In another thread, we established bare-minimum specs for a starter Android phone (for a kid) to be the following:
BARE MINIMUM SPECS:
- Carrier = (your personal choice)
- OS = Android 4.0 or better (for app compatibility)
- CPU = 1GHz single core
- Internal memory = 1 GB (is this the same thing as ROM?)
- RAM = 512 MB
- Screen = 800x480 pixels
- Connectivity = WiFi, Bluetooth, & microUSB
- Price < 0 (your personal choice)
My personal choices on #0 and #8 above are that I'm on a T-Mobile family "Value Plan"; and, I don't want data for my kid (so WiFi is important since she will only be using the Internet at home).
I had bought a T-Mobile Android phone for my grade-school kid, but it turned out to be woefully inadequate for some of the first things we tried to do with it: a. We couldn't install Talkatone (Google Play refused to upload it) b. We couldn't install Temple Run 2 (Google Play wouldn't do it) c. We couldn't upgrade the Android OS (no upgrades are available)
So, we definitely *know* these specs are inadequate:
- Carrier = T-Mobile (this is, of course, your personal choice)
- OS = Android 2.3
- CPU = 823 MHz Broadcom BCM21553
- Internal memory = 512 MB (why don't people just call this ROM?)
- RAM = 512 MB
- Screen = 480x320 pixels
- Connectivity = WiFi, Bluetooth, & microUSB
- Price = (this is, of course, your personal choice)
I created a T-Mobile account, and looked at EVERY phone they sell for those on the family "Value Plan", and NONE (so far) seem to meet these minimum specs above!
I originally had a price point of $100, but, I've had to double that, just to have 3 phones to consider.
Here are the dozen Android phones T-Mobile will sell me as of today: (priced low-to-high, with only "Android" checked as a filter): a. Samsung Dart id $72 + ~$7 CA tax & fees ~= $80 b. T-Mobile Prism II is $116 + ~$12 CA tax & fees = ~$130 c. Samsung Gravity Q is $154 + ~$15 CA tax & fees ~= ~$170 d. LG Optimus L9 is $240.00 + ~$24 CA tax & fees ~= $265 e. Samsung Galaxy Exhibit is $236 + ~$23 CA tax & fees ~= $260 f. T-Mobile myTouch Q is $260 +~$26 CA tax & fees ~= $285 g. Samsung Galaxy SII is $336.00 + ~$33 CA tax & fees ~= $370 h. Nexus 4 is $428 + ~$42 CA tax ~= $470 i. Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE is $530 +~$53 CA tax & fees ~= $580 j. Samsung Galaxy S4 is $580 +~$58 CA tax & fees ~= $630 k. HTC One is $580 +~$58 CA tax & fees ~= $630 l. Samsung Galaxy Note II is $650 +~$65 CA tax & fees ~= $715
Unfortunately, NONE of them meet the bare minimum specs until you get way past the $200 price point!
Samsung Dart
- Carrier = T-Mobile
- OS = Android 2.2