MTN Steppa smartphone for R499

Dan C said:
Are you willing to write a review on this phone ?
Click to expand...

I am willing to write a review yes. I pushed my samsung pocket to the limit, currently rocking a S2 running 4.1.2 , I enjoy checking how far you can push a phone.

I have been looking at all the shops in Hemingways Mall today that sell MTN phones and could not find one.

Anyone seen one for sale?
 
i'm sure someone could root this and run kitkat which was designed for phones with 512mb ram or any andriod rom. Processor might be slow but once you root it and get a good custom rom this will be a useful device
 
10i said:
I am willing to write a review yes. I pushed my samsung pocket to the limit, currently rocking a S2 running 4.1.2 , I enjoy checking how far you can push a phone.

I have been looking at all the shops in Hemingways Mall today that sell MTN phones and could not find one.

Anyone seen one for sale?
Click to expand...

Try Jet or pep stores
 
I am going to phone the stores today, as the pep I went to yesterday didn't have.
 
hsark said:
i'm sure someone could root this and run kitkat which was designed for phones with 512mb ram or any andriod rom. Processor might be slow but once you root it and get a good custom rom this will be a useful device
Click to expand...

Does KitKat run on single core processors?
 
I have had similar issues with whatsapp. so I undersand the frustration.

but whatsapp did not chow 20% battery.

whatsapp did not require constant connection.

whatsapp did not use 10meg of data in an hour when i had 0!!!!! contacts.

I have never used a BB so I am not addicted to the messaging system, i have however been using Gtalk as my IM of choice for so long that I cannot remember what it is like not being available on it.

you know what? hangouts will get the message through all the time. hangouts will do everything whatsapp and BBM does, but people ignore it unless they are at a desk where they are on gtalk like they are used to.



and a side note on BBM for android, if BBM is down in SA, will a BBM go through from one droid to another?
 
MTN Steppa sold out at all Pep stores in East London. Apparently they sell out as soon as they come in.
 
The only time I notice text delay issues with WhatsApp is when I sent to Apple phones from my Android phone.
 
Baxteen said:
WRONG

BBM needs at least 4.2.2 to be installed. its a bad app I know and people should just use one of the other one million chat applications out there, BUT people still want BBM, so they will try and be disappointed, then they will try root and flash to get a new rom that will run BBM, and that will just brick the phone 90% of the time because there will not be a walkthrough for an MTN branded phone.


but hey, at least the Cheapest Android on the market is actually a budget phone and not last years flagship wearing CROCS and calling its self a budget phone. I'm looking at you mister 5c[rap]
Click to expand...

Correction.....

BBM works on ice cream sandwich and above.... im running it just fine on 4.0.4

And another thing.... for ex blackberry users and people getting into a smart phones for the first time especially the android platform, they wont be rooting and flashing custom roms... they probably would have never even heard of it and its tricky at best
 
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So I wanted to go a buy the MTN Steppa smartphone but it was sold out at pep so I tried Jet stores next door and they had but I saw something else that I ended off buying.

I present the Huawei Ascent Y220

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_y220-5921.php

Its retailing @ Jet,CNA,Edgars and all TFG stores[totalsports,markham,mat&may,fochini,duesouth,sportscene] for R549

There are 2 models being sold @ the Edcon stores[Jet,Edgars,CNa,Legit,Red Square,Boardmans]

MTN sells the one with 1 wcdma simcard slot and it comes with a 4GB memory card in the box. The other one is on Telkom Mobile and is the dual sim version with the exact same specs but has 1 wcdma sim slot and 1 gsm only sim slot.

I bought the 1 on MTN cause they did not have stock of the one with Telkom Mobile. Very impressed with this phone. It even has the Huawei TS9 plug for a external antenna if you remove the back cover.

Now I actually want to compare cause its a win lose situation....

