McDonald's Experiments With High-Tech Media Centers To Draw Customers (Photo : Getty Images)
Los Angeles-based phonemaker FreedomPop will roll out in 2016 the SoFIA. It is an affordable smartphone to be priced between $99 and $199.
CNET reports that the device would use Intel's SoFIA platform, a low-priced smartphone chip that integrates the modem with the processor. This lower the manufacturing cost and gives the owner seamless Wi-Fi-to-cellular switching.
Users would also enjoy high-quality VoIP calls and the ability to throttle or boost network speeds. It would give the owner the option to tap Wi-Fi for voice calls, texts and data. By offering that option, it brings down the cost to the consumer who would enjoy the savings.
It would be sold in the US under a $5 monthly plan that is inclusive of unlimited talk, text and date. The cheap gadget would also be available in the UK.
In effect, FreedomPop joins Cablevision, T-Mobile ad other technology firms that search for new ways to offer more affordable phone service via Wi-Fi service and hotspots. Its offer of Wi-Fi phones is timely amid the aim of Washington to have over 90 percent Wi-FI coverage in the top 200 metro areas by the end of 2015.
That's on top of accessible FreedomPop hotspots in big establishments such as Best Buy, Starbucks, McDonald's and Burger King.
FreedomPop is one of the 10 startups that would receive $22 million investments from Intel Capital. It announced the new investments at Intel's yearly global summit, reports Techcrunch.
The money would be used by FreedomPop to build a new broadband service to compete against Google Project Fi with its use of the SoFIA platform.
