I got an Android-equipped smartphone "IDEOS" in Kenya at about 6150 yen

Hello, Bike around the worldTakuya SAITO @ Chalidermanis. It is like an unprecedented smartphone boom from the iPhone's big hit in Japan. Overseas, I often saw people connecting Japanese with smartphones in the Internet with Japanese people gathering. I also got a Chinese smartphone "IDEOS" equipped with Android in Kenya. Unlike Japan, SIM is free, so it's user-friendly. I summarized it with the Japanese mobile market which made this Chinese smartphone "IDEOS" Galapagos.

Previously in Senegal "Nokia 1280I got an article that got it. Some friends traveling together, so although it was easy, "Nokia 1280" was convenient. That friend used Nokia's top model and was also connected to the Internet.TetheringUsing the function called, connect the PC to the net via mobile phone. Although I was allowed to use it several times, it was very convenient. When I thought that I wanted a friend backpacker's "Buy smartphone in KenyaSo I decided to look for it in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.

Since the budget was 10,000 yen, "iPhone" and "Nokia" were impossible, so it became an Android terminal inevitably. Connecting to the computer on the Internet was the best objective, so I looked for versions of Android 2.2 and later that tethering is available. It seems that this tethering is also restricted in Japan. We narrowed our candidates to Samsung's "Galaxy mini (13000 Kenyan Shilling)" and Huawei "IDEOS (8000 Kenyan Shilling). Since the place where the specifications are compared on the Internet is not so different, we decided to buy cheap "IDEOS".

This is "IDEOS"


Bar code notation written as Made in China.


Notation written as Google. It will be an Android-powered smartphone.


I was surprised by the notation that "If the seal is missing, please change it."


I will open the box.


Body, battery, USB cable, charger, earphone, instructions, warranty card included.


When you get the local SIM and install it ......


It works without problems.


This "IDEOS", you can do most things.

OS: Android 2.2.1
CPU: 528 MHz processor
Liquid crystal: 240 × 320 pixels
Camera: 3.2 Megapixels
External memory: microSDHC card (maximum 32 GB)
Bluetooth, GPS, wireless LAN installed. Detailed specsHere.

I got it in Kenya "IDEOS", but since Android itself has settings, I switched to Japanese soon. It connects mainly from a mobile line to a personal computer as a router. Since "IDEOS" itself can be connected to the Internet, we do not have any problems with Japanese information while staying abroad. When I got lost in the city, I was using Google Maps to check the current position. Also, since 32GB micro SD card can be used, it is also used as a music player. Since Android is carried, it is also attractive that you can expand it freely if you download the application. I think that it is a bad choice if it comes from cost performance, although it is time consuming at startup, bad battery possession, freezing for a while if launching a lot of applications, but it is frustrating.

In Nairobi I got a spare battery and a soft case as well.


There were many mobile shops in Nairobi, the center of the East African economy. Even if it is not a mobile shop, we sell a cell phone in the corner of a shop in the corner of a pharmacy, everywhere showcase.Business Wire's articlesAccording to Kenya, it eliminated import tariffs and sales taxes for mobile phones and other ICT equipment throughout 2009, allowing consumers to purchase low-cost equipment. Thanks to this, Nairobi was full of cell phones.

"TECNO" often seen in Africa


"Okia" instead of "Nokia"


Cell phone "JIBAMBE" cheaper than "Nokia 1280". 999 Shilling is 770 yen (October 2011) at the rate of the time and it is super-discount.


Dual SIM. It is common in Africa that two SIM cards are included. In Japan, you can use SIM of two companies NTT Docomo and au on one mobile.


Relatedly, Uganda of the neighboring country, but a sign of "4-SIM mobile".


I bought this "IDEOS" at the office of a mobile service company in Kenya named safari. Like buying juice at a convenience store, I was puzzled because I got my cell phone without a contract.

7999 Kenyan Shilling receipt. It is about 6150 yen (October, 2011) at the rate of that time.


Since I became interested, I checked the price of "IDEOS" in Japan.

It is 10,800 yen in eMobile


It is 26,800 yen by b-mobile


...... Is not it too high?

I was also worried, so I checked the price in China, the main source of "IDEOS". "China's largest Internet shopping site is said to be"Taobao (Tao Bao)"I searched for the same model" IDEOS ".

As a result, the lowest price came out is 520 yuan. If you convert this 520 yuan to Japanese yen it is about 6300 yen (date of January 22, 2012), which is close to the price you got in Kenya.


The Japanese mobile market which the Japanese manufacturer occupied even if called Galapagos. It also collapsed due to the black ship attack "iPhone". It is a Japanese manufacturer who has never fought overseas and lost even in Japan. The relationship between the mobile service company and the portable model maker's possession would have resulted in confusion in the narrow world, Galapagos. This country, the former "British disease"I feel like I am falling into" Japanese disease "caught in the old state. This "IDEOS" can be used by replacing the local SIM from Kenya, regardless of Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and the country. Because smart phones contracted in Japan are locked by SIM, it is a story that outside of Japan SIM can not be used when overseas.

Sony to eliminate the joint venture with Ericsson, Panasonic re-entering the overseas market with Android OS, Japanese makers will finally be able to put on a smartphone finally, but I can not catch up with Samsung who became the world's leading mobile phone manufacturer for a while I guess. I also saw it in Africa at Huawei with "IDEOS"ZTEIt is also a scary place for the Chinese leap forward. Although it is a moderate model, I still felt the danger of Japanese manufacturers that could be culled out with cheap Chinese made smartphones as they were made into Galapagos. Americans who are doing volunteer activities in Kenya who met in Malawi also had "IDEOS" in their hands. "It is prevalent mainly in the middle class of Kenya," he said.

(Sentence / photo: Takuya S. Narou Charriderman
Cycling around the world for a bicyclehttp://shuutak.com)