14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like some of the cheapest smartphones available on the market are about to make their debut in India. Powered by Mozilla’s Firefox OS, ZTE Open C has been launched on the market back in May, but it’s only available via eBay for $100 (€75) outright.
Those interested in purchasing a Firefox-based smartphone in India will have to wait a bit longer, as Intex and Spice Mobiles have yet to release their own handsets powered by Mozilla’s operating system.
However, if you don’t want to wait until Indian OEMs launch their cheap Firefox-powered smartphones which should be priced starting at $25 (€18), then you can now purchase the ZTE Open C via eBay.
The bad news is the smartphone is a bit overpriced probably due to the fact that there aren’t too many Firefox-based handsets available in India, so in order to get the ZTE Open C through eBay you will have to come up with Rs 9,999 upfront, which is about $165 or €125.
Nevertheless, those who decide to go for the ZTE Open C will be pleased to know they will be able to run either Firefox or Android operating systems on the smartphone. Keep in mind though that you will only be able to switch between the two platforms by updating the ROM.
ZTE Open C is supposed to ship with Firefox OS 1.3, and it is also compatible with the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. The smartphone is equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, only 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.
Luckily, ZTE also included a microSD card slot, so users will be able to further expand storage up to 32GB by attaching a microSD memory card.
The Open C also sports a decent 4-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display that supports 800 x 480 pixels resolution. There’s also a 2-megapixel main camera on the back, which can also be used to capture low resolution videos.
The handset is powered by a 1400 mAh removable battery, which should provide up to 150 hours of standby time or up to 6 hours of talk time. Connectivity-wise, the Open C offers both EDGE and 3G support, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS and FM Radio.
Keep in mind that if you want to use the ZTE Open C with Android 4.4 KitKat platform, you will have to reflash the smartphone. You can contact the seller for the Android OS firmware.