Dual Sim Card Phone
Most mobile users here in Africa own
not one, but two or more Sim cards
— a feature that’s not common on
other high end smartphones. Among
other reasons, users keep two Sim
cards to take advantage of low rates
across various networks, a better
service aspect on one network over
the other.
Tecno knowing this trend has made
no mistake of not supporting dual
sim card feature in its flag ship
smartphone devices.
An Offline App Store
Tecno ships the Phantom A+ with a
flew of Apps — some by African
developers like Afrinolly and Spinlet
from Nigeria, Mxit from South Africa
and UShahidi from Kenya — that you
can install without a data
connection. The implication of this
innovation is that users save on
data charges that they would have
otherwise incurred by downloading
these Apps from the Play Store. First
time smartphone users also can
quickly find Apps that they might
like installed.
For [African] developers, the local
store gives their Apps invaluable
visibility that they otherwise never
get from the global mainstream
stores with thousands of Apps.
A Decent Battery and an
External Battery Bank
Long battery life is perhaps the
most coveted feature on a phone
especially in Africa where some rural
areas haven’t seen the national grid.
Vendors like Nokia who’ve excelled in
those areas have won the hearts of
mobile users in Africa. But when it
comes to the smartphone world, we
need a miracle irrespective of the
device you’re using.
Tecno once again innovates by
shipping the Tecno with an external
2200 mAh battery at no extra cost.
When your battery runs out, instead
of carrying a feature phone as
backup, you can charge your
smartphone with the external
portable charger.
A Radio and an SD Card
sorts your Multimedia
Once again, Radio — the Killer-App
that’s often ignored by everyone
except the users here in Africa — is
the most versatile mass
communication media that’s almost
a must-have feature on feature
phones. Apparently, Radio on high
end smartphones is perceived to be
“not cool” by vendors and yet some
users listen to radio more than they
call, text or do anything else.
Together with radio, as if to
complete the multimedia loop, Tecno
ships the Phantom with an 8GB
external SD card which is enough for
users to store a local media library
of their music, videos and movies.
Instead of radio or an SD card,
mainstream global vendors have
preferred online music and movie
streaming services like YouTube,
iTunes, Netflix which severely suffer
bandwidth and payment bottlenecks
here in Africa.
A Torch, Dust-resistant
Poly-carbonate Shell
Considering that many towns/
Villages in Africa are not yet on the
national grid darkness is still an
issue such that even major town still
experience power outages more like
load shedding or power rationing.
The Phantom considered this when
it embedded an inbuilt Torch app in
the phone and another Torch inbuilt
in the Battery Bank which
apparently can light for 52 Hours
when fully charged.
More so, Tecno goes ahead to add a
dust and scratch resistant poly-
carbonate back cover that looks and
also feels good.
An Affordable Price
Tecno knows that price is a big deal
in Africa and its for the same reason
that they started out with not just
affordable but cheap feature
phones. The Tecno Phantom A+ is
being sold at a retail price of
650,000 Ugx about $ 250 compared
to $500 plus dollars for devices in its
range like the Samsung Galaxy S and
S2. Phones like these will help in
increasing smartphone and internet
penetration.
Widely Distributed
Customer Care Centres
Tecno has not one or two, but many
customer care centers branded
CarlCare in the countries that it has
presence. When we probed the
device for these centers using
Calcare inbuilt App in the Phantom
we could see at least 10 centers
across Uganda only. With a warranty
of 12 month and these widely
distributed centers, users are
assured of support should their
devices get problems. Compare this
to vendors such as Apple, HTC,
Samsung who have few or no
customer care centers at all.
Tecno also knows how to work with
traders downtown instead of carriers
and high end smartphone shops in
fancy malls like Oasis mall or garden
city who have access to a wider
market of phone users. The
downside to this strategy for Tecno
is the brand perception that its
devices are only for
phone”illiterates” who are unaware
of global trends.
Little known and somewhat an
underdog in a tightly contested
market, Tecno which exclusively does
business in Africa with its
understanding of the African market
is set to give the likes of Samsung a
run for their money. That’s already
happening in Nigeria .
