I was in the tail end of nursing a fever when the doorbell rang and a messenger dropped off two Torque phones. Usually, deliveries such as these would come with a lot of PR information but in this particular case, all it came with were the two units (not boxed, no accessories) and a sheet of paper with both IMEI numbers and units. Before turning these things on, I had a feeling what I was going to expect — I once told the guys from TORQUE that they should launch Android based phones soon and win the market share by sheer price. My guess was right when, upon turning on both phones, I was greeted with the Android logo.

Android phones are great — except that they’re a tad expensive. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the cheapest android phones in the market. These units are NOT YET AVAILABLE to the public and DO NOT HAVE a price attached as of late. These are prototypes so what I show you today may change in the next few weeks. What I write here is a fresh look on the two units, straight from my camera and initial tinkering.

Initial Observations:

The main differences between the GD55 and G88 is twofold. The G88 is a DUAL SIM Android phone with a 5MP camera. The GD55 comes with one SIM slot and a 3MP camera. Both units have Bluetooth and WiFi.

There’s a reason why it is priced lower than usual: the GD55 and G88 user interface isn’t as sleek and polished as other Android devices. You can tell from the UI lag. There doesn’t seem to be a way to drag the bottom menu upward as well. You will need to click on the “menu” icon to reveal the main menu. From here, you can drag applications out into the desktop screen.

UPDATE: After typing a few sentences, not once did I get a misspelled word. After using the device’s keypad for quite some time surfing the web, I realized that the keys towards the edges of the screen are cramped up, causing me to misspell some words. The only solution here is, apart from having really adept fingers, is to tilt the device to landscape view.

There is no Android Marketplace installed.

Charging and sync is via miniUSB. After plugging it into my Mac, I didn’t get a notification that I docked the device. I’ll try it with Windows later.

I will try to get more information with regards to the pricing and features (i.e. app store compatibility). TORQUE has a history of producing really good phones for the Philippine market. They have a rather impressive list of products including the F1 Imitation phone, the D100 that uses Nokia BLC batteries and the E72 clone. Now they’ve gone to bringing in more “valued” products with the launch of their Android line. This is Android for Everyone.

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You have 17 Responses

  1. Jayvee

    The cheapest android phones from China http://abuggedlife.com/2010/03/01/torque...
    via Twitoaster

    2. Jayvee on March 1st, 2010 at 4:12 am

  2. raincontreras

    RT @Jayvee: the cheapest android phones from China http://abuggedlife.com/2010/03/01/torque...
    via Twitoaster

    3. raincontreras on March 1st, 2010 at 4:24 am

  3. How bout mobile internet connection? HSPA? How long is batt life? These should be important for an Android phone. The 2 SIM version is interesting for a 2nd phone to keep you connected on all networks without handling 3 phones.

    4. tbymrtn on March 1st, 2010 at 12:36 pm

  4. as i mentioned i just got these phones a few minutes ago, which means ill be doing a longer road test. as for specs, it didn’t come with a spec sheet as these are prototypes.

    5. Jayvee on March 1st, 2010 at 12:39 pm

  5. Wow. They look great! When you said you couldn’t “drag” the menu up, do you mean these are not capacitive touch screen phones?

    6. Gomi on March 1st, 2010 at 12:56 pm

  6. i could drag the icons out, but the menu couldn’t be dragged out. i think this is a firmware issue as it is still a prototype.

    7. Jayvee on March 1st, 2010 at 12:59 pm

  7. Well, I’m buying one. :)

    8. Bim on March 1st, 2010 at 1:15 pm

  8. Hello Sir,

    How is it the cheapest when there’s no price?

    9. armin on March 1st, 2010 at 2:23 pm

  9. Because sir, it is from china. But really this is based on what they told me as well as the fact that torque has a track record of coming in cheap.

    10. Jayvee on March 1st, 2010 at 4:13 pm

  10. I’m guessing 10k up to 12k for the dual sim considering it has WiFi with a 5MP cam. I’m sure this will have a slower processor as well and only GPRS support.

    11. Jerome G. on March 2nd, 2010 at 11:24 am

  11. Well price doesnt matter when it comes to needful features. Cheers

    12. Michelle on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:34 pm

  12. [...] SIM slots. It’s made in China. It runs on Android. After nursing a cold about a week ago, I came into the possession of two prototypes from one of the more “hip” China phone manufacturers, TORQUE. Without any detailed [...]

    13. The Future of Android as seen from this Dual SIM winner on March 4th, 2010 at 11:37 pm

  13. How were you able to get these prototypes phones? I wanna test too! he he..

    14. Ems on March 9th, 2010 at 12:08 am

  14. I was wondering if these will work in the US? Like for my Smart/ Globe roaming.

    15. ariana on March 9th, 2010 at 9:31 am

  15. Thanks for taking this opportunity to talk about this, I feel strongly about it and I benefit from learning about this subject

    16. Michelle on March 10th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

  16. It looks like the General Mobile Dual SIM that was launched a couple months back, it can’t run the marketplace, the resolution sucks, if it’s the same phone.

    17. Hans on March 11th, 2010 at 6:05 am

  17. posted 3/29/2010:

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/mobile/why-the-resistance-to-dual-sim-mobile-phones/

    18. Tsk Tsk Tsk on March 30th, 2010 at 10:38 pm

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