deserve it. When I got my G300 it was rather different to anything I had seen before, and I quite liked that! There were a couple of HTC's that looked similar but not a direct copy. These are just copies! Where the hell did the Huawei G300 come from, why has it not been superseded and where are the big guns in the affordable markets?

There is no developer support and after asking about spares like screens, well I know why I wont be buying Chinese.......

Written by +Gordon Price even though it says otherwise.