Download Opera Free Here: opr.as/Opera-browser-johnzoid EDIT: THE CONTRACTOR SAID HE WAS WITH THE ACP PROGRAM (SO DID THEIR SITE) BUT AS THE ACP PROGRAM HAS DEPLETED THEIR FUNDING ITS TECHNICALLY INACTIVE. THEY ARE PUSHING TO APPROVE MORE- BUT AS OF NOW HAVE NOT. SIMILAR PROGRAMS ARE STILL AVAILABLE, MORE INFO HERE: www.lifelinesupport.org also: Obama-Phone is a popular nickname for the federal Lifeline program that provides subsidized phone service to low-income Americans. The Lifeline program started in 1985 during the Reagan administration, to ensure that essential phone access was affordable. It expanded to include mobile phones in 2005 under President George W. Bush. However, during the Obama administration, awareness of the program grew, and more people gained access to free or discounted cell phones, especially as mobile technology became essential for employment, healthcare, and education. The nickname “Obama phone” gained popularity, partly due to viral claims suggesting the program was a new initiative by President Obama to give free phones to supporters. While the administration did not create the program, it did support efforts to modernize and promote it as part of broader efforts to improve connectivity and reduce digital divide
It's jammed packed full of chinese spyware... What a joke you promoting that while talking about malware on the phone! Disappointing to see you can be paid to scam your audience.
seriously. I was saying that about the Moto G stylus 2024. just cuz it had an SD card and a headphone jack and a charger in the box. And it was unlocked. these days you get benefits for buying cheap phones
I've had hundreds of these things,This is one of the better ones. The aws phones were especially bad. Also the sky wireless ones are terrible, samsung had a 3" screen "galaxy" one for a few years. Couple of things from nuu were available for a few years. The sv 150 lte was bad.
@@priyanshuyt2913 eeyup it basically only gives the other sensor some depth of field data for the portrait mode to work. I found out about this when I got a Samsung A01 in early 2020 lol
Our country is such a POS. Look at the way people live..or choose to do nothing at all...and expect others to take care of them. So not only do we provide housing, cash and not having to pay any taxes or repay anything and expect this kind of hand out to help anyone? Guarantee more drugs are bought via text and calls than migrants who are illegally here...I say you get nothing! Just like willy wonka
I work for a Internet company. When ACP was a thing, my city was surrounded by stands on the streets offering them. The issue here is that a lot of these costumers that already had the ACP weren't aware that they can only have the discount in one bill (Some of them were aware but tried to double dip on trying to have discounts on most of their bill with no avail). So they would eat the bait, get the free phone and then come to our store to complain why their ACP is gone from their Internet/phone bill. The abuse that companies did with the ACP was very annoying.
yess... I used to work as a CSR for Boost, and as soon as the customer said ACP I knew I should lit up a cigarette cause it was going to be a long, boring and annoying call. there were several people who'd call in asking how to get on ACP only to find out their ACP had been active for some months already, on some other account lmfao.
Used to work for a Telco company before, we had the ACP too. It was the worst time of my life, I was taking in calls as a supervisor/manager. Non stop calls from 9-5 of the same exact issue, they were told they can get both the internet and free phone without any problems and here they are on the phone with us complaining why one of their free services isn't working.
I think it's very critical in our world people have access to a phone. I grew up without one till I was 18, they weren't mainstream. Now try getting a job without one lol.
You are totally right. Most places want you to email in for an application, and when you get the job, a lot of the on board training is done online. As well as payslips and rotas.
I saw the thumbnail that said: "Obamaphones." When I was 12, my friend and my classmate were sitting at a lunch table. My friend told me to ask my classmate "Why do you have an Obama phone?" I said that to him and he said "Shut up, don't call it that." I was very confused because I thought that was the ACTUAL official name that came on the packaging. I Imagine getting an email with a sleek CGI video announcing "The all-new Obama phone 4" with a picture of his face engraved on the back. Even today, I always giggle at this memory. "Why didn't your friend ask the classmate himself?" He pranked me by asking me to do that and I totally fell for it. It's still one of my happiest memories from middle school.
A lot of people in Orange County, CA take advantage of the low income here or homeless and offer to pay them $10 for them to go and get a phone like you have and then they sell it on ebay and such to make $20 profit. It's quite disgusting....
