Ever feel like you’re overpaying for your electronics? You are. This is the Gonkai Phone, which can be bought in Shenzhen’s Mingtong Digital Mall, in China. It comes with Bluetooth, an MP3 player, an OLED display and quad-band GSM. What more do you actually, really need? We’re not suggesting you get one, we’re just giving you some perspective on things. While having a $700 smartphone is all fine and well, if all you want to do is make calls while outside, and maybe listen to a little music… there’s no reason you should be paying more than $12!
So how is this even possible?
First, there are no screws. The whole case snaps together.
Also, there are (almost) no connectors on the inside. Everything from the display to the battery is soldered directly to the board; for shipping and storage, you get to flip a switch to hard-disconnect the battery. And, as best as I can tell, the battery also has no secondary protection circuit.
The Bluetooth antenna is nothing more than a small length of wire…
The article linked to below leads to an interesting teardown of this device, replete with pictures and commentary.
[ The Gonkai Phone ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]
