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Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform Could Bring 4G Phones Starting At Rs. 1,200

On 20th March 2017, Qualcomm announced the 205 Mobile Platform at an event in New Delhi, India. This comes just after a week the semiconductor maker reformed its Snapdragon processors to a platform instead of brand. The Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is an ultra-low cost SoC made to bring advanced connectivity options to affordable feature phones. With an inbuilt Wi-Fi antenna and support for 4G LTE, VoLTE and VoWi-Fi, the processor has the potential to revolutionize India’s mobile industry.

The new Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is the company’s first chip not to be part of the Snapdragon platform. It comes with bare minimum specifications which are enough to modernize a feature phone. The best part is that it will barely increase the price of the mobile. With the Qualcomm 205, you will get to use 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, VoLTE as well as VoWi-Fi in a dirt cheap feature phone.

Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform

 

This has the potential to revolutionize the mobile industry of any developing country where feature phones still occupy a huge market share. In India, the advent of Reliance Jio will further boost up its demand. Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is expected to make 4G LTE-enabled handsets available for as low as Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 1,500 in the country.

One of the most beneficial aspects of Qualcomm 205 is that it won’t affect the battery life of feature phones. The mobiles will continue to offer the same kind of power backup as they have been providing so far. In fact, Qualcomm is claiming that the brand new chipset will return 45 days of battery life out of a meager 2000mAh cell. This insane battery backup is a boon for the remote corners of India where electricity is not readily available.


Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform Specifications

Qualcomm 205

Now let’s dive into the technical details. Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform is basically a trimmed down Snapdragon 208 with connectivity upgrades. So, quite naturally it is pin compatible with Snapdragon 208 and 210 chips. However, the latest SoC is much lighter on battery and has limited capabilities. Below is the complete spec sheet of the upcoming chipset.

  • 28 nm Manufacturing Process
  • Dual Core Cortex A7 CPU Up to 1.1 GHz
  • Adreno 304 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.0 Support
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon X5 LTE Modem
  • Dual SIM Card Support
  • 4G LTE Cat 4 (Max. Download Speed: 150 Mb/s, Max. Upload Speed: 50 Mb/s)
  • WCDMA 3G (HSPA+), 2G GSM
  • VoLTE (Voice over LTE) with SRVCC to 3G and 2G
  • VoWi-Fi (Voice over Wi-Fi)
  • 11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth v4.1
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, OTDOA (LTE-based positioning)
  • Advanced Low Power Geofencing and Tracking
  • Can Run Linux-based Operating Systems
  • Supports LPDDR2 / LPDDR3 RAM, eMMC 4.5 Storage
  • Up to 3 MP Primary Camera, 0.3 MP Front Camera
  • Up to 480p Video Recording at 30 fps
  • 720p @ 30 fps Video Playback
  • Supports Up to VGA (640 x 480) Display
  • USB 2.0 Port Compatible

Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform Pros and Cons

By now, you must know what the Qualcomm 205 is. So, let’s dive into the pros and cons of the mobile platform.

Pros

  • Brings a host of advanced functionalities to the feature phone
  • Affordable Pricing
  • Very light on battery

Cons

  • Supports up to VGA displays
  • Video recording limited to 480p @ 30 fps
  • Lackluster camera support

Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform Release Date

Feature phones equipped with Qualcomm 205 is set to arrive late this year. Suspected devices include Micromax Bharat 1 and Reliance Jio’s LYF feature phones. Qualcomm claims that most of the research work and testing of the new mobile chipset is done in India itself.

Conclusion

There is not much to say in conclusion. You already know the advantages and disadvantages of the upcoming chipset. Now only the pricing will tell if feature phones equipped with Qualcomm 205 triumph or fail. However, till now it seems that the SoC has the potential to change the India’s mobile industry altogether.

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Abhishek Bhatnagar

Abhishek Bhatnagar, a known technology blogger & YouTuber from India. A Software Engineer by qualification, now he works as the editor-In-Chief, Webmaster, & Managing Director at Gadgets To Use. He runs a number of other technology websites as well.