The other day we were rather shocked to hear that Walmart was selling a pre-paid smartphone for ten whole dollars. When
we saw the device was running Android, we just had to see what it was
like. So we walked into our local store, plunked an entire $10 bill down
on the table, and walked out with a rough facsimile of a
smartphone. Meet the LG Sunrise.
This is not our first trip into the masochistic world of ultra-cheap smartphones. We previously reviewed the Intex Cloud FX, a $35 smartphone that ran Firefox OS. The Cloud FX had a ton of problems, but for us the most limiting thing was FireFox OS. It couldn't run any benchmarks or our battery tests, making the device a $35 slab of uselessness that could occasionally render a webpage without crashing. The Sunrise is packing something much more familiar though: Android. It's only running Android 4.4 KitKat, but that's a lot better than Mozilla's app-less browser OS.
We should mention that while we walked into a Walmart and spent only $10 on this device, it was on sale. Various carrier models have the MSRP of the Sunrise listed for $40-$60. We should also mention that this $10 deal is for a locked prepaid phone. If you want to have cell service on this device, it has to be with TracFone unless you want to unlock it somehow. You could also just never get service and have a $10 Wi-Fi device.
The specs look like something out of 2007: a 3.8-inch 480×320 display, a dual core, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 3MP camera. Everything here aims to fits the most basic definition of each component rather than living up to any kind of performance standard. The camera, for instance, technically records some kind of image based on the light that enters the lens, but we wouldn't call that image "good." The display is a grid of squares that can change colors to represent text or images. There is even a speaker that can create several different noises.
But hey, it's $10! You've got to lower your standards appropriately. If your other option is nothing, there is actually a lot the Sunrise can offer: It can boot and show the Android desktop. If you tap the screen, something (eventually) happens. You can load up Chrome and browse the Internet. You can run apps—even the Google apps—and have access to the entire Play Store. You'll get Google Maps, push notifications, voice commands, and everything else you would expect. It's pretty amazing that for the cost of two Starbucks drinks you can get a mostly-functional, Internet-enabled smartphone that can (more or less) run the same software as a $600 flagship.
This is not our first trip into the masochistic world of ultra-cheap smartphones. We previously reviewed the Intex Cloud FX, a $35 smartphone that ran Firefox OS. The Cloud FX had a ton of problems, but for us the most limiting thing was FireFox OS. It couldn't run any benchmarks or our battery tests, making the device a $35 slab of uselessness that could occasionally render a webpage without crashing. The Sunrise is packing something much more familiar though: Android. It's only running Android 4.4 KitKat, but that's a lot better than Mozilla's app-less browser OS.
We should mention that while we walked into a Walmart and spent only $10 on this device, it was on sale. Various carrier models have the MSRP of the Sunrise listed for $40-$60. We should also mention that this $10 deal is for a locked prepaid phone. If you want to have cell service on this device, it has to be with TracFone unless you want to unlock it somehow. You could also just never get service and have a $10 Wi-Fi device.
The specs look like something out of 2007: a 3.8-inch 480×320 display, a dual core, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 3MP camera. Everything here aims to fits the most basic definition of each component rather than living up to any kind of performance standard. The camera, for instance, technically records some kind of image based on the light that enters the lens, but we wouldn't call that image "good." The display is a grid of squares that can change colors to represent text or images. There is even a speaker that can create several different noises.
But hey, it's $10! You've got to lower your standards appropriately. If your other option is nothing, there is actually a lot the Sunrise can offer: It can boot and show the Android desktop. If you tap the screen, something (eventually) happens. You can load up Chrome and browse the Internet. You can run apps—even the Google apps—and have access to the entire Play Store. You'll get Google Maps, push notifications, voice commands, and everything else you would expect. It's pretty amazing that for the cost of two Starbucks drinks you can get a mostly-functional, Internet-enabled smartphone that can (more or less) run the same software as a $600 flagship.
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