Unimpressive $10 Cell Phone Now Available
The awkwardly named Hop-On Hop1800 is now available for $10. The mobile phone has no display and is being touted as the “anti-iPhone” because of it’s simp[licity and lack of features. According to Hop-On, “the pre-paid HOP1800 is ideal as a backup cell phone, when traveling abroad, or for anyone looking for a super affordable cell phone that does one thing extremely well: make phone calls.”
The Hop1800 can be used with over 40 US carriers including AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile as well as through Hop-On’s own Graffiti Wireless(tm) network.
The media coverage so far has emphasized the Hop1800’s low price of $10. However, it’s easy to find full-featured prepaid cell phones that are extremely inexpensive. Virgin Mobile, for example, offers their Aloha phone for free with purchase of $15 worth of airtime. And TracFones are routinely displayed in discount stores for around $10. In fact, WalMart.com currently has two different models listed at $12.88, both with full color screens.
While the Hop1800 may be useful as a backup or emergency phone, there are far more useful devices out there at the same price-point. And the idea that a mobile phone’s screen makes it too complicated is just silly. If anything, the screen simplifies things — making it possible to store and look up phone numbers easily. That alone makes a screen essential for me, but I guess you could go back to carrying around an address book or memorizing every number you might need.
On the web: Hop-On’s HOP1800 page
