If I had to sum up MWC, the big mobile industry conference in one photo, this would be it:
This is a phone from JZH, a six-year-old Chinese smartphone maker. It has an antenna that pulls out of the phone to make it a TV.
I spoke with a sales manager at the JZH booth about the phone. His card identified him as Fong.
This phone is called the A17, and it can pick up TV signals in South America, which is where this phone is primarily sold. According to the brochure on the phone, it runs on a 2G signal, it has a 2 megapixel camera, and has a 4-inch screen. (Full specs are below.)
It runs on Android 4.2, which came out a year and a half ago. So, it's not the most up to date version of the software. But, in playing with the phone at the booth, it worked well enough.
The best part? It only costs $50. And that's $50 without a two-year contract.
Fong also showed me a 5-inch inch Android phone with better specs that sells for $90 off contract, also primarily in South America.
Fong says JZH is selling 1 million phones per month. He says the company has stayed out of China because it's a crowded market, and it's doing well so far in South America.
So, what do I like about this phone? It just shows how the smartphone market is evolving in ways that we in the United States can't even imagine. For a lot of people this will be their phone, their computer, and their TV. And at $50 for the hardware, it's not a bad price.
Here's some photos of the JZH brochure, with my scribble notes.
