The smartphone industry seems to be adopting two specific trends of late. On one hand, there is the high-end sector of the market which pushes the envelope on specs and equally pushes the envelope on price. On the other hand, there is the budget end of the market which seems to be a race to the bottom to see who can offer the cheapest smartphones possible, while only minimally compromising on specs. In the UK, carrier EE has today announced the released of their new smartphone which looks to take on the budget market. The newly announced device is the EE Rook and the price this one starts from is only £49.
In terms of what is on offer for that kind of money, the Rook comes equipped with a 4-inch FWVGA display with an 800 x 480 resolution. Inside, the Rook comes equipped with 1GB RAM and powered by a 64-bit MediaTek Quad-core processor. In terms of cameras, the Rook sports a 5-megapixel rear camera option which is coupled with a 0.3-megapixel VGA front facing camera. While in terms of storage, the rook comes as standard with 8GB internal storage, as well as the option to expand the memory with the inclusion of a microSD card slot (up to 32GB). Additional features on offer include WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a 1,500 mAh battery and the Rook comes running on the latest version of Android, Android 5.1 (Lollipop). Not to mention, this one comes enabled with support for double speed 4G connections.
As mentioned, the price for the Rook comes in at £49 for new EE customers on PAYG (Pay As You Go). However, if you are already an EE customer, then you can pick up the Rook for the even cheaper £39 price. Both prices are subject to a £10 top up which is required at the time of purchase. For that kind of money, the specs might not be anything exciting, but certainly is great value. For those interested, the EE Rook is now available both online from EE as well in EE stores at the price quoted. For more information on the Rook, hit the source link below to read the full EE press release.