In case you missed it, Telstra loves Android. Not only are their flagship handsets powered by Google’s Mobile OS, not only have they launched their own tablet powered by the little green man, but they’ve just announced a Telstra branded $99 Android handset for prepaid customers. They also upped their prepaid value, too.
The phone, which is a pretty basic number, runs Android 2.1 and includes the standard smartphone features of WiFi, GPS and a 3.2MP camera. Dubbed the Smart Touch, the phone only has a 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen and will be available on March 22 for $99.
To coincide with the new phone, Telstra has also adjusted its prepaid plans. The telco has added significant talk, text and data value to its Cap+ and Weekend+ prepaid plans, as you can see in the tables below:
Cap+
Weekend+
It looks like a pretty decent option for those less tech savvy people looking to move into the smartphone area, but I suspect the resistive touchscreen makes it an automatic disqualification for you guys.
olearymo
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 11:54 AMResistive?
Oh for frak’s sake.
wsDK_II
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 1:44 PMIt is $99, and comes with some pretty good pre-paid caps – get over it mate not everyone wants the latest and greatest.
Telstra is doing some good, at least appreciate that
Mo Kargas
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:04 PMAlthough $99 is a dumbphone price for a smartphone, and therefore laudable, it should still be a crime to ship any smartphone with a resistive touchscreen.
Stewart Walker
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:06 PMIf it does mobile hotspot properley, $99 isn’t to bad for the device, shame that 4GB still costs $100, although 2.5c per MB is hardly extortion rates :D. Is an awesome alternative if you have a iPad that you don’t want to spend the extra Apple tax on getting the 3G version.
Graeme
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:27 PMThat has to make it one of the cheapest in-car GPS navigators around. The fact that it’s also a phone is handy too.
smadge1
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:39 PMI bought the Telstra T-Touch Tab, and I really love it. It’s only got Android 2.1, and a resistive screen, but it’s not as bad as people think. It’s difficult to use as a phone however, as it’s Data+ plan has crap-all phone credit. (that, and I don’t want to lose my existing mobile number. I think they need a 50/50 data and voice plan.
dale
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:41 PMthose new deals are great! why get stuck on a plan…
Cameron
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:51 PMMan if only that prepaid credit lasted longer then 30 days I’d be al over those plans I reckon. $100 for 4GB of data and “$1400″ of calls/texts, that would last me the whole year I reckon (ok maybe not the data).
josh
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 12:52 PMWhy would you bother? The Huawei Ideos is as cheap and 100x better (slow processor, but can’t have it all).Picked one up from Virgin for $129 but you can get a Crazy Johns Vodafone one for $99. Impressive little phone and now saving for the Huawei X5.
dale
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 4:49 PMdoes the Huawei work on telstra next G….
i think it does not, so thats why we/i’d consider this phone. telstra next G is the only way to go in regional tas
Dylan
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 1:02 PMResistive touchscreen = techie resistance.
The big question for me is what kind of resolution the screen has. My experience with the Wildfire is that 320×240 is not enough for a touchscreen phone purely because the keyboard then takes up almost half the screen. Add the “input field” and it’s half+, Type anything more than a line and you have no hope of seeing what you’re responding to. If this is plagued with the same problem, anyone doing their research will probably steer clear.
Having said that, this is a $99 phone. The number of people who will seriously think about it before purchase is probably minimal.
Mike
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 2:58 PMI switched back to Telstra pre-paid after spending the last couple of years on Virgin (optus network for those not familiar). I’ve been waiting out the release of the SGSII before going back onto a plan, but with the increase in data I might just stick to pre-paid after all.
I know the other networks offer more data, but after 2 years with an unreliable iPhone 3G, moving back to Telstra’s network was a revelation. It wasn’t all the phone’s fault after all (not that it’s been completely absolved).
Aramis Marcuola-Bel
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 4:55 PMSo what if it’s got a resistive touchscreen? as long as it plays Angry Birds, Right?
People will come flocking to this device as a cheap upgrade from their previous dumbphones, as well as iOS/Symbian/WebOS users looking for something cheap to check out if Android is good for them.
I see some interesting things coming out of this phone, especially on the techy tweaky side, topo actually. All it takes is a way to root the sucker.
Steve Tran
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 8:37 PMGiven the 2.8 inch screen, I somehow doubt people will be using this for Angry Birds too.
That said, $100 for any smartphone is a bargain, particularly if it has GPS and can run Google Maps Nav.
Stinky
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 5:09 PMThis is pretty cool, prepaid is the go if you like to avoid surprises.
Robert
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 7:36 PMPrepaid $40pm now gets you $550 worth of calls but a post-paid contract for $49pm still gives you $400 worth of calls?
$60 recharge gives you $1,000 whereas contract gives you $750 for $79.
I will be switching to prepaid when my contract expires and just buy a phone outright methinks.