The best value 4" (800x480) Android smart phone on the market for those wanting more usability than the bargain basement low-res $39.50 3.5" Huawei Y201.
This is a 850/900/2100Mhz G300+ model. The G300+'s 900Mhz giving dual-band 3G on Optus. Though worth noting that the usual G300 bootloader unlocks to allow for a custom G300 ROM to be installed have been reported to brick the phone. That may still be possible by using an official bootloader unlock code from Huawei.
Alternatively there is still stock of Vodafone Huawei G300 floating around at OW/Target/BigW, though it's only a 850/2100Mhz 3G capable. Those units allowing effortless user modded ROM installation.
Specifications
- 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227A Cortex-A5 CPU, 512MB RAM, Adreno 200 GPU
- 4" 800x480 IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors with scratch resistent Gorilla glass
- 1500 mAH battery
- FM radio, GPS, bluetooth, wifi. Can provide USB or wifi broadband tethering.
- 5MP rear camera with flash
- OS: Gingerbread 2.3. An official ICS 4.0 update available here. Many user created ROMs at modaco.com including Jelly Bean (4.1/4.2) CM10 and MIUI based ones..
- Memory: 512MB RAM, 4GB Flash with 2.5GB user space. Up to 32GB microSD external storage
- 3G UMTS: 850, 2100 MHz with 7.2Mbps data. G300+ model includes 900Mhz too - good for Optus.
- GSM: 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
Extended battery
1800ma battery to give 20% longer battery life is US$12-shipped.
Unlocking options
There are reports on whirlpool that some phones come unlocked already. If yours is locked there are still options to correct that:
- Submit IMEI to Vodafone. Often they'll return the unlock code within 4 days for free.
- Do a free self-unlock
- Seek bagman's services who can unlock it for $5 here giving up to 48hrs turnaround.
+1 just for the excellent post & description!