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Summary: Kogan has announced a 5-inch, dual-core powered, Android-based handset that only costs around a quarter of the price of the category leading Galaxy Note II.
By Ben Woods | January 10, 2013 -- 11:32 GMT (03:32 PST)
Australian electronics manufacturer Kogan has announced a 5-inch phone-cum-tablet, otherwise known as a 'phablet', which will be one of the cheapest devices in the category when it arrives in the UK later in the year.
The Agora 50 handset from Kogan. Image: Kogan The Agora 50 handset was announced at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2013 in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
"Up until now, full feature smartphones have only been for the rich. We want to make technology more affordable for everyone," Ruslan Kogan, founder of Kogan, said in a statement.
The handset has a 5-inch (480 x 800 pixels) touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera and houses a 1GHz dual core Cortex A9 processor. It also has 512MB RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera and support for microSD cards.
Unlike many high-end devices now hitting the market, the Kogan Agora will ship with the Ice Cream Sandwich (4.04) version of Android. Also unlike most other devices, it offers the option of using dual SIM cards.
However, while its spec list isn't top of the range, neither is its price tag it's available to pre-order online now directly from Kogan's website for just under £120, which is the only place you will be able to buy it. It is currently listed as due to ship on 14 February.
Kogan is likely to meet some resistance in the highly competitive smartphone market, particularly from better established brands, but with an up-front cost that's only around 25 percent of a Samsung Galaxy Note II (currently listed at around £450 on Amazon UK) it could well appeal to the lower end of the market.
"The big brands are going to need a new nappy when they see what we've been able to cram into a phone for under £120," Kogan added.
By Ben Woods | January 10, 2013 -- 11:32 GMT (03:32 PST)Australian electronics manufacturer Kogan has announced a 5-inch phone-cum-tablet, otherwise known as a 'phablet', which will be one of the cheapest devices in the category when it arrives in the UK later in the year.
The Agora 50 handset from Kogan. Image: Kogan The Agora 50 handset was announced at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2013 in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
"Up until now, full feature smartphones have only been for the rich. We want to make technology more affordable for everyone," Ruslan Kogan, founder of Kogan, said in a statement.
The handset has a 5-inch (480 x 800 pixels) touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera and houses a 1GHz dual core Cortex A9 processor. It also has 512MB RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera and support for microSD cards.
Unlike many high-end devices now hitting the market, the Kogan Agora will ship with the Ice Cream Sandwich (4.04) version of Android. Also unlike most other devices, it offers the option of using dual SIM cards.
However, while its spec list isn't top of the range, neither is its price tag it's available to pre-order online now directly from Kogan's website for just under £120, which is the only place you will be able to buy it. It is currently listed as due to ship on 14 February.
Kogan is likely to meet some resistance in the highly competitive smartphone market, particularly from better established brands, but with an up-front cost that's only around 25 percent of a Samsung Galaxy Note II (currently listed at around £450 on Amazon UK) it could well appeal to the lower end of the market.
"The big brands are going to need a new nappy when they see what we've been able to cram into a phone for under £120," Kogan added.
