Elephone G1 costs just $49, for a 4.5-inch screen, Android KitKat and Quad-core processor

Elephone is known not much outside of China, but in the Shenzhen, it has gained the popularity for putting out alternatives for top-end devices, with not similar specs but looks and for a relatively cheaper price. Chinese smartphone brands are known for competitive pricing, but the $49 smartphone from Elephone is worthy of a mention.

We’re talking of the Elephone G1, a device that doesn’t boast any top specs but the price tag of $49 is already very attractive. The device comes with a 4.5-inch FWVGA display (854 x 480 pixels resolution) at 218 PPI pixel density, and this already is good for this price point. It is internally powered by the quad-core 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT6582M processor with 512MB RAM and Mali-400 GPU.

The other specs include a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 4GB internal storage and a MicroSD card slot for storage expansion. The smartphone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat and it has two SIM card slots (a 3G and a 2G one), while the battery included has 1800 mAh capacity.

The design is quite decent as well, and if the specs don’t speak of anything similar to the latest line of devices from different brands, the Elephone G1 doesn’t cost much and you might well have to even stop thinking if you are wondering about the future software updates, because Android KitKat is already an icing on the cake. Even the top-tier brands launch smartphones with over double the price of this with sub-standard specs and outdated OS.

But mind you, this is in China and if you are looking to have this as your secondary device, it could cost you some extra shipping charges, but still a slick deal. The Elephone G1 is currently available for pre-order and the company hasn’t given any details about the release and date of availability.