@@fuguthefish yessuh massuh fuguthefish. I'll licks the boot suh. Who tf getting hurt by this to justify such a dumb impossible policy? I hope they give away 100s to the same people. They still get out in the pool of society.
My parents are both disabled and have a government phone. It breaks my heart when I hear/see other people crapping on them when some people have things happen that are out of their control and thus use devices like this. Thank you for paying this tech the respect it deserves and not shitting on it like a lot of other people
Dot worry about those 'reviewers' many if these so called reviewers don't know much about phones and only care about the latest and greatest. This phone doesn't look half bad and more importantly it will help people in need.
Honestly it's great that the government are doing things like this. And who cares ? The whole point of the program is to people in need who don't have a phone and need to contact family or just need it for general purpose.
Honestly mate, people want the world from their phones but really and truly the only thing that matters is if the phone can make calls, take photos and connect to the internet and as long as it runs well then I'd say it's a pretty solid phone. Don't listen to all these reviewers, as long as you're happy with what you have and it serves you well then that's all that matters.
The problem is that the government is using taxpayers' dollars to give away free phones, and on top of that, we have to pay a monthly fee on our cell phone plans. Im all for helping peoplethat fall on hard times, but a majority of people just refuse to contribute to society. @djcircumsized
I mean if they are on disblity they can get tghe latest Iphone though any carrer for a much better experice then waiting in a line for hours to get just a Walmart phone with out a plan of any kind... Kkinda seems like a massive waste that is a net negative for everyone involbed... Also even if you are on food stamps you can still get the same phone with a plan with less hasle at walmrt for way like then a hourly wage... So yeah like Obama care which is also useless as thealth insurence is way less flexble now and much more expensive as the are forced to sell men pregnancy insunce and instead of your health mattering it';s your age so my able body 60 year old dad pasy an isnae amount of the most basic insurance but I a sikckly a disabled 6 different 29 year pays way less for the best insurance that isn't just extrvgant... So yeah this is the 3rd Obama plan to be a net negative to everyone involved... the first was thecash for cluncers which massively damaghed the car and steel markets in the US as well as get and insane amount of people into massive car dedt as they destreroed their perfectly good used car they could have traaded in for more or keep as an invastemnt... My my grandma oldmoblie which is worth now thenb what we got from cash from clunkers... Like being a hard core obmama fan is fine he was a presd but being dilustional about the effects of his program on people you claim to care about is just sick and twisted...
i used to get a government phone, it was some old model of ZTE, so i assume that the government gets in touch with various budget manufacturers and offers them a bunch of money for lower end phones they can use in the ACP program.
yeah, these seem to have the minimum needed to be a functional smartphone. pretty spartan user experience but if you're in need of such a phone it's far better than nothing at all. already having the latest AOSP out of the box makes them vastly superior to what you had before.
The term “Obama phone” originated as a popular nickname for the federal Lifeline program that provides subsidized phone service to low-income Americans. The Lifeline program started in 1985 during the Reagan administration, to ensure that essential phone access was affordable. It expanded to include mobile phones in 2005 under President George W. Bush. However, during the Obama administration, awareness of the program grew, and more people gained access to free or discounted cell phones, especially as mobile technology became essential for employment, healthcare, and education. The nickname “Obama phone” gained popularity, partly due to viral claims suggesting the program was a new initiative by President Obama to give free phones to supporters. While the administration did not create the program, it did support efforts to modernize and promote it as part of broader efforts to improve connectivity and reduce digital divide
It's basically a cheap Chinese phone meant for developing markets. Unisoc chips are as cheap as bad as they get for a SoC that is usable, and doesn't even appear on budget phones in the Chinese domestic market. Still, for a free government phone, it's not half bad. All specs are made to be as cheap as possible while maintaining an acceptable level of performance, and access to mobile phones is really an essential in today's world. I'm happy to see this programme.
