April 24, 2013 at 11:24MegaFon Login (SP-A1): well, a very budget Android
It seems that Russian mobile operators have finally turned their attention to the fact that selling a service is more profitable than iron. Yes, this is a common practice in the United States, when, upon concluding a contract for cellular services, a subscriber receives a telephone for a nominal, essentially, price.
The Big Three launched almost the same Android-based smartphones priced below $ 100 in China. This is MTS 960 (2990 rubles), Beeline E600 (2990 rubles) and MegaFon Login (2560 rubles).
In my hands the last of them is MegaFon Login on Android 4.0.4.
In addition to the phone itself, for these 2560 rubles a subscriber receives three months of work on the Internet at the Internet XS tariff. That is, in fact, the phone itself will cost 1990 rubles. Without a contract, the price of a smartphone is 2,990 rubles.
The characteristics of the device are as follows:
Only about six months ago I wrote on the Habré about the MegaFon SP-W1 smartphone with almost identical characteristics and the price is 8900 rubles.
I was wondering - what had to be done with the gadget so that it fell in price 4 times without changing the characteristics, and does it make sense to buy it for that price? Looking ahead, I’ll say that I liked this toy. Login is definitely worth the price, and Android helps him a lot.
The configuration of the smartphone is traditionally simple and predictable. It is a rechargeable battery and a USB cord with a charger. In addition to them, a manual and a wired headset were found in a tiny box (does anyone print them at all?).
The charger gives out 0.5 A, which at present seems to be a bit like. The battery is also small - 1300 mAh. However, the current consumption in this smartphone is low - the batteries are enough for a couple of days of active use.
If in numbers, then this is about 9 hours of conversation, 8 hours of watching movies or 125 hours of standby time. MegaFon Login looks like a modern, quite stylish smartphone. The size was chosen very well - it fits into the shirt pocket, and in jeans it does not interfere or break. It lies comfortably in your hand (the back panel is coated with SoftTouch) . For example, Nokia Asha 200 has a similar size (pictured).
I must say that I took the phone a week ago, and all week I mercilessly operated it in physically extreme modes. I could not damage it in any way - it was assembled very reliably, and in itself is quite durable.
As for the assembly, I have only one complaint (the same was with the SP-W1, by the way) : the microUSB connector is not protected by anything. And I'm pretty sure that I can insert the wire there incorrectly and break something there. In addition to microUSB, there is nothing more on the left side of the phone. On the top there is a headphone jack and an on / off button. On the right is the volume rocker, below - a microphone and a hardware Home button. It is not too needed, but it is more convenient for her to turn on the screen of the smartphone than with the button on the top face.
On the back of the device is a camera (3 megapixels) with LED flash. The camera does not have autofocus, which significantly affects the quality of the pictures. It can record quite tolerable video in a resolution of 640 × 480. The flash can be used as a flashlight, and this is its best use. To photograph the text with such a camera is quite realistic, it can be read in the picture. The external speaker of the phone is ordinary, it plays melodies quite loudly. In headphones, the sound is better if you get normal headphones, of course. The screen at MegaFon Login is definitely not the strongest place. The manufacturer saved on it. Not too high brightness, small viewing angles, low sensitivity and accuracy. You need to get used to it.
(in a week I learned to type text with almost no oversight) , and for those who are annoyed by such things, this smartphone is contraindicated.
Part of the problem with typing is solved by installing alternative on-screen keyboards and calibrating the display.
The strong side of the smartphone is geolocation. There is a very nimble GPS, and A-GPS, and even GLONASS, which is generally a rarity for devices in this price range. And it all works.
Being connected to the car's on-board network, MegaFon Login turns into a navigator. All popular navigation systems and maps are installed and work perfectly on it without any problems. As I understand it, in the pre-installed Navigation program, MegaFon does not even take money for traffic.
Like the SP-W1, Login only works with MegaFon SIM cards. You can buy and "untied", but a little more expensive and on order (have to wait).
He keeps communication well, and in Wi-Fi-networks, and in 3G, and in areas with poor coverage.
