LIME JA$5000 plus GCT offer for the Huawei Ascend Y210 - LIME's Run and Jump for Digicel Supa DigiDealz Sales should have used the Huawei Ascend Y300

If you’ve been to Telecom Provider LIME Facebook and LIME’s Twitter pages, you’d have notice that they’re pushing Postpaid plans as originally reported in my blog article entitled “LIME's Postpaid Plus and JA$200 per week Blackberry Plans - Browse and Talk is proof that Postpaid and Data Services are all the Rage as MNP and LNP approaches on May 2014”.

This smartphone is a part of the Huawei Ascend Series that was launched at the Mobile World Congress 2013 (MWC) on Monday February 25^th 2013 in Barcelona, Spain on January 2013 as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona announces Huawei Ascend P2 as Samsung debuts Tizen OS”. The Huawei Ascend Y210 was launched in March 2013.

But look a little closer and you’d have noticed another promotion for a Huawei Ascend Y210 with 30 Day Data plan for just $5,000 plus GCT as shown below. First I’ll show LIME Jamaica’s Facebook page.

Now I’ll show the very same promotion on LIME Jamaica’s Twitter Page. Clearly LIME’s reviving the original Alcatel One Touch T-Pop for free concept but replace it with a discount on a Huawei Ascend Y210 as stated in my blog article entitled “LIME Jamaica introduces 30-day Data Plans for JA$300 and a free Alcatel One Touch T'Pop - How the Butler started the Smartphone Data Revolution”.

Telecom Provider LIME is of course, stealing some of Telecom Provider Digicel’s Thunder before the upcoming YVA (Youth View Awards). Telecom Provider Digicel has also recently introduced their Supa DigiDealz on Friday January 17^th 2014 where they’re offering the DL600 or DL700 free or half-off on any other smartphone once purchased on a Postpaid Plan as reported in my blog article entitled “Digicel's Supa DigiDealz gives you a DL600 or DL700 free on a Smart Postpaid Plan - YVA 2013 to feature Zendaya as Digicel are the Big Bad Wolves in the Smartphone Wars”.

Huawei Ascend Y210 – Great offer, But I’ll take the Huawei Ascend Y300 for JA$12000 please

So is this an improved offer on the Alcatel One Touch T-Pop? First let’s start with a review of the functionality of the Huawei Ascend Y210 as posted on YouTube.

Pricewise it’s a little more than the offer last August 2013, as Alcatel One Touch T-Pop could be had for JA$4000 plus GCT as noted in my blog article entitled “LIME Jamaica introduces 30-day Data Plans for JA$300 and a free Alcatel One Touch T'Pop - How the Butler started the Smartphone Data Revolution”.

Specs wise, the Huawei Ascend Y210, which was also launched in March 2013 it’s a much better smartphone though:

1.      Processor: 1 GHz Cortex-A5 with Qualcomm MSM7225A Snapdragon

2.      GPU: Adreno 200

3.      OS: Android OS, v2.3.6 (Gingerbread)

4.      Internal Memory: 512 MB ROM

5.      RAM: 256 MB

6.      External Memory: 32 GB micro SD

7.      Dimensions: 117 x 62 x 12.4 mm (4.61 x 2.44 x 0.49 in)

8.      Weight: 120 g (4.23 oz)

9.      Screen: 3.5 inches 320 x 480 pixels

10.  Screen Resolution: TFT capacitive touchscreen (~165 ppi pixel density), 256K colors

11.  Rear Facing Camera: 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels

12.  Cellular Internet: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps

13.  Wireless Internet: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot

14.  Network:

a)      GSM 850/900/1800/1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2

b)      HSDPA 900/2100 - Y210-0200 model

c)      HSDPA 850/1900/2100 - Y210-0251 model

15.  SIM: Dual SIM (Mini-SIM, dual stand-by)

16.  Battery: Li-Ion 1700 mAh battery           

Features:

           

1.      Accelerometer

2.      Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR

3.      Document viewer

4.      Geo-tagging

5.      GPS          

6.      HTML Browser

7.      Java MIDP emulator

8.      Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM

9.      MicroUSB v2.0

10.  MP3/WAV/eAAC+ and MP4/H.264 player

11.  Multi-touch

12.  Organizer

13.  Photo viewer/editor

14.  Predictive text input

15.  Voice memo/dial

Personally, I’ve visited Telecom Provider LIME’s Carlton Crescent Showroom which I chronicled in my blog article entitled “LIME rolls out Redesigned Main Store at Carlton Crescent in a 2 Year Battle against Digicel - Digicel still dangerous with cheaper Data, the DL600 smartphone and Postpaid Digihome”.  

