HMD Key is A £59 Smartphone with Android 14 Go

Feature phones are the beginning of the smartphones we know today. However, while feature phones are affordable for the masses, smartphones are not as easily accessible. The price of a good smartphone is high for many people, so manufacturers, including Nokia, have been trying to find ways to make smartphones more accessible. You might remember Nokia’s Asha series or Google’s attempt with Android Go OS for cheaper chipsets, but these efforts failed to create a solid bridge between feature phones and smartphones.

HMD Global, however, is pushing that boundary but with some clear compromises. Their recent HMD Key is a device aimed at becoming a companion for many users, even contradicting their Detox campaign since the HMD Key is an Android 14 Go-powered smartphone. The compromise mentioned is the use of an extremely old chipset to power it.

The HMD Key is a true budget smartphone with a £59 price tag. It will be available in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand starting January 2nd. Designed for everyday use, the phone features a 6.52-inch HD+ LCD display, the Unisoc 9832E chipset from 2018, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage (expandable to 128GB), and a 4,000mAh battery with 10W charging.

The device includes an 8MP rear camera (paired with a secondary, seemingly non-functional camera), a 5MP selfie camera, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, and a headphone jack. Running Android 14 Go, it supports Virtual Memory and will receive quarterly security updates for two years, but no Android version upgrades. Available in Icy Blue and Midnight Black, the HMD Key delivers essential smartphone features at a highly affordable price.

Now, if only those thick bezels and an aempty camera spot could be removed, I’d be more than happy. But hey, price is the key here.

Source: Suomimobiili