Sub-$100 Android phone hits U.S. shores

T-Mobile's Comet, a re-branded Huawei Ideos handset, is nevertheless the low cost king of smartphones.  Amazingly, it is running Google's Android 2.2 Froyo *sneers at Galaxy S line* and has a lot of the features that higher-end smartphone buyers are looking for.  To illustrate, it has 3.2-megapixel camera with camcorder, Google Maps navigation, digital media player, microSD card slot, USB interface, Bluetooth, tethering and WiFi hotspot capabilities.

When you purchase the phone, you have nothing more to buy ever.  You could use it just on Wifi for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to illustrate.  You could as well take it overseas or give it to a kid as an iPod-type device.

Important distinction

That's an important distinction, because many consumers think that a free phone bundled with a two-year plan is as a matter of fact free.  It isn't.  Often, the early termination fee is $350 and you pay a $15-20 subsidy every month.

Another Huawei phone carried on Vodafone in the UK recently dropped below $100, now this is the first smartphone to drop below the $100 barrier in the U.S.

The psychological $100 barrier is an important one because it will allow feature phone users, who make up the majority of U.S. mobile phone users, to upgrade to smartphones and start browsing the web, use maps, email, etc.