Ins and outs of made-in-China phones

Tecno, Huawei and Infinix are the most popular phones in Kenya and Africa. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Made-in-China technology has employed millions of traders who sell chargers, phone cases and other allied accessories.
  • The downside is, compared with sturdy phones, the second-rate phones can be infiltrated more easily by bad guys.

Has your phone been heating up lately for no apparent reason? Does it restart itself or occasionally freeze?

When you take a call, does the person on the other end keep shouting that he can’t hear you or you can’t hear them?

Does its charge drain faster than you expect?

If these symptoms describe your phone, phablet or tablet computer, here is the bad news: Your gadget is due for replacement.

Planning for your technology, especially your phone and computer — the two equipment many people use daily — is key.

Every day that you use these devices, they wear out and get closer to their expiry date.

MAINTENANCE
Most phones are built to last between two to three years. Any time longer than three years is a stretch.

Most computers are built to give their best for about three years after which they need to be supported from time to time.

As soon as you buy a new phone, you need to start saving for the next.

Why? Because a phone, its use and maintenance, is now a critical part of your budget. Let’s do some simple mathematics.

Say you buy a phone for Sh20,000 and it is expected to last 24 months.

If you spread the Sh20,000 over the 24-month period, you will find that every month you are paying approximately Sh833.

That does not include the cost of airtime and data bundles — the two variables that add up to the cost of keeping a phone.

SHELF-LIFE
Most of the phones sold in Kenya are China-made. Tecno, Huawei and Infinix are the most popular phones in Kenya and Africa, because their prices are favourable to low-income communities that make the majority of the population.

However, there are many other categories of made-in-China cheap and often unbranded or weirdly-branded phones.

From the outside, these phones resemble the top-end phones.

From the inside however they have been stripped of some features. Pruning the features helps to keep the price low.

This category of phones has a short shelf-life. With modest use, they last between 12 and 15 months.

They are not build to last longer than that, anyway.

They are built to give you some modest service for a short time and for a pocket-friendly price, and then they die.

COMPUTERS
The same goes for the low-priced office assembled computers.

When you buy such, you will be lucky to get a warranty of more than six months.

In fact, the length of the warranty is a strong indicator that the gadget is not expected to last long.

If the seller had a higher confidence in the gadgets, he would offer a warranty that covers a year or longer.

But for a shoestring budget, that’s what you get. This is not necessarily a bad deal.

If the Chinese do not build and supply affordable technology, many people would have to save for a long time before they own a phone or access the internet.

EMPLOYMENT
Such people would never access apps, such as mobile money platforms, that open up doors to many other social and economic services.

It is common to look down upon made-in-China gadgets but more than seven in 10 Africans depend on them for calling, texting and data services.

Made-in-China technology has employed millions of traders who sell chargers, phone cases and other allied accessories.

The downside is, compared with sturdy phones, the second-rate phones can be infiltrated more easily by bad guys.

Their hardware and software are not robust enough to stop intruders from accessing the phone and your data.

The writer is an informatics specialist. [email protected] @samwambugu2