I’m all for bringing telecom prices down, but there’s something corny about the President of the United States launching a gold-plated Android phone. This is something we usually see from weird Russian companies, but I guess Donald Trump is known for taking inspiration from Russia.
The company, called T1 Mobile, is being launched by Trump’s eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric Trump. The first plan from the company costs $US 47.95 (roughly, C$64) and includes unlimited talk, text and data.
T1 Mobile is an MVNO that uses 5G service from T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint so it should have solid service across the United States. The 47 Plan also comes with 24/7 roadside assistance and device protection. There is also free international calling to 100 foreign countries.
The real star of the show is the upcoming T1 phone that is supposed to launch in August. This phone is supposed to be made of “sleek gold” and will be engineered, designed, and built in the U.S. The phone is up for pre-orders now and is listed to cost US$499 (C$675) with a US$100 (C$135) down payment.
On the Trump Mobile website, it highlights the gold version of the phone which will reportedly have a 6.8-inch screen, 120Hz refresh rate, and a 50-megapixel camera. Beyond that, we know that it has a 5,000mAh battery and will use a fingerprint scanner or “AI face unlock.”
It’s also reported to have 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a MicroSD card slot and 20-watt fast charging. Predictably ,it will use USB-C despite not being sold in the EU and and has a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the camera front, the main lens is 50 megapixels and is flanked by a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a 2-megapixel macro camera. There’s also a 16-megapixel selfie camera.
All in all, this looks like a pretty run-of-the-mill low-cost Android phone to me. Even the website looks low-cost and like it’s still being put together as I’m writing this. The phone is also listed as the ‘T1 SM Phone,’ but I’m not sure what “SM” stands for, except for maybe “Smart?”
According to the Trump Mobile website, the phone will launch in August, but the press release says September so it’s hard to know. I will also say that the phone shown off looks like it was made in Photoshop so I’d expect this to change significantly by the time it releases. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the gold phones were super limited and most people end up getting plain black ones.
Beyond how weirdly terrible this device looks, there are larger questions about how the FCC in the U.S. will even regulate a brand like this. On paper it’s owned by Trump’s sons, but would the FCC chair really want to push regulations on his boss’s kids? And if he does, how certain can we be that President Trump won’t retaliate in some way?
It seems like the Trump administration didn’t take too kindly to all the news claiming it would cost thousands of dollars to make an iPhone in the U.S. If Apple isn’t going to move its factories to the U.S., Trump seems to be setting up his own shop there. Time will tell if his company can make anything worthwhile and how much it will cost them. This announcement seems to have popped up suspiciously quick, even if Don Jr says they’ve been working on it for a long time.
Source: LiveNOW from Fox, Trump Mobile
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