Best DUAL SIM android phone?

[Gadgetlesstech]

Gadgetlesstech> Are you sure the phone has a 1 GHz Qualcomm CPU? I seriously doubt it. All Chinese phones I've seen use MTK6516 416MHz CPU.

I am certain that it has this processor. I have sold many of these units and also use one as my personal phone. If you PM me an email address I can take and send you photos from the system info log within the phone. I know that the majority of these phones come with some kind of MTK processor ranging from 400 - 600 MHz, but the ones that I have been buying for more than a year definitely have this processor. If you were to take one of the MTK phones and run it side by side, the difference in speed in definitive.

 

[jech]

Gadgetlesstech> For example here you can see the phone has the usual MTK6516 chipset, but it's faked to look like 1GHz Qualcomm. You can't really trust the phone info.

Try to install an application, which requires ARMv7 CPU (Firefox, Flash) and you'll instantly see if you have a 1GHz Qualcomm.

 

[jago25_98]

Great thread and thanks for the reference table

Sounds like I'll have to wait a little longer, forwarding one number to the other and flipping simcards in and out with my Symbian Nokia E71!

I think there's a V350 in stock at the German place that doesn't take cards now but I'm a bit too cautious to actually buy it!

 

[mar1us]

is better to wait G1315 Skate. v350 look good but i doubt on tis phone without any review on use at a seller.

P.S. the german seller im sure that he will acept pay pal or another secure payment service (if is onest dealer).

 

[smurfOnE]

I think there's a V350 in stock at the German place that doesn't take cards now but I'm a bit too cautious to actually buy it!

You should have bought it, because the price just jumped from €205 to €240!

In Europe merchants are obligated to honor their advertised prices. So if you place an order and it turns out to be a price mistake, the store legally must execute the order at a loss.

Although since they don't take credit card, they could keep your money and you have no recourse other than using a German court. I'm not saying you can't trust German merchants.. but the problem is that you need to trust them, because there is no possibility of a chargeback if a dispute occurs.

If I knew the price was going to jump like that, I probably would have bought a couple phones at risk anyway. Too late!

 

[jech]

€240 is still a good price. It is about as much as G1310 preorder price.

Anyway I need to know more about these 2 phones to decide which one to get. The possibility of rooting the phone and flashing unofficial ROMs is the most important feature to me.

 

[smurfOnE]

Are most Androids dual-bootable (linux/droid), or is this somewhat unique? Of the dual-sim droids, I've only heard that the Yuhua X2 can do this.

 

[jech]

Android is Linux. There are some dual boot phones with Android / WM. But it's not common.

Linux is the core of Android operating system. Android is the user interface built on top of it. Another UI built on top of Linux core and targeted to be used on mobile phones is MeeGo, which is developed by Intel (Nokia used to develop it too, before M$ corrupted them to switch to Windows Phone 7). The only phones I know that can run MeeGo are Nokia N900 and Nexus S.

I'm afraid you're probably confusing something. What did you mean by "dual-bootable (linux/droid)"?

 

[smurfOnE]

Android is Linux. There are some dual boot phones with Android / WM. But it's not common.

Linux is the core of Android operating system. Android is the user interface built on top of it. Another UI built on top of Linux core and targeted to be used on mobile phones is MeeGo, which is developed by Intel (Nokia used to develop it too, before M$ corrupted them to switch to Windows Phone 7). The only phones I know that can run MeeGo are Nokia N900 and Nexus S.

I'm afraid you're probably confusing something. What did you mean by "dual-bootable (linux/droid)"?

With linux, the kernel includes more than you seem to realize. The drivers actually run in the kernel space (which is unfortunate). This means closed proprietary hardware drivers could be packaged with the rest of what you're calling the kernel. This is actually what happens with Maemo, which runs on Nokia tablets. This enables the supplier to maintain control over the system. In the worst case, a supplier could even do some arbitrary encryption in one of the drivers, and then add to the user agreement that the platform cannot be manipulated or that you cannot run their competitors software, which would in effect use the DMCA to criminalize modifications. Having Android based on linux doesn't save us from that.

