UK-based Zanco reckons you’ve got room for another phone in your pocket, and it seems the Tiny t2 won’t take up much room at all. What the company calls “the world’s smallest phone” appeared on Kickstarter this week, fully funded in less than a day.
This is the company’s second tiny phone, the other being the Zanco Tiny t1, introduced in 2017 and on sale on Amazon for $50.
The Tiny t2 is still small and is more of a technological marvel for everything packed inside. Measuring 2.4 inches tall, 1.18 inches wide, and 0.65 inches deep and weighing just 31 grams, it’s about the size of a large keychain. But there’s a lot packed into this small space (much of which the t1 didn’t have), including a 3G radio, a 0.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth connectivity, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD slot, and a 1-inch TFT screen. It even has a few games pre-installed.
Battery life is also impressive, with Zanco claiming a full week of standby time on a single charge. But there are some drawbacks — there’s no LTE, and because it’s so small, the fat-fingered among us might have a lot of trouble operating its buttons.
But this is not your primary phone. Zanco markets the Tiny t2 as a “secondary phone,” one that you can use during exercise instead of your bulky smartphone thanks to its MP3 support and built-in radio. Since people are so attached to their smartphones these days, that’s probably the only way you’ll be able to successfully market something like this.
But there is a problem with that argument. Previous tiny phones and “tracked” devices were never popular, and there’s little reason to believe things have changed that much.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
We’ve tried super-small phones once before — mostly back in the days when small phones were a novelty in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Perhaps the most notable of these was the Nokia 8200 series. Although a cult favorite for its small size (which is twice the size of the Tiny t2, by the way), the 8200 series had a host of issues, the most significant of which ended up being: a tendency to overheat and poor signal and sound quality. Both problems were the result of cramming too much into a small space.
“Secondary devices” were also tried, but without more success. Do you remember the attempt to bring back the Palm brand? It failed thanks to an outrageously high price and an unclear purpose. At least Zamco is trying to make it useful with actual cellular connectivity and a price tag of $130 when it goes on sale this spring — and $59 for Kickstarter backers.
As with any other crowdfunding project, we recommend that you exercise caution when deciding to support them – see our recommendations on how to support these projects in a smart way. Considering that Zanco is already producing and selling, we think that this particular attempt at crowdfunding carries a little less risk.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn