There was a time when dual-SIM phones were exclusive to low
end feature phones and China-made clone phones. This was because dual-SIM
phones primarily targeted consumers who are looking for a way that will allow
them to make use of 2 phone numbers while using just one device. And although
this feature might have been very useful to businessmen and company executives,
the limitation of dumb phones in terms of usability and features was a big letdown
which hampered the widespread adoption of dual-SIM phones especially in the
business sector.
Today’s market though is different. The phenomenal success
of Android has allowed mobile phone manufacturers to produce low cost devices
with intelligent operating systems. We’ve listed a few examples of these phones
that are currently or soon to be available in a shopping center near you.
Cherry Mobile
Handsets
The proudly Filipino company Cherry Mobile is possible the
best example of how Android has revolutionized the smartphone market. Unlike
other companies (with the exception of Gigabyte), Cherry Mobile offers the most
dual-SIM android phones in the market. These include the Orbit, Stellar and
Candy models.
- Orbit (Budget) – The Cherry Mobile Orbit sits at the bottom of the company’s android offerings. It packs Android 2.2 Froyo, 256MB RAM, a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, multimedia playback functionality, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, 5MP back camera, micro SD expansion slot and a 1260mAH battery.
- Candy (Budget) – Another entry level phone for Cherry Mobile is the Candy. It’s available in either a full touch bar phone or a QWERTY phone with a small touchscreen. Its specs sheet is almost identical to the Orbit. However, the Candy models only have resistive touchscreens instead of the orbit’s capacitive touchscreen. The battery was also downgraded from 1260mAH to 1000mAH.
- Stellar (Entry) – The Stellar is the company’s most powerful dual-SIM android phone. The phone is practically a rebranded Gsmart G1315 skate. It boasts a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, 256MB RAM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, 5MP autofocus rear camera, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, multimedia playback functionality, 1500mAH battery and a micro SD expansion slot.
Alcatel Blaze Duo (Entry)
– Alcatel is also one of a few companies that offer affordable android phones.
The company was practically invisible for some time especially when android
started becoming the main player in the mobile phone market. This was actually
a good move for Alcatel since they were able to regroup and create a new set of
mobile phones powered by android.
Out of their fleet of droids, the Blaze Duo OT-918N is one
of two of their dual-SIM phones. It sports Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 256MB of
RAM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 3.2-inch LCD display, a 3.15MP rear
camera, FM radio tuner, micro SD expansion slot, accelerometer, HSDPA and a
1300mAH battery.
LG Optimus Net Dual (Entry)
– This phone from Korean manufacturer LG is the first dual-SIM offering of
the company. It has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with a pixel density of
180ppi, 512MB of RAM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, HSDPA data
connectivity, a 3.15MP camera at the back and a VGA front-facing camera.
It runs on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and is powered by an
800MHz ARMv6 processor. It also has an accelerometer, an Adreno 200 GPU, FM
radio tuner, micro SD expansion slot, A-GPS and a 1500mAH Li-Ion battery.
LG Optimus L3 E405 (Budget)
– Another dual-SIM phone from LG that is bound to hit Philippine shores
soon (if it hasn’t landed yet) is the LG Optimus L3. Just like the Net Dual, it
packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen but with a higher pixel density of
125ppi, 384MB of RAM, HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a 3.15MP rear
camera and a front-facing VGA camera with video recording speeds of 24fps.
In the software department, it runs on Android 2.3.6
Gingerbread. It’s powered by a Qualcomm MSM7225A Snapdragon Chipset, an 800MHz
Cortex-A5 processor and an Adreno 200 GPU. It also features an accelerometer,
as well as a proximity sensor and a compass. Aside from that, the built in browser
of the L3 supports Adobe Flash and even HTML5.
Samsung Galaxy Y Duos
(Budget) – Samsung is currently the biggest manufacturer of android phones.
Their galaxy line reaches almost all segments in the market, from low-end to
high-performance handsets. So it’s not surprising if they come up with their
own dual-SIM droid. Their most popular model for the dual-SIM segment is the
Galaxy Y Duos.
The Galaxy Y Duos features an 832MHz processor and runs on
Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Toucwiz UI on top. It offers 3G connection on both
SIM cards and offer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It also has 290MB of RAM,
a 3.14-inch capacitive touchscreen, 3.15MP rear camera and a QVGA front-facing
one, accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass and a 1300mAH Li-Ion battery.
Lenovo A65 (Entry) – Lenovo
came a little late in the smartphone race especially here in the Philippines. Their
first dual-SIM android phone the A60 enjoyed little to moderate success, so we
guess that Lenovo is will try to boost their market share in the country by
offering an improved version of the A60 – the A65.
The A65 sports an 800MHz CPU and a PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. IT
runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and has a 256MB of RAM. It also has a
3.5-inch capacitive display and a 3.2MP rear camera with video recording. And
just like any android phone, it has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Lenovo P700
(Mid-range) – For buyers who want more power on their phones, Lenovo also
offer the ICS-powered P700. The P700 is the newest model in Lenovo’s droid line
and boasts of a 4.0-inch IPS-LCD capacitive multi-touchscreen display. The
screen has a resolution of 800x480 pixels with 16M colors.
Its performance specs sheet is also quite notable. It has a
1GHz CPU, MT6575 processor, and a PowerVR SGX6xx GPU. It also has 512MB of RAM,
755MB of internal memory, a micro SD expansion slot, a 5.0MP rear-facing camera
with autofocus and a front-facing VGA camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, FM tuner,
accelerometer, proximity and light sensor, GPS with A-GPS support and an
amazing 25100mAH battery.
HTC Desire V
(Mid-range to High-end) – The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has
been known to produce the most stylish and well-rounded phones in the market
today. With impeccable design, after sales support and intuitive UI, HTC phones
have always branded its products to target executives and consumers with
considerable purchasing power. So it’s a little bit surprising that they created
a phone for this segment of the market.
Their first dual-SIM phone, the Desire V sports a Qualcomm
MSN7227A Snapdragon chipset, a 1GHZ Cortex-A5 processor and an Adreno 200 GPU
and runs the latest version of android – Android 4.0 Ice cream sandwich. It has
a 4.0-inch capacitive display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels at a pixel
density of 223 ppi. In terms of storage, it has 4GB of onboard storage and
512MB of RAM.
Other specs include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, HSPA
data transfer speeds, 5MP autofocus rear camera, accelerometer, proximity
sensor and compass, FM tuner, 1650mAH battery and Beats Audio sound enhancement
software.
The dual-SIM market segment of the mobile phone industry has
undeniably experienced some changes. The devices offered in this segment of the
market are no longer isolated to feature phones and China-made clone phones. As
cellphone technology becomes cheaper and cheaper and as competition among
various brands become stiffer, we are slowly seeing that even huge companies
such as LG, Samsung and HTC are realizing the potential for dual-SIM phones.
The only question that remains is if this trend would
continue to expand in the future. Our best bet is as good as yours. What do you
think?
