OnePlus One receives a permanent price cut to $249, Dropbox Pro bundle announced

OnePlus One’s week-long flash sale was so popular that they’ve hit us with a permanent price reduction. The OnePlus One will now cost 0 no matter when, where or how you buy it. That’s a pretty insane price tag for a smartphone that stood toe-to-toe with 2014’s best Android phones.

OnePlus has also announced a new partnership with DropBox. There’s bonus for anyone willing to spend 0: you’ll get a 64GB OnePlus One as well as one year of Dropbox Pro. That tier gives you a very comfortable 1TB of cloud storage to work with, so if you run out of space on the device you can always start pushing stuff up there.

The 64GB OnePlus One’s new price of 0 + 12 months of Dropbox Pro at .99 per month would come out to be about 0, so this combo nets you in savings. The offer starts June 10th, and will only be available for a limited time (which OnePlus has yet to detail) so be sure to get your order in early if it sounds enticing.

[via OnePlus]

Huawei P8 Lite now available in USA, $249 and unlocked

AT&T and T-Mobile customers looking for an affordable Android smartphone just got another great option: the Huawei P8 Lite is now available and unlocked for only 9.

The device marks a concerted effort to go after a portion of the consumer market that Huawei suggests has been alienated. At an event in New York City, Huawei’s President of operations in the USA exclaimed, “End users should not pay for the company’s advertisement. Should not pay for the company’s sponsorship. Customers should pay for exactly what they are getting- the product.”

Carrier partnerships will still be of huge importance to Huawei, but their new E-Commerce strategy will allow them to offer the most competitive prices. In case you missed it, those comments on advertising and sponsorship dollars being rolled into the device cost are clear swipes at heavy spenders such as Samsung, Apple, and HTC, whose ad budgets probably outpace the GDP of small countries.

The most important specification may be the low price, but the P8 Lite holds its ground in some important areas, including its 5-inch screen, dual SIM card slots, 13MP camera, 5MP front camera, 2GB RAM, and 2200 mAh battery.

Most disappointing is that the device launches with Android 4.4 KitKat, a fact that we hope gets rectified with a timeline for updating to Android 5.X Lollipop (or even Android M). Still, at a price point of 9 unlocked, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bargain… even without the freebies Huawei is throwing in.

Those freebies come in the form of support:

• 2-year warranty


• Localized repair with free shipping


• US based call center support


• Additional support options including live online chat

Buying unlocked devices can be intimidating for less tech savvy shoppers and this initiative by Huawei should go a long way in gaining the trust and comfort of potential customers.

 

Deal: HTC Desire with 1 year of unlimited talk & text for just $249

If you’re looking for a cheap phone to add to your arsenal we’ve got a great deal for you. The HTC Desire is available from Android Area for just 9. That alone is a pretty sweet deal, but it gets even sweeter. The phone comes with one full year of unlimited talk and text, 500MB of 4G/LTE data, visual voicemail, and tethering from FreedomPop. You can’t beat one year of free phone service.

The phone itself is a nice mid-range device. The Desire has a 4.7-inch display, 5MP camera, Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 2100mAh battery. It’s not the flashiest phone ever made, but for 9 off-contract it’s not a bad deal. Head on over to AndroidArea.com to snag this deal while it lasts. This is the perfect set-up for a back-up phone. Just pick it up and use it. No worries about swapping SIM cards or buying a plan.