MTN Steppa = R499
Huawei Y220 =R549

*MTN steppa 512mb RAM where the Huawei only has 256mb
*MTN steppa has a 1Ghz single core CPU where the Huawei has a 1Ghz dual core cpu
*MTN steppa supports both 900Mhz and 2100Mhz HSDPA 7.2Mbps and the Huawei supports 21.5Mbps HSDPA on both 900Mhz and 2100Mhz
*MTN steppa has A-GPS where the Huawei does not have A-GPS

As you can see its a win some lose some with a price difference of just R50 its hard to make a decision :confused:

Here is the huawei Ascent Y220 specs

huawei-ascend-y220-1.jpg


huaweiy220.png
 
eldreadge said:
people whose argument is gingerbread is archaic dont really know much about Android, I still have my galaxy s2 running on gingerbread coz ics, jellybean and kitkat are just shiny new toys that do everything the old one did save for a few gimmicks, anyway if u dislike gingerbread, get a custom ROM, but for 500 nothing else comes close.
Click to expand...

I agree, and Windows 98SE is still the best desktop OS too.
 
cavedog said:
So I wanted to go a buy the MTN Steppa smartphone but it was sold out at pep so I tried Jet stores next door and they had but I saw something else that I ended off buying.

I present the Huawei Ascent Y220

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_y220-5921.php

Its retailing @ Jet,CNA,Edgars and all TFG stores[totalsports,markham,mat&may,fochini,duesouth,sportscene] for R549

There are 2 models being sold @ the Edcon stores[Jet,Edgars,CNa,Legit,Red Square,Boardmans]

MTN sells the one with 1 wcdma simcard slot and it comes with a 4GB memory card in the box. The other one is on Telkom Mobile and is the dual sim version with the exact same specs but has 1 wcdma sim slot and 1 gsm only sim slot.

I bought the 1 on MTN cause they did not have stock of the one with Telkom Mobile. Very impressed with this phone. It even has the Huawei TS9 plug for a external antenna if you remove the back cover.

Now I actually want to compare cause its a win lose situation....

MTN Steppa = R499
Huawei Y220 =R549

*MTN steppa 512mb RAM where the Huawei only has 256mb
*MTN steppa has a 1Ghz single core CPU where the Huawei has a 1Ghz dual core cpu
*MTN steppa supports both 900Mhz and 2100Mhz HSDPA 7.2Mbps and the Huawei supports 21.5Mbps HSDPA on both 900Mhz and 2100Mhz
*MTN steppa has A-GPS where the Huawei does not have A-GPS

As you can see its a win some lose some with a price difference of just R50 its hard to make a decision :confused:

Here is the huawei Ascent Y220 specs

huawei-ascend-y220-1.jpg


huaweiy220.png
Click to expand...

Seems like a good buy
 
One Jet outlet received over 200 majority of them are sold out. Love this phone for the price but the bloatware is one of the most frustrating things. I will have to root the phone and see what rom I can use.

It's worth it.
 
RichardG said:
One Jet outlet received over 200 majority of them are sold out. Love this phone for the price but the bloatware is one of the most frustrating things. I will have to root the phone and see what rom I can use.

It's worth it.
Click to expand...

Any preliminary idea of which ROMs will work on this thing?
 
Will do my homework tomorrow.

Model Number: SP355AWG
Andorid Version:2.35
Baseband Version:MSM_7225A
Kernal version:2.6.38-perf+
Build number:SP355AWG.27.2

Don't wanna brick the phone will do the necessary homework, already someone did open a thread on xda.

If there wasn't any branding(adverting) on homescreen then I wouldn't root. I am OK with the MTN splash screen. The advertising is probably depleting data in the background like any typical fresh boot up. Tried to even close yahoo, no luck
 
eldreadge said:
people whose argument is gingerbread is archaic dont really know much about Android, I still have my galaxy s2 running on gingerbread coz ics, jellybean and kitkat are just shiny new toys that do everything the old one did save for a few gimmicks, anyway if u dislike gingerbread, get a custom ROM, but for 500 nothing else comes close.
Click to expand...

What are you on about?

Gingerbread is just a shiny new toy. Real hardcore Android enthusiasts use Android 1.5 Cupcake. Get with the times, please :-P
 
Hmmm, that Hauwei will make a nice portable WiFi hotspot... What's battery life like?
 
cavedog said:
MTN sells the one with 1 wcdma simcard slot and it comes with a 4GB memory card in the box. The other one is on Telkom Mobile and is the dual sim version with the exact same specs but has 1 wcdma sim slot and 1 gsm only sim slot.
Click to expand...
What do you mean saying wcdma/GSM SIM slot? = micro/mini?
 
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