Walmart’s $10 Dollar Phone Has TracFone Users Stuck, But Specs Better Than Original iPhone
In a report by PC Magazine, Walmart’s $10 Android phone is now available for purchase online. Keep in mind though, these are their famous “rollback” prices, meaning this is only temporary. Also, since online shipping is free for purchases for $50 or more, this means an additional shipping cost for the phone. So if you want a discount on shipping and if you have other things you need for your home in addition to the Walmart phone, it would behoove you to gather your items all in one order so that you can kill two birds with one stone.
The problem with this “budget” phone sold by Walmart, according to PC Magazine, is the fact that the Tracfone carrier over-prices its air time over the course of a year to make up for their loss on selling the phone at $10.
The plus to this Walmart phone, according to Motherboard, is that its specs are superior than the original iPhone. It has a 3.8-inch screen, a 3-megapixel camera, and comes with Wi-Fi.
These budget Walmart Android phones are better than the second-gen iPhone counterpart, the iPhone 3G, per a report by the Courier Mail. When this Apple device made its debut in 2008, it came with a 3.5-inch screen, up to 16 gigabytes of storage, and was sold at the Apple Store for $729 for the base, 8-gigabyte model and for the 16-GB model at $849. Keep in mind, the old Android technology of this phone is likely going to need updating, as it’s considered a rather vulnerable device.
Kim Komando, an on-air technology expert, gave her recommendation on using this $10 Walmart phone for those who aren’t entirely tech-savvy — that it’s rather ideal for those starting out with smartphone technology. Also, for those who have difficulty seeing, Komando says the Wiser app is great when it comes to navigating the screen as compared to the icons, which are smaller, found on traditional smartphone screens.
“There are thousands of apps that can make the whole experience much easier than you might think, like the Wiser app that replaces the Android home screen with six, easy-to-read buttons for making calls, taking pictures and more.”
More specifics about the Lucky LG 16 was mentioned by News 4 C, saying the phone has around 7 hours of talk time, with almost 10 days of standby mode. The operating system the Walmart device uses is the Android 4.4 KitKat, and will likely not receive updates, considering the fluidity of the animation as portrayed by the 5.0 Lollipop and 6.0 Marshmallow.
Tech Times found it interesting that what was considered top-of-the-line years ago may be enough to cover the basics right now. For those who rarely need any bells and whistles, suffice it to say this would be perfect for the consumer who just needs a mobile phone to run errands or call AAA in case their car breaks down.
It would also make for a good backup phone to keep in the glove box, or handy to take pictures for insurance purposes in case of a car accident. For the price, it does serve its purpose as a Walmart budget item.
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images News]