This specific unisoc processor is bad, but non all unisoc processors are like that. The unisoc T606 is equivalent to a snapdragon 662 or helio g85 from mediatek and is very usable today. This particular unisoc processor on this free phone is really bad.
honestly there came a point a few years ago when these smartphones became good enough to use for whole life. Like if you were stuck on an island with that phone and solar battery charger and starlink, youd be pretty happy,
You can’t even get on a bus without a phone. My brother just fell on hard times and it blew my mind to find out that there’s no physical bus pass it has to be scanned in your phone. Taxis don’t exist anymore in most cities as far as flagging them down in the streets so you can’t get anywhere without a phone or do anything these days. Can’t handle your banking, can’t get to a physical bank without transportation which you can’t get with cash which you can’t get without transportation. My brother went from gainfully employed to homeless in 3 months. Programs like these need to exist imo. They should be forced to be donated by the cellular carriers as a stipulation of their constant mergers they promise won’t raise prices but always do. Prices have doubled since the t mobile acquisition of sprint
I will mention as I was homeless and on the program when it blew up in 2014. They used to have so many different phones. They used to give out old Nokia phones, even Motorola razrs Kyosera duratough flip phones. they gave out sidekicks. So yeah the program was sketchy AF in 2014. But started becoming more structured. Now they use Standard Vortex phones. Depending on the company you go through, you can get a higher end Vortex phone.
I have one and I'm in PA. It's terrible. Sometimes it doesn't make calls and a lot of times I can't even open the text app. It does get a little bit of data per month but it will only last a few days then you're completely cut of from the internet unless you buy data. I guess it's better than nothing if you can't afford a phone but Cricket and Boost have better phones for free
This matches my experience, I used it for group chat for my new job and upgraded when I could. I'm grateful it was something I could get, I needed it at the time
I have a government tablet they don't have the best cameras but the processing and screen display works pretty well they're also equipped with the latest software
I still don't understand why people go against Opera that harshly. It's a browser. Every fluffin browser on the market collects your browsing data. Even Firefox to an extent. And these find their way to china with or without Opera.
I was on this program a couple of years ago but I had my own phone so all I needed was a SIM card. I was with Access Wireless and the service was no better than T Mobile where I live. Unlimited talk, text, and data but it’s throttled when you’re in a busy area. This is a benefit not much talked about and the easiest to enroll with. If you are lower income and on Medicaid or food stamps see if you qualify it’s going to save you money.
i've seen my fair share of phones like this, and i can say this is probably the best one i've ever seen. usually, they're either really bad java feature phones for stuff like food stamps, and once i got a blu view 3 with an ACP provided sim card, so that was interesting (my local dollar general sells them for about $20-$30)
That phone seems pretty good but with some of the previous lifeline phones a cool life hack is to put the sim card in a better phone like a second hand iPhone or Samsung and it will work if it's unlocked
can confirm, i have one that sits on my desk for literal emergencies. As in if people cannot get a hold of me on the phone I carry with me and its urgent, to contact me there. That old 1st gen SE sits plugged into the wall and unconnected to Wi-Fi, it has come in handy a few times when my cell phone reception has gone to shit since its one of those 'find a signal and pull' kinda deals i think. Lucky for me, should my main phone get disconnected for whatever reason I can just pop the sim card into my phone and run with it, granted it has limited data now with the funding having run dry but that's not much of a problem these days with WiFi being practically everywhere.
I tried getting one when I became disabled and was told I didn't qualify for one. I tried a couple of years later and was told the same thing. Oh, well.🤷🏼♂️ Looks like I'm not missing much...
@johnzoid74 , I found it's better in more ways than one just to save my money up and buy my own. So far I haven't been disappointed especially with my Motorola phones which I bought from from their website. Every few months they have a sale and send me an email about it.
@@donotneed2250 the federal program that was funding these phones has ended but some states still have an equivalent program. You should call your local social services office.
there's actually two separate programs that I think people confuse between the ACP and the lifeline program. The lifeline program predates the ACP. I think you were able to bundle the two which is why a lot of the marketing or conversation around it often gets it confused
I qualified for and received an "Obama Phone" when Obama was the President. It was a Samsung brick phone. Still have it, but it died like a couple months ago (won't charge or even turn on), but my access to the service expired when I started getting back on my feet. I kind'a miss it.
the sim pin said 6 digits try like 12456 or 000000 sometimes it uses a default unlock pin to access the device. they are generally unlockable after they have been activated on the carrier you order them from
Not just Family Dollar phones do this, EVERY phone you buy from Major Brands, like Walmart, Dollar Gen, etc, install a bunch of crap that fills the storage.