Google is a controlling, privacy-intruding, profit-driven corporate giant that profits from privacy intrusions. Although this is to a lesser extent than all google's competitors, an open-source GNU system has its merits, particularly with all the expectation about the rapidly growing trend to produce malware and spyware for smartphones. When a large majority of users are running Android - the single homogeneous system that everyone else runs, all with the same bugs to exploit, it becomes an attractive target both to hackers as well as corporations doing barely legal forms of data mining.

So back to my original question.. If a phone has the support of GNU developers who have written open drivers for all the hardware, freeing the device from corporate control, and thus the option of running "GNU linux" (e.g. Debian), or perhaps something more obscure like BSD, I would find that very favorable. And as I understand it, Debian runs on the Yuhua X2. Part of what makes that possible is having a hackable boot loader. If a phone has a locked down boot loader, I'm less interested. I'm not sure if that's a rampant problem or not.

In the end, I would like to have an idea of the hackibility of the different dual sim android models.

 

[jech]

I never heard about the possibility to run Debian on Yuhua X2 although I had this phone. I know there are ports of different desktop Linux distributions for Nexus and other phones. But it is not very usable.

I agree with you that the possibility to lock the device (mainly by proprietary drivers) is the biggest problem of Android.

Unfortunately I don't know any device which would have opensource drivers for all it's HW. The most problematic part is usually GPU.

I think that MeeGo is more open then Android. I was expecting it to be a very successful OS for Nokia, but then they switched to the useless WP7 which is even more locked then iOS. Fortunately there are still some mobile phone companies interested in MeeGo (LG, ZTE), so we might see some devices in a near future. As for HW drivers, Intel still hasn't developed a working Linux driver for their GMA500/GMA600 graphics (which is in fact PowerVR SGX 535, used in iPad and iPhone). The situation regarding drivers is better with AMD Fusion, since they use their own GPU and make Linux drivers, but it will take them at least 2 years before their chipset will be energy efficient enough for a phone.

What you want is a nice dream, I have the same one. But I'm afraid there is no chance for a really open device. There was an initiative to build such device (Openmoko Freerunner), but it wasn't successful.

From the really existing devices and OS, I think an Android phone with an unlocked bootloader is the best choice. The system is opensource and you can flash unofficial ROMs, if someone creates them. Unlike iOS or WP7, you don't have to use any of Google's services, if you don't want to.

To get back on the topic, so far I have no information regarding the possibility to flash custom ROM on the available and upcoming Androids. I saw some information about a custom recovery (this is SW which can flash a custom ROM to a phone) for some Chinese MTK6516 phones. But unfortunately all the information was Chinese and Google Translate didn't help much.

 

[mar1us]

You should have bought it, because the price just jumped from

 

[android-lover]

Hi,

Regarding battery life and reliability on voice calls and SMSs, which is the best Android phone (DUAL SIM, simultaneously) we can buy nowadays?

Regards

There is no Dual SIM Card phone with android system from any popular brands like HTC, Samsung or others, But i know that there is one good Dual SIM card Phone with Android system from china called Arcturus - Dual SIM Android 2.2 Smartphone

This is one of best dual sim card android phone in market, price also very reasonable. you can get this phone at simsimgate.com

here is the product link, take a look

Arcturus - Dual SIM Android 2.2 Smartphone with Multi-Touch Capacitive Touchscreen


Good luck guys

android-lover

 

[smurfOnE]

There is no Dual SIM Card phone with android system from any popular brands like HTC, Samsung or others,

Motorola, Viewsonic, and Philips are all reputable brands, and all make a dual sim Android.

But i know that there is one good Dual SIM card Phone with Android system from china

Very difficult to rely on a Chinese phone. These things have fake OSs, bogus hardware specs (and they go as far as to make the hardware id itself with bogus info to match the bogus spec), and there are actually cases of these phones with Chinese batteries exploding.. I kid you not. There is zero quality control. Most of these Chinese phones have hardware failures inside of a year of buying.

 

[rondz]

Hello007, heebs, or brianj71 > I was wondering if your AT&T was finding 3G signal and data? How do you like the phone so far and what are drawbacks if any? Is the touch screen a common problem for you three that own it? Please let me know I am considering buying one to avoid using a smartphone plan but still want Droid. Also do you know if WiFi hotspot tethering works using Quick Settings? These will determine if I will buy it or not, thanks!