According to the manual, the 3G module works in the HSDPA format 7.2 Mb / s - download, HSUPA 5.76 Mb / s - upload. The possibility of such speeds depends on the number of base stations nearby. I could not fix the download speed of more than 4 Mbps - the smartphone works with 3G at the same speed as the first-generation iPad. I think in large cities the speed should be higher.
There is a choice of which network to use - 2G or 3G. There are functions of a Bluetooth modem and Wi-Fi router, which significantly expands the possibilities of using the device.
The smartphone software has not undergone any special changes - in addition to the Android 4.0.4 ICS operating system itself, a smartphone has a suite of programs from Mail.ru, Navigator and Replace Horn from MegaFon, as well as a kind of sports application, Championship.com.
Almost all the programs that I tried to run on this smartphone worked without any problems. The exceptions are Skype and Chrome - official applications from the Play Market do not work, you need to install other versions (there are ones on the network). Only Instagram does not work at all - the patch has not yet been released.
Games work, all kinds of racing simulators and shooters (Dead Trigger, for example) work flawlessly, not to mention all kinds of Angry Birds.
There were no obvious glitches and freezes - the device works quickly, clearly and predictably. In my opinion, this is what saves the smartphone - Android and the vast majority of applications from the Play Market work absolutely honestly on it.
And for some of the complexity of Android from the point of view of beginners, there are its wide possibilities. Trivial tasks like “throwing a movie on your phone and watching” or “taking a picture and sending it to e-mail” are solved on such a device extremely simply and in a matter of seconds.
I think that children will also be delighted with such phones (games, applications, appearance), and the wallet of parents will suffer less if the child loses or breaks the phone. AndroidLost on it, by the way, works great.
And in general - the Internet, a 3G router, a GPS navigator, a camera and an audio-video player for such money - this is a good offer. After the review, I decided to leave this phone to myself.
I hope this line of low-cost devices with high functionality (albeit to the detriment of the manufacturability of some components) will create a positive trend and will be in demand by "their" consumer. I think I even got into this target audience - I really don’t know what to do on a smartphone for 8900, which won’t work out that way. And the price of MegaFon Login seems to me more than justified.
The Big Three launched almost the same Android-based smartphones priced below $ 100 in China. This is MTS 960 (2990 rubles), Beeline E600 (2990 rubles) and MegaFon Login (2560 rubles).
In my hands the last of them is MegaFon Login on Android 4.0.4.
In addition to the phone itself, for these 2560 rubles a subscriber receives three months of work on the Internet at the Internet XS tariff. That is, in fact, the phone itself will cost 1990 rubles. Without a contract, the price of a smartphone is 2,990 rubles.
The characteristics of the device are as follows:
- Support GSM, 3G, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- Broadcom BCM21654 processor, 1 GHz
- RAM 512 MB
- 4 GB internal memory
- VideoCore IV HW video accelerator
- Capacitive screen 320 × 480, 3.5 ", 2-touch multi-touch
- Battery
Li-ion, 1300 mAh - 3 megapixel camera with flash
- MicroSD card support up to 32 GB
- FM radio with RDS
- MicroUSB and 3.5 mm headphone jacks
- Size 63 × 115.8 × 13 mm, weight 118 g.
Only about six months ago I wrote on the Habré about the MegaFon SP-W1 smartphone with almost identical characteristics and the price is 8900 rubles.
I was wondering - what had to be done with the gadget so that it fell in price 4 times without changing the characteristics, and does it make sense to buy it for that price? Looking ahead, I’ll say that I liked this toy. Login is definitely worth the price, and Android helps him a lot.
The configuration of the smartphone is traditionally simple and predictable. It is a rechargeable battery and a USB cord with a charger. In addition to them, a manual and a wired headset were found in a tiny box (does anyone print them at all?).
The charger gives out 0.5 A, which at present seems to be a bit like. The battery is also small - 1300 mAh. However, the current consumption in this smartphone is low - the batteries are enough for a couple of days of active use.
If in numbers, then this is about 9 hours of conversation, 8 hours of watching movies or 125 hours of standby time. MegaFon Login looks like a modern, quite stylish smartphone. The size was chosen very well - it fits into the shirt pocket, and in jeans it does not interfere or break. It lies comfortably in your hand (the back panel is coated with SoftTouch) . For example, Nokia Asha 200 has a similar size (pictured).
