With the rapid proliferation of smartphones, it is easy to forget that feature phones exist. For many people in regions like India, South East Asia and Latin America, a feature phone is the only means of communication available. While the market for these phones does continue shrinking as smartphones become cheaper and income levels rise, they still exist and have a profound impact in shaping the future of these rural economies.
At a launch event in New Delhi, Qualcomm has announced the new Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform. The announced product is in line with Qualcomm's recent shift in naming conventions which drops the "Snapdragon" branding as well as the word "processor".
The Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is designed to bring 4G LTE connectivity and 4G services to entry-level feature phones. It is designed for OEMs and ODMs that focus on the lower end of the mobile market, which often misses out on quality mobile products. The main idea behind the Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is to support communication through LTE services such as VoLTE and VoWi-Fi, riding along LTE network rollouts and cheap LTE subscription plans which are being offered by carriers across the globe.
The Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform includes the 28nm-based Qualcomm 205 SoC which utilizes a dual core CPU clocked at 1.1GHz and complemented by an Adreno 304 GPU, LPDDR2/3 and eMMC 4.5. The Mobile Platform also packs in support for WiFi 802.11b/g/n along with Bluetooth 4.1 and USB 2.0 covering its connectivity aspects. It also includes the X5 LTE modem with 4G, 3G and 2G support as well as Dual SIM connectivity. It also provides support for Category 4 LTE with maximum 150Mbps download and 50Mbps upload speeds.
Since this Platform is oriented towards feature phones, it does have limited support for camera and displays. Display resolution is capped at Standard Definition 480p, while camera is capped at 3MP for front and 3MP for rear.
The Snapdragon 205 Platform also packs in support for satellite systems like GPS, GLONASS and Beidou. Qualcomm will support Linux-based operating systems on the platform.
The Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is available today, and we can expect to see devices in Q2 2017. Partners for the first batch of devices include Megafone, HiPad, Micromax, Reliance Jio, LYF, TCL and others.
With the inclusion of 4G LTE into feature phones, the very concept of a "feature phone" is scheduled for a redefinition. The differentiating parameters between smartphones and feature phones are shrinking, which just shows how far we've come along in technology. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the very bottom of the mobile market.
What are your thoughts on Qualcomm's new 205 Mobile Platform? Let us know in the comments below!
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