This goes for anyone who owns a Chinavasion Eclipse Dual Sim.

 

[daveyboy121]

Hello, I have been following this forum thread quite closely. A lot of the technical 'stuff' that is talked about is beyond me but it would appear that overall, the Gigabyte GSmart G1310 is the way to go as far as a dual sim smartphone is concerned. I'd have thought this phone to have been released by now, but it doesn't seem so. Does anyone know when this phone is going on the market?

My other question is; is the battery life halved on a dual sim phone having to search for two network providers as oppose to the common single sim card, searching for only one network? A lot of the smartphones out today with a single sim have a really short battery life anyway and by having it halved for dual sim capability is not an ideal scenario. I don't know if I'm asking too much but it would be great to have a phone that could last at least a few days without having to be re-charged.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has an opinion/information on this.

 

[jech]

According to specifications, the best Android dual-sim announced is the ViewSonic V350. The GSmart G1310 should be launched in June, some stores have it for preorder already for a couple of weeks. The ViewSonic should be available by end of June / beginning of July.

According to battery life, of course it is shorter on dual sim phones. But it is not a half. There are other parts of the phone shich consume power too (CPU, GPS, BT etc.) I have a GSmart S1205 (a WM dual sim) which lasts about 3-4 days. I would expect these dual sim Android phones to last about 2-3 days. Of course by playing games or surfing the web the battery will be empty within a few hours.

 

[Eerr]

I have found a new phone that fullfills everybody

 

[jech]

I also just discovered this phone yesterday. The price is quite high, but it's probably the best dual-sim phone you can get today.

I would be very interested in a short review from people who purchased it.

 

[smurfOnE]

I would be very interested in a short review from people who purchased it.

That's the key right there. It's impossible the separate the cream from the crop on generic Chinese phones. They tend to fall apart after a year, so you need a review from someone who has had one for 18 months.

The issues:

No mfr warranty, so even if your credit card doubles the warranty, it's still nothing.

Memory expansion is capped at 16GB, which seems odd for a phone that seems up to date on everything else. It suggests that maybe it has a bogus cpu.

 

[Eerr]

Post by Press on Eten-Users.eu forum DX900:

Have a look here!!!

Dual SIM dual standby (UMTS-CDMA/GSM);
1GHz Dual Core Tegra 2 processor;
Android 2.3 "Gingerbread";
4 inch sreen;

That's THE Phone!

Hi from Italy


It looks indeed as a very interresting phone except the price of expected 800 dollar.

 

[Guamguy]

Behold it is the king of dual SIM phones.

It is DUAL-ANYTHING!

Dual SIM
Dual Core
Dual Mode (CDMA & GSM)

Motorola XT882 Android phone comes to China, the king of dual - GSMArena.com news

And it got Gingerbread too. The Motorola XT882 puts to shame the Atrix and the Droid X2 which is still at Froyo. Heck, first Tegra2 phone in the world to be Gingerbread.

The dual mode has other implications, since its not hard to see how, with some modifications, for Motorola to offer this phone to Verizon and Sprint.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm also looking for the same phone as you guys, the Motorolla looks the best so far but really can't believe that HTC, with all it's innovation, haven't released one.

I understand people's comments on carriers not wanting to sell a dual sim phone but surely they must realise some people just have 2 sims, one for work and one for personal.

Fingers crossed the Moto is good and makes it across here

 

[ijnokm]

Hm, but the information on GSM-Arena is
"it has dual mode GSM/CDMA network support and yes, the two network radios are operational simultaneously".

This sounds to me like one GSM and one CDMA radio, but not 2 GSMs as most of us want to see.

 

[jech]

This sounds to me like one GSM and one CDMA radio, but not 2 GSMs as most of us want to see.

I'm afraid you're right. Unfortunately GSM+CDMA is no option for me. I need dual GSM cards.

 

[Guamguy]

If this phone is going to China, then it should work all three ways, GSM + GSM, CDMA + CDMA and GSM + CDMA.