A review of the Spice MI-300, a budget Android phone (~10,000 INR) that doubles as a Linux hacking platform. Internally it is the Commtiva Z71 / Vibo A688, sold under different brand names worldwide.
Pros
- Excellent touch response — better than many branded phones at this price
- Compact size and thickness comparable with branded devices
- Decent camera quality at good distance with good ambient light
- Android 2.1 official update available from Spice
- Active community providing custom ROMs (Android 2.2 already in testing)
- Plenty of hacking resources available in the Android community
Cons
- Poor build quality — plastic body
- Poor battery life — 1 to 1.5 days at best
- Camera cannot focus at short distances (e.g. document scanning)
Hardware — same device, many brands
The phone is known as Vibo A688 / Z71 in the Android community. It is manufactured by Taiwan-based Commtiva and sold under many names:
- Apanda A60 (China)
- ChinaVision Excalibur
- Cincinnati Bell Blaze f800
- Commtiva Z71
- Muchtel A1 (Taiwan)
- Nexian Journey A890 (Indonesia)
- Orange Boston
- Spice MI-300 (India)
- Vibo A688 (Taiwan)
- Wellcom A88 (Thailand)
- Videocon Evolve V7500
Even Motorola sells similar hardware as the Motorola Quench XT502.
Rooting
After the official 2.1 update, Spice reduced the CPU clock from 600 MHz to 480 MHz (to improve battery life). Rooting the phone and flashing the FiretrapSugar 1.1 custom ROM from Boston Mania restores full control.
Rooting or flashing a custom ROM may void the manufacturer warranty. Do not attempt this unless you understand the risks.
With root access you can:
- Set CPU clock profiles to balance performance and battery life
- Use the camera flash as a torch
- SSH into the phone's Linux shell
- Use 3G tethering over Wi-Fi
- Run scripts in Ruby, Python, Perl, or JavaScript
- Cross-compile C programs with an ARM toolchain and run them on the phone
Recommended apps
- Root Explorer (paid) — file manager with root access
- QuickSSHd (paid) — SSH server for shell access over Wi-Fi (use PuTTY/WinSCP)
- SetCPU (paid) — CPU clock control
- Cache Cleaner (free)
- Alarm Clock Plus (free)
- WebSharing (paid version has more features)
- Astro (free file browser)
- Skype — VoIP calls over Wi-Fi
- Lookout — phone tracking for lost/stolen devices
- Barnacle Wifi Tether — turn the phone into a Wi-Fi router
Photos
