If you want to sell a device in the United States that emits a wireless signal then you need to have it certified. Unfortunately, the companies who submit their devices for certification never really follow the proper procedures to make sure that members of the media don’t get a whiff of unannounced hardware. Thanks to the FCC and the Bluetooth SIG, we’ve been made aware of more smartphones, tablets, and laptops than we care to count, and today’s we’d like to add another device to that list. Say hello the the “JukeB”, for Virgin Mobile. It’s said to feature a full QWERTY keyboard in the all too familiar BlackBerry form factor, it’ll run Android 2.3.4, and it measures 119 mm x 58 mm x 12.43 mm while weighing just 122 grams. Now for the sad part. While most budget Android smartphones have a half VGA resolution screen (480 x 320 pixels), this thing does quarter VGA, more famously known as 320 x 240 pixels. That’s a resolution we haven’t seen on smartphones since Nokia started shipping their first touch screen device back in 2009. Then again, Virgin Mobile is a prepaid brand, and thus offers cheap devices.
We’ve got no idea when this thing will come out, nor how much it’ll cost, but considering it’s made by “TCT Mobile Suzhou Limited”, the same folks who make Alcatel phones, we’d be shocked to see this being offered for more than $150. Again, note that Virgin Mobile doesn’t subsidize their devices, so that’s the price you pay to take the device out the store, and then you start paying $55 per month for unlimited everything.
The name “JukeB” suggests that this device will have some sort of musical association with it, but we can’t imagine wanting to run Spotify or Rdio on such a terrible screen. And since nearly every mobile phone on the planet, both smart and dumb, can play MP3s … then what makes this thing special?