The 'Freedom Phone' Is a Budget Chinese Phone

[applegrove]

The ‘Freedom Phone’ Is a Budget Chinese Phone

July 16, 2021 at 10:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 113 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2021/07/16/the-freedom-phone-is-a-budget-chinese-phone/

"SNIP....


Daily Beast: “The pro-Trump internet went wild on Wednesday for the Freedom Phone, a $500 smartphone that comes stocked with conservative apps and promises to liberate anyone else who buys it from Silicon Valley censorship.”

“Despite being lauded by some of the right-wing media’s leading figures, though, the Freedom Phone’s buyers could be getting less than they expect for its $500 price tag. That’s because the Freedom Phone appears to be merely a more expensive rebranding of a budget Chinese phone available elsewhere for a fraction of the Freedom Phone’s price.”

Goddard:

Freedom Phone appears to be a rebranded Umidigi A9 Pro which you can buy for $120.

.....SNIP"

[Yonnie3]

2. Freedom is not cheap!

[dalton99a]

3. Nice scam.

Erik Finman

The Freedom Phone was created by Erik Finman, the self-proclaimed “youngest bitcoin millionaire” and one of Time Magazine’s “Most Influential Teens of 2014.” In a video announcing the phone, Finman said he was inspired to create the phone after the tech giants’ crackdown on both Donald Trump and conservative social media app Parler in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.

Freedom Phone’s website is nearly totally devoid of technical information about the device. Finman declares in the promotional video that the Freedom Phone is “comparable to the best smartphones on the market” and “truly is the best phone in the world.”

In fact, Freedom Phone appears to be a simple rebranding of a budget phone called the “Umidigi A9 Pro,” made by the Chinese tech company Umidigi. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Finman confirmed that the Freedom Phone was manufactured by Umidigi, but couldn’t say immediately which Umidigi phone it was based on.

The Freedom Phone’s $500 price tag would represent a substantial markup on the Umidigi A9 Pro. That phone is available on Chinese retail giant AliExpress for $120 — less than one quarter of the price of a Freedom Phone.

[Initech]

7. That sounds exactly like something Trump would say!

"It's the best phone. It runs the best operating system. It has the best apps! Nobody makes a better phone than I do!"

[RockRaven]

4. A budget Chinese phone *marked up 300+% to take advantage of MAGAt rubes*

Goddamn, if they weren't also so dangerous the stupidity of MAGAts might be funny.

[Initech]

8. Like PT Barnum said - one born every minute!

[Initech]

5. Man, PT Barnum was 100 years ahead of his time!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. You have to be pretty foolish to think that it's your physical phone

that has anything to do with the supposed 'censorship'

Whatever they've done to the $120 phone you could, I'm 99% certain, do yourself, for free.

And you could almost certainly do it to your existing phone, at least if you own it (i.e. aren't tied to a contract with a carrier due to owing them money for your phone).

But most people aren't too bright, so ...

[liberaltrucker]

9. A fool and his money......

nt