The Safaricom Open Day is back. This time round, it runs from today (June 28th) through to Sunday, July 2nd. As is always the case, the Safaricom Open Day’s main focus is deals on devices.
This is what is on offer, at a glance:
1. Lenovo A1000
I got a chance to use the Lenovo IdeaTab A1000 tablet a while back (in college). It wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t that good either but for an entry-level slate, it held up just fine. It was just bogged down by the usual stuff from the Chinese company: lousy software. Its small sibling, the Lenovo A1000 smartphone, may just be plagued by similar issues but it gets a free pass because it is available at a throwaway price and during this Safaricom Open Day, you can get it for 16% less.
Specs: 4-inch WVGA display, 1.3GHz Spreadtrum processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, 5-megapixel camera (VGA on the front), 2,000mAh battery and Android 5.0, Lollipop.
That the Lenovo A1000 is a copycat of the OPPO Neo 3, which entered the market a year before it, design-wise is a story for another (open?) day.
2. Safaricom Neon Kicka
Safaricom’s band of Neon-branded devices is its new-age equivalent of the former Kabambe lineup of 2010, only that its focus is entirely on the smartphone since Safaricom no longer sells feature dumb phones.
The Neon Kicka is one of the more recent devices in the Neon series and it’s one of the cheapest smartphones in the Kenyan market if not really the cheapest. As such, as can be seen below, its feature set won’t be blowing you away even in a 1,000 years but the device will keep you going if you’re not looking for anything fancy, just a device with internet connectivity that can make sure you don’t miss any WhatsApp forward since, to be honest, there isn’t much you can do with it.
Specs: 3.5-inch display, 2-megapixel camera, FM radio and 3G internet connectivity.
Read: 10 budget 4G smartphones you can buy during the Safaricom Open Day
3. Tecno S1 Pro
Arguably the cheapest Tecno smartphone in the market, the Tecno S1 Pro’s limited feature-set, just like the Neon Kicka’s means that it is a likely device for first time smartphone owners, those not in the market for anything fancy or those looking for a backup phone for hailing a cab after a night out and not much else.
4. Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Plus
This is easily the best deal during this Open Day. Not because it is one of the Samsung smartphones going for less than Kshs 15,000 that I have just highlighted but because, normally, the Grand Prime Plus usually goes for Kshs 13,000 or thereabout. During the ongoing Open Day, it costs just over 30% less. Even then, it is the most expensive device on this list.
The Grand Prime Plus features a 5-inch qHD display, a quad-core MediaTek MT6737T processor, an 8-megapixel camera at the back and a 5-megapixel shooter on the front, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB onboard storage, Bluetooth 4.2, USB OTG, a 2,600mAh battery unit and Android 6.0, Marshmallow.
5. Huawei Y3II
This device may not have made it to my top Huawei mid-rangers list but that doesn’t mean that it falls short of anything. It just has the misfortune of existing at a time when Huawei is putting its best feet forward in the local market with lots of other amazing gadgets. Just like every other footballer in this day and age who is not Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. So if you can, get it before its successor arrives soon.
Specs: 4.5-inch WVGA display, a MediaTek processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, 5-megapixel camera at the back, 2-megapixel camera on the front, 2,100mAh battery.
Note: All these are single-SIM devices (because, Safaricom).
