Earlier today uCloudlink announced that it will attend Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, Spain, where the company plans to unveil its first-ever GlocalMe smartphone powered by CloudSIM technology. Using the CloudSIM mobile broadband platform previously seen in GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi devices, the company intends to offer a complete solution in the form of a fully-fledged smartphone able to localize mobile Internet access to global users in over 100 countries.
uCloudlink’s CloudSIM solution has already been made available to consumers through GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi devices able to use local 3G and 4G networks to create Wi-Fi hotspots able to connect up to five devices simultaneously. However, with the latest announcement at MWC 2017, uCloudlink now intends to offer the same technology bundled in a smartphone, which is currently referred to as the GlocalMe smartphone. According to the press release, the system works by sending a signal to the central cloud server, which is then able to detect the best available local network. CloudSIM will then allocate the best local physical SIM option to the GlocalMe Smartphone in real time, resulting in better coverage and lower costs, as well as having access to the Internet without being tied to a single network in a specific region. uCloudlink’s CMO commented on the smartphone’s unveiling saying that the GlocalMe Smartphone is poised to become “the ultimate choice” for MNO and MVNO partners seeking global coverage and an improved customers experience.
As far as the smartphone’s specifications are concerned, it’s interesting to note that the official fact sheet (below) attached to the press release makes no mention of the smartphone’s final retail name, which seems to be subject to change. Either way, the so-called GlocalMe Smartphone will apparently feature a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 System-on-Chip housing 8 ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz, 3GB of RAM, and an Adreno 506 graphics chip. Storage-wise the smartphone offers 32GB on-board, expandable by up to an additional 128GB via microSD card. The smartphone should also accommodate a 13-megapixel main camera coupled with a 5-megapixel front-facing sensor, and should be available in three color options, namely black, gray, and yellow. Lastly, the smartphone will be powered by a 4,000mAh battery and will be officially launched sometime in the second quarter of 2017 for the price of $180.