I’ve looked at the Huawei Ascend Y210 and I’m not overly impressed by the phone’s build quality. The Review by CNET UK of the Huawai Ascend Y300 is also very convincing and even makes comparative references to the Huawei Ascend Y210.

Worse, the Customer Care Agent pointed out to me that her personal preference is the Huawai Ascend Y300, which costs JA$12,500.  The Specs of the Huawai Ascend Y300 make this very clear:

1.      Processor: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 with Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon

2.      GPU: Adreno 203

3.      OS: Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean)

4.      Internal Memory: 4 GB,

5.      RAM: 512 MB RAM

6.      External Memory: 32 GB micro SD

7.      Dimensions: 124.5 x 63.8 x 11.2 mm (4.90 x 2.51 x 0.44 in)

8.      Weight: 130 g (4.59 oz)

9.      Screen: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)

10.  Screen Resolution: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

11.  Rear Facing Camera: 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

12.  Cellular Internet: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps

13.  Wireless Internet: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot

14.  Network:

a)      GSM 850/900/1800/1900

b)      HSDPA 900/2100 - Y300-0100 model

c)      HSDPA 850/1900/2100 - Y300-0151 model

15.  SIM: Dual SIM (Mini-SIM, dual stand-by)

16.  Battery: Li-Ion 1730 mAh battery

a)      Stand-by Up to 320 h (2G)/Up to 320 h (3G)

b)      Talk time Up to 5 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G)

Features:

           

1.      Accelerometer

2.      Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR

3.      Document viewer

4.      Geo-tagging

5.      GPS          

6.      HTML Browser

7.      Java MIDP emulator

8.      Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM

9.      MicroUSB v2.0

10.  MP3/WAV/eAAC+ and MP4/H.264 player

11.  Multi-touch

12.  Organizer

13.  Photo viewer/editor

14.  Predictive text input

15.  Voice memo/dial

LIME drops the ball yet again – Huawei Ascend Y300 on a Postpaid Plan preferable

So it’s now clear what’s going on. Telecom Provider LIME’s just trying to spoil Telecom Provider Digicel by throwing this fire ship of an offer with the Huawei Ascend Y210 at their customers, hoping to woo some of the YVA Hyped sales to their doors.

But it’ll fail, as Jamaicans are hooked on the DL600 and DL700 since Christmas 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Jamaicans fall in love with Digicel's DL600 and DL700 during Christmas 2013 - Sub-US$100 smartphones driving rapid smartphone adoption in Jamaica as Manufacturing is Possible”.

Customer’ll gravitate toward the Supa DigiDealz offer, as clearly Telecom Provider LIME has dropped the ball here.  Had they offered the clearly better and more expensive Huawai Ascend Y300 for the JA$5000 plus GCT, they would have had a demand akin to the DL600 or DL700, never mind the fact they’d sustain a loss.

This as Telecom Provider LIME could make back the JA$6000 discount by tying the customer to a 1 year Postpaid Contract as Telecom Provider Digicel had done using their newly minted Postpaid Plus Plans as noted in my blog article entitled “LIME's Postpaid Plus and JA$200 per week Blackberry Plans - Browse and Talk is proof that Postpaid and Data Services are all the Rage as MNP and LNP approaches on May 2014”.

In the meantime follow the shenanigans of Telecom Provider LIME on:

1.      LIME website (which I still think needs revamping to make it more Tablet and smartphone friendly!)

2.      LIME’s YouTube Page, which is also in need of more structured maintenance.

3.      LIME Twitter Account

4.      LIME Facebook Account

In concluding, Telecom Provider LIME's Run and Jump (2014) for Digicel Supa DigiDealz Sales should have used the Huawai Ascend Y300. It’s up to you dear reader which Telecom Provider offers the better deal!