It seems that many executives that have either left or been made redundant under cuts made under HTC current management are finding life outside the financially troubled company, with a large number heading to a new company called Kazam which is helmed by former head marketing executives for HTC Michael Coombes and James Atkins.
Originally announced back in June without any hardware nor software to go along with Kazam changed this state of affairs last week when the company officially launched 7 devices. The only catch is the devices seem to be Chinese manufactured knockoff smartphones.
Now, while there’s no guarantee Kazam will launch their devices down under – they’ve only announced UK availability at this stage – it is still interesting to see another start up using Android to bring their platform to the masses and possibly disrupt the big guns of the Android world, which includes their former Employer.
There’s seven devices in total in the Kazam range, five of which are named ‘Trooper’ only differentiated by the screen size ‘Trooper X3.5’ all the way up to the largish 5.5″ ‘Trooper X5.5’. Two ‘Thunder’ models have been announced but only specs for the Thunder Q4.5 have been released with a 5” Thunder model to be detailed at some stage in the future. So, what hardware do these beauties contain inside and will they be a good enough prospect to make their way into your hands?;
Thunder Q4.5
The Thunder Q4.5 is considered the jewel of the range announced so far, containing the highest specced SoC as well as the most amount of RAM at 1GB. Other specs for the phone are expected to come soon, as are the specs for the similarly named Thunder Q5.0.
- 4.5″ 854×480 resolution display
- Quad-Core MT6582M SoC with Mali 400P2 GPU
- 8MP Rear Camera with 2MP Front-facing Camera
TROOPER X3.5
The Trooper X3.5 is as the name suggests, a smallish device with a 3.5¨ Screen. It also comes with some meagre specs placing this phone more towards what would probably be considered as an entry model device, possibly aimed at the pre-paid market if anything.
The specs include:
- 3.5” HVGA (320 x 480), Touchscreen
- 3.2MP rear facing camera, VGA front facing
- 4GB Storage on board, expandable memory upto 32GB via Micro SD
- 512MB RAM
- 1.0GHz Dual Core processor
- 1300mAh Removable Battery
- 3G/Quad band connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Dual Sim capabilities
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
TROOPER X4.0
Next up we have the Trooper X4.0, which is a little bit bigger than its smaller brother. Specs wise it is pretty much similar to the Trooper X3.5 with a couple of differences.
The full specs are:
- 4.0” WVGA (480 x 800), Touchscreen
- 1.0GHz Dual Core processor
- 4GB Storage, expandable to 32GB via MicroSD
- 512MB RAM
- 5.0MP rear facing camera, VGA front facing
- 3G/Quad band connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Dual Sim capabilities
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
TROOPER X4.5
Next up is the Trooper X4.5 which as the name suggests is a 4.5″ touchscreen with almost again similar specs as its other brothers, the Trooper X3.5 and Trooper X4.0, but again there are a couple of notable differences.
The full list of specs include:
- 4.5” FWVGA IPS (480 x 854), Touchscreen
- 1.2GHz Dual Core processor
- 4GB storgage, expandable to 32GB via MicroSD
- 512MB RAM
- 5.0MP rear facing camera, VGA front facing
- 3G/Quad band connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- 1750mAh Removable Battery
- Dual SIM capabilities
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
TROOPER X5.0
Following the Trooper X4.5, we have the Trooper X5.0 which again is a slightly bigger screen as its name suggests compare to its smaller screen brothers. It also have pretty much the same specs with a couple of differences.
The full list of specs include:
- 5.0” FWVGA (480 x 854), Touchscreen
- 1.2GHz Dual Core processor
- 4GB storage, expandable to 32GB via MicroSD
- 5.0MP rear facing camera, VGA front facing
- 3G/Quad band connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- 2000mAh Removable Battery
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
Trooper X5.5
Lastly we have the Trooper X5.5, which is a huge 5.5″ screen almost trying to take on Samsung’s Galaxy Mega or potentially the Note 2 & 3. Spec wise, again pretty similar to its previous brothers above, with again some differences.
Full list of specs include:
- 5.5” FWVGA (480 x 854), Touchscreen
- 1.2GHz Dual Core processor
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB storage, expandable to 32GB via MicroSD
- 2500mAh Removable Battery
- 5.0MP rear facing camera, VGA front facing
- 3G/Quad band Connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
It is interesting to point out that devices use stock android with no skin virtually layered over the top. Another selling point of the devices is Kazam Resuce, which access your device remotely to help fix any setup issues through their technical help dept with your permission firstly of course.
It will be interesting to see if or when these devices maybe coming down under, but again it is good to see a new company bring Android to the masses and actually look after them technical wise.
Would you consider buying on the Kazam Devices. Do you like the idea of Kazam Rescue? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below
A 5.5″ screen with 480 x 854 resolution (178 PPI)
512MB of RAM with no KitKat…
are they serious?
Yes. I like smaller phones. I’d probably regret the decision but if it makes phone calls, sends text messages and then sometimes allows me to do some basic browsing when I’m out and about and waiting for a friend then I am very interested.
No.
No I wouldn’t.
They must be aiming for the low end of the market, a very low end indeed. Most of the specs are terrible. Can’t believe that manufacturers are persevering with just 512MB of RAM. In this day and age, 1GB should be the bare minimum. I no longer purchase any phone with just 512MB of RAM.
Seems like HTC is better off losing this “talent” if you can call it that.
Most of these seem to only have 512mb ram? Pass.
wow so real high quality screens there