(image via GSM Arena)
So I just came back from Australia and I found out that B-Mobile was selling the Huawei U8230 at TechXpo 2010 for only BND$299 [Source Borneo Bulletin (Friday 5th November via Website)]. See the full specifications at GSM Arena. The phone was announced in June of 2009 so it is a relatively old hardware platform but at the $299 price point it is very competitively priced. It runs Android 2.1 and uses the same processor is the old HTC Hero so expect it to perform similarly.
Check out an unboxing video below:
Good Points
- Large & high resolution screen (3.5″ at 320×480 vs other budget Android phones of 240×320 resolution e.g. HTC Wildfire)
- Capacitive Display
- Google certified thus has Market and other Google apps (e.g. GMail, Youtube, Google Maps)
- Dual cameras
- Accelerometer
- Cheap!
Issues / Contention Points
- 2.5mm headphone jack meaning you will need an adaptor for regular headphones
- No multitouch (souce: Digital Versus)
- Older processor and may not run more modern games smoothly
- Not a lot of memory (192MB RAM and 256MB ROM)
- RAM is required for multi-tasking so expect to close applications
- ROM is used to store applications and since this is not Android 2.2
- Possibly no official 2.2 (Froyo) update
I gave B-Mobile a call to see if they have any of the units on display to play around with but alas all the units are sold out and they are waiting for a new batch to come. Not surprising that it is sold out being so cheap and offering so much with Android. I applaud B-Mobile for pushing Android at such an affordable price and, in my phone call with them, they said that it is unlocked too. The phone is not a spectacularly fantastic phone but a solid mid-range phone with great potential with Android. The fact that it is Google certified with the Android Market for downloading applications makes it even more compelling. I would highly recommend this to people wanting to get an affordable smartphone as Android is a currently well supported platform and thus has many up-to-date applications unlike Nokia’s S60.
PS. Anybody in Brunei bought this? I would love to have a hands on.
Other related links:
- Huawei’s U8230 Product Page
- Phone Description PDF from Huawei
- Digital Versus review
The Wheat Field 
Meh. I have an HTC Wildfire. Gonna sell it off and my PSP Phat cheap once I get a hands on Playstation phone. Rumour has its gonna be on Android OS 3.0 but running its game on a Z-System.. Whatever that is. So I’m not into any other phones until Playstation Phone is out. http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/26/the-playstation-phone/
useful post ,, i bought it from techxpo,, any workaround for update to 2.2?
im beginner for android,,
I doubt it will be officially supported for 2.2. You will need to check out xda-developers or Cyanogen mod to see if they have custom ROMs for the device
bought it during the expo, don’t like it, too slow for me, I don’t know or because i got use of using my iphone 3gs, now bmobile sell it for BND339 and they also got another model Huawei JOY V845 for BND229
anyone want to buy my used U8230? :)
I wouldn’t think you can compare a budget Android phone to any iPhone =)
I will check out the Huawei Joy V845 at b-mobile. It’s great that it’s a very affordable Android phone too. Thanks for the information.
How much are you willing to sell your U8230 for? You may have a willing buyer here =)
tak jadi jual :)
now using it mostly as modem using usb or wireless tethering (built-in), found it faster than using my old 3.5G Modem (Bmobile). The wireless tethering can also connect more than one machine, make sure you’ll using the unlimited data usage plan.
Starting to like it, little bit
berapa kita jual? ASAP.
I doubt it will be officially supported for 2.2. You will need to check out xda-developers or Cyanogen mod to see if they have custom ROMs for the device
Here’s my review – http://zm.dsbcorp.org/2010/11/b-mobiles-huawei-android-smartphone/
Doubt there’ll be official or MOD for Froyo 2.2 tho.. Juz gonna wait for Gingerbread to come out =)
Heard BDFone is showcasing their Froyo phones at ICC this weekend, will be worth the visit..