Congo Brazzaville-based company VMK has announced the launch of a new Android-powered smartphone, called the Elikia.
The Elikia has 3.5 inch, 320×480 pixel display with a 650MHz processor and 512MB RAM. Features include a 5-megapixel primary camera, VGA secondary camera and a micro-SD card slot that supports micro-SD capacity of up to 32GB.
The handset is fitted with 2G and 3G connection support, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth abilities. It is currently priced at US$150.
“The device was designed with African users in mind,” VMK Chief Executive Officer, Vérone Mankou said. He explained that the incorporated GPS is especially significant as most African consumers cannot afford a separate GPS device.
The cell phone, whose name means ‘hope’ in Lingala, is powered by Android 2.3, but utilises the Holo Launcher application. The result is an interface appearance similar to that of the Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich. Android Authority praises the new release for its esthetical aspects, commenting that “the petite handheld is a pretty decently designed phone (even by today’s standards), being rather stylish and elegant”. With a weight of 150g and 11.2mm thickness, the device is comfortable to carry around effortlessly.
Although they aim to keep all technological development as authentically African as possible, the continent has not yet been able to secure local assemblage. Therefore manufacturing is still being outsourced to China at this stage.
VMK is known for website design, application development and consulting. Last year they released a 7-inch Android tablet computer, called the Way-C.
