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Ask HN: cheapest cell phones evar?

3 points by arkitaip ↗ HN
I would like to know what the cheapest cell phones on the planet are (yes, entire planet). Making calls, SMS, GSM, English language support and phone book are the only must requirements. Anything above 15 USD is !interesting.

8 comments

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Piskvorrr
Used old Nokias (no, really); the highest cost would be moving them to-and-fro, and battery replacements. I still have a fully functional 3410, some ten years old. Battery is gone of course, but apart from this the phone took quite some licking, yet keeps on ticking ;) And of course the venerable 3310s - built like tanks, apart from the clip-on plastic covers.

Calls? Check. SMS? Check. English? Check. Not sure what you mean by "GSM" - it uses the 900 MHz and 1800 GSM ranges, if that's what you're asking

Alas, they don't make cellphones like they used to.

If you're thinking in terms of "gotta be a new phone", you could probably get <15 USD if you licensed those and had them built in huge batches.

ig1
Samsung E1080 - retails for as low as £3 GBP (~5 USD) in the UK.
samwillis
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/SAMSU...

I am actually currently using this phone after my iPhone died a few weeks ago, it was supposed to be a stop gap until I got the iPhone sorted but it has become kind of liberating to not have a smart phone. My fiancée is happer about me not bing attached to hackernews on my phone all the time as well!

Does anyone know of an inexpensive phone that has no internet but does sync contacts (possibly calendar too) with a computer and more memory for texts, the E1080 only uses the sim for both?

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shortfold
I have two nokia 8310's that serve me incredibly well, battery life lasts 3+days of moderate call/sms use. Can pick one up for around 20GBP on ebay.