The standard might have changed when it comes to the “Android One” project by Google.
Initially, it was supposed to be priced to be affordable so that the mass market can experience a high-quality smartphone with a minimum set of standards.
But recently, a company called General Mobile from Turkey unveiled a USD300 “Android One” smartphone with mid-range specs at the Mobile World Congress.
General Mobile is a Turkish mobile and tablet brand which has been around since 2005.
Dubbed as GM 5 Plus, the smartphone is the first mid-range Android One to hit the market. This is General Mobile’s second Android One project, the first was the General Mobile 4G.
GM 5 Plus Features
Metal frame with textured back and available in four colors. GM 5 Plus, taking from its name has 5.5-inch full HD display. On-screen capacitive buttons are paired with physical buttons on the right side where power and volume controls are located.
A USB type C is also included which is kind of a good news because we want to see more and more brands adopting to this development.
The 3,100mAH battery will enjoy fast charging courtesy of Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Imagine if you can get a full charge in an hour or so.
The 4.5G/LTE-A Cat 7 employs a 100Mbps upload and a 300Mbps download speed. Browsing and downloading from the Internet will be really fast.

GM 5 Plus Android One specs
5.5-inch Full HD display 1080 x 1290 pixels
Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 Octa-core CPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4
USB Type C
WiFi, Bluetooth
13 MP autofocus with flash selfie camera
13MP autofocus with dual Flash, DXO technology rear camera
GM 5 Plus SRP
Priced at USD300 which is equivalent to around P14k+, GM 5 Plus might not reach the Philippine store officially but this can be an inspiration to local brands like Torque, Cherry Mobile, MyPhone and Kata.