I must say that I took the phone a week ago, and all week I mercilessly operated it in physically extreme modes. I could not damage it in any way - it was assembled very reliably, and in itself is quite durable.
As for the assembly, I have only one complaint (the same was with the SP-W1, by the way) : the microUSB connector is not protected by anything. And I'm pretty sure that I can insert the wire there incorrectly and break something there. In addition to microUSB, there is nothing more on the left side of the phone. On the top there is a headphone jack and an on / off button. On the right is the volume rocker, below - a microphone and a hardware Home button. It is not too needed, but it is more convenient for her to turn on the screen of the smartphone than with the button on the top face.
On the back of the device is a camera (3 megapixels) with LED flash. The camera does not have autofocus, which significantly affects the quality of the pictures. It can record quite tolerable video in a resolution of 640 × 480. The flash can be used as a flashlight, and this is its best use. To photograph the text with such a camera is quite realistic, it can be read in the picture. The external speaker of the phone is ordinary, it plays melodies quite loudly. In headphones, the sound is better if you get normal headphones, of course. The screen at MegaFon Login is definitely not the strongest place. The manufacturer saved on it. Not too high brightness, small viewing angles, low sensitivity and accuracy. You need to get used to it.
(in a week I learned to type text with almost no oversight) , and for those who are annoyed by such things, this smartphone is contraindicated.
Part of the problem with typing is solved by installing alternative on-screen keyboards and calibrating the display.
The strong side of the smartphone is geolocation. There is a very nimble GPS, and A-GPS, and even GLONASS, which is generally a rarity for devices in this price range. And it all works.
Being connected to the car's on-board network, MegaFon Login turns into a navigator. All popular navigation systems and maps are installed and work perfectly on it without any problems. As I understand it, in the pre-installed Navigation program, MegaFon does not even take money for traffic.
Like the SP-W1, Login only works with MegaFon SIM cards. You can buy and "untied", but a little more expensive and on order (have to wait).
He keeps communication well, and in Wi-Fi-networks, and in 3G, and in areas with poor coverage.
According to the manual, the 3G module works in the HSDPA format 7.2 Mb / s - download, HSUPA 5.76 Mb / s - upload. The possibility of such speeds depends on the number of base stations nearby. I could not fix the download speed of more than 4 Mbps - the smartphone works with 3G at the same speed as the first-generation iPad. I think in large cities the speed should be higher.
There is a choice of which network to use - 2G or 3G. There are functions of a Bluetooth modem and Wi-Fi router, which significantly expands the possibilities of using the device.
The smartphone software has not undergone any special changes - in addition to the Android 4.0.4 ICS operating system itself, a smartphone has a suite of programs from Mail.ru, Navigator and Replace Horn from MegaFon, as well as a kind of sports application, Championship.com.
Almost all the programs that I tried to run on this smartphone worked without any problems. The exceptions are Skype and Chrome - official applications from the Play Market do not work, you need to install other versions (there are ones on the network). Only Instagram does not work at all - the patch has not yet been released.
Games work, all kinds of racing simulators and shooters (Dead Trigger, for example) work flawlessly, not to mention all kinds of Angry Birds.
There were no obvious glitches and freezes - the device works quickly, clearly and predictably. In my opinion, this is what saves the smartphone - Android and the vast majority of applications from the Play Market work absolutely honestly on it.
And for some of the complexity of Android from the point of view of beginners, there are its wide possibilities. Trivial tasks like “throwing a movie on your phone and watching” or “taking a picture and sending it to e-mail” are solved on such a device extremely simply and in a matter of seconds.
I think that children will also be delighted with such phones (games, applications, appearance), and the wallet of parents will suffer less if the child loses or breaks the phone. AndroidLost on it, by the way, works great.
And in general - the Internet, a 3G router, a GPS navigator, a camera and an audio-video player for such money - this is a good offer. After the review, I decided to leave this phone to myself.
I hope this line of low-cost devices with high functionality (albeit to the detriment of the manufacturability of some components) will create a positive trend and will be in demand by "their" consumer. I think I even got into this target audience - I really don’t know what to do on a smartphone for 8900, which won’t work out that way. And the price of MegaFon Login seems to me more than justified.