Thursday, 27 December 2012 20:02

African smartphone and tablet, or not

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The VMK Company which is backed by 26-year old entrepreneur Mankou Verona was founded in 2009. They have launched two products to the market that can boast the label "Designed in Congo." These are the smartphone Elikia and tablet Way-C.

Elikia is a smartphone with humble features; a 650 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 126 MB flash memory and a microSD slot. The display is a 3.5-inch capacitive multitouch IPS with a screen a resolution of 320x480 pixels and the number of colors reaches only 256,000. There are also two cameras - a rear of 5 MP and 0.3 MP front facing camera. The Eikia comes with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, and a 1300 mAh battery that should hold up to 9 hours of active us and a price tag of $ 170.

The Way-C has a 7-inch diagonal screen, a resolution of 800x480 pixels. The Way-C also has a capacitive multitouch, but it seems that it is not an IPS type. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor, coupled with 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of internal flash memory, and is also expandable with a microSD card. The battery has a capacity of 4200 mAh, which should be enough for 6 hours of active use. The downside of all of this is an even older version of Android - 2.3.3. All this will cost the buyer $ 300.

Although they are called an African tablet and smartphone, they are assembled in China and unfortunately will not impress anyone with its characteristics. However, their designer Mankou counts on local patriotism and hopes that VMK in Africa can become what Apple is in the U.S. and Samsung in Korea. VMK's products are available in a dozen African countries and in India, France and Belgium.

Are we looking at the next Apple, or just another small player with big dreams? Let us know in our Forum

Read 3346 times Last modified on Thursday, 27 December 2012 20:07

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