7'

JiaYu’s November release will be a $30 smartphone

AndiSeptember 18, 2015

Along with news of their JiaYu S4 handset being a reality, JiaYu also mentioned another unnamed model to us, one that would cost only $30.

JiaYu have made a few low-cost phones over the years, and are set to launch another in the middle of November. JiaYu haven’t confirmed the name of the model, but we believe it will be another addition to the ‘F’ range of low-cost smartphones.

Gizchina News of the week

Join GizChina on Telegram

While the name remains a mystery the hardware doesn’t and JiaYu have confirmed that they plan to use a Spreadtrum 7731 chipset, 4-inch display, 512mb RAM, 0.3MP front camera, 2 mega-pixel rear and only 3G support.

We suppose at just $30 we can’t really expect much, but these specifications sound like something from 4-5 years ago. Even at this price are people willing to buy such a phone? Wouldn’t a $60 phone with LTE and 1GB RAM make more sense? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author
Andi

Better value here in the overpriced capital of the world. Australia

mf1gt3r
September 18, 2015
There are still some people who would appreciate the price per spec ratio. Hehehe, people would go nuts over a $30 – $35 smartphone from a reputable brand here in my country.
- David
  September 18, 2015
  - mf1gt3r
    September 19, 2015
    Don’t get the wrong idea David. We pay full amount for any and every phone, no network contracts, yet iphones and galaxys can be found everywhere. Well regarding your question….Nigeria.
    - David
      September 19, 2015
- Stef
  September 20, 2015
  It’s not a smartphone. If it runs lollipop the system alone run at a minimum around 350MB of Ram each boot. 512MB of Ram pretty much means around 460MB user ram.
  So 460-350 you get 110mb free ram at each boot *if* no extra service or background process starts with the phone (i.e. at best). Around 50-60MB is always left free due to android’s OOM values (it ensures proper function of the phone). So you end up with 50MB Ram for apps, *at boot*. That’s barely enough for one proper app , so multi tasking is out of the window, installing many apps too as they’d eat this 50MB window merely by having their services run on the background.
  So we’re left with the pre-installed apps + the select few ones that are truly lightweight. What it reminds me? Oh yes , a feature phone. So paying $30 is actually quite a lot given how little the phone can do. To be fair it would be as a good idea to throw that money down the drain…
  I honestly don’t know the crowd of this phones. Are they truly misinformed or they merely look for a feature phone running android?
  - Allanitomwesh
    September 21, 2015
    There you go,this is obviously a feature phone killer. The person gettting this probably just wants it for the upgrade from Java phones with shit interface,without the price implications of an all out decent budget smartphone ($100)
    - Stef
      September 21, 2015
      My la(te)st experience with such a phone (Samsung galaxy S running CM12) was negative at best. Half of the apps would simply give (crash) just by opening them, and most of the other half would be very slow in opening (OOM would need to clear ram so that a new app may open).
      It needs *very* particular care what to install in such a phone. Probably a dialer, an SMS app, some veeery lightweight email manager, browser with little or no support for images (they take up place in Ram). The only two I have in mind is Opera Mini and Naked Browser … and so on and so forth. And of course forget things with many images like most of the popular IM apps, or Facebook, or Twitter…
      I mean it *can* be(come) usable but not for any/every user. For many (most?) a feature phone may be as good or better (at least its apps don’t crash…).
      - Allanitomwesh
        September 21, 2015
        What apps? Haha. Most people will get this just for Telegram/Whatsapp (very few symbian phones have Whatsapp and none are 30bucks)
        Stef
        September 22, 2015
        Yeah, if you run apps with very basic graphics, one at a time, it’s fine.
        Then again that’s my idea of a feature phone … not exactly a smartphone…
        Allanitomwesh
        September 24, 2015
        This thing would run Firefox OS very well with that 512MB RAM 🙂 You also have to remember,not everyone has 100 dollars,especially in developing countries, but they are upgrading to smartphones from feature phones. Someone coming from a black and white phone with LED torch as its outstanding feature will see a color screen and apps as a good deal. They don’t exactly expect blazing speed like experienced smartphone buyers.
        
        Stef
        September 24, 2015
        I’m not saying otherwise. Actually I agree with you. I only said that what they’re buying is not exactly a smarphone, it’s a smartphone-like feature phone.
        Is it better than proper feature phones? Depends, if it has the apps you need *and* the apps run on this device, then yes; if not , then no. For example booting facebook with images on it would crash it (force close the app), I’ve tried it in my (original) Galaxy S, it simply can’t run the Facebook app on Lollipop (back in Gingerbread days it would run quite comfortably)…
        
        Allanitomwesh
        October 2, 2015
        Well,you don’t have to use the official client,and there is even an official lite client anyway. Being smart with what you install,its still plenty capable
        Stef
        October 2, 2015
        It needs a lot of nitpicking and even then it’s not that smart of a phone. It’s not totally useless, especially if it costs $30, but I can find plenty better ones that are actually smartphones (1GB ram) on ebay (second hand of course, but some of them are in great shape).

Vitorio Rehatta
September 18, 2015
they may be joking… no LTE ,4 inch, 512 MB not complete without android 2.1 LOL…sorry not for me..how about you??
- thesniper321
  September 20, 2015
LOL. We were waiting for MT6795, but Jiayu see more profit in SC7731. Smart move.
uidudhui
September 18, 2015
If they can get android 5 on it, it will be great as its tailored for 512mb ram – and unified storage space 4-8 gigs +SD support will be killer.
Allanitomwesh
September 18, 2015
This is actually pretty well specced,and like something you’d find in say,a Firefox OS phone. In fact it would be a great candidate for the OS
Muhammad Yasir
September 18, 2015