It is likely that Obama added cell phones to the program that was probably like, for cheap land lines and shit. That’s my guess without doing any research, so Obama phone it is.🤷🏻♂️ Plus Regan phone doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Can I ask did you verify through a website because I had to. And I got to say it was a month to get the phone. Now idk what happened I guess it was because I first used my middle name then I put in my middle initial which was a mistake I made but I really didn't want multiple phones lol
The first government phone I had, was some old, generic android that was glued shut so you couldn’t remove the sim. Now, they just send you a sim or a phone like this, so if you want to use the sim in an unlocked phone, you can.
The charging block will break if your outlet is pretty stuck. I literally had 2 blocks pull apart from the prong side face like it was glued together lol
Reminds me of housing trust. Where I live, if you qualify for one and apply for one, you can get a government owned house, for cheaper rent, mainly for low-income people. Buuut, currently it takes around 10 to get into one, and they normally aren’t in good condition and cheaply made. They are also commonly in feral neighbourhoods, mainly due to all the housing trust hoses being stuffed into one place, it makes it quite feral.
The battery reading the system and all's has actually relies on a file of the Android OS which contains the basic information of the hardware and software of the smartphone, it's an XML file on the root of the system partition, or some times under a specific path of folders in some cases like proprietary UIs
Government phones have definitely gotten better with time. I remember when they first started giving out smartphones and they were so bad, they might as well have been given out flip phones because the hardware in the smartphones were so laggy and poor, you couldn't do much other than text and makes calls. But these days, government smartphones are actually good. If someone qualified for one and has access to the internet, you can check out some government phone services that let you choose from different models. Airtalk Wireless for example offers Samsung Galaxy and even iPhones. You do have to pay for them but they are cheaper than retail. I mean $55 for an iPhone 8 Plus is not bad. It may be old but it still does 99% of what current iPhones can do. They have a lot of phones under $50 as well as a smartphone that's just labeled "generic" so it's probably just whatever they have on hand.
I have a vortex because i receive ssi and food stamps. I only use it for calling because it absolutely sucks. For regular mobile games i use my old Samsung s10+ that ive had for what seems like forever
So just so you know. There are many many lifeline program companies out there today lol. I go through safelink which is through the tracfone company. I got the Samsung Galaxy A25 through safelink for a whopping 80 dollars through the upgrade feature they have for the lifeline program users. This phone can run from 160-300 dollars depending on where you buy it. It is actually a really decent phone with amazing specs. I literally have no issue with this particular phone. You should definitely do a review of it please and thank you lol. I love your channel man thanks for all the videos. ✌️😊
It's awesome there is this program. Imagine someone poor, in debt, but looking for a job, can always contact the employer, call family etc. And specs are really decent for such phone. Maybe a camera 8Mpix instead of 5 would be great, but, i expected like 2GB RAM and 16GB and Android like 10 or 11, but wow, it's much better!
The galaxy S5 was waterproof with a removable back so people can't complain about the lack of water resistant and nobody needs wireless charging anyway
thank you- yes I updated with pinned comment and description as I learned through comments. I was confused because the contractors site still read as an ACP provider
i have one of these crappy things. its slow and crashes often. it's basically unable to run more than one app at once, and has very little storage. it also overheats when it's in my purse for only 10 mins.
Man! Your content is absolutely good to watch. Whenever I get a notification from your channel that a video has been uploaded, I'd watched that video all the way to the end and what makes me more excited is exploring phones like its features, specs and the uniqueness of the phones. You made my day a lot better when I am bored. Been watching for a while now.
I’m not from the us, I’m from Guatemala, and recently I saw one of those vortex phones on fb marketplace which was “imported”, the seller was charging about $100 for it. I didn’t buy it but this vid coincidentally appeared on my recommended a few days later
I mean.. they’re pushing hard as hell to extend the program and they’ve depleted the fund. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ran out of funding and was officially paused as of June 1, 2024. Some households received partial subsidies in May, but the program has been inactive since June. In July 2024, a Senate panel approved $7 billion in additional funding for the ACP, although this funding has yet to be fully authorized or implemented. Until further legislative action is taken, ACP remains inactive, but eligible households may explore the federal Lifeline program, which offers ongoing, lower-cost internet options.
Here in San Francisco I've found 7 lower-end phones like these in like 2 years. They were 3 different models and I was surprised when I found out these were Obama-phones lmaooo. They all worked. One day I asked my mom's nurse about it and she told me people often get these phones and sell them immediately after to get some cash for more cigs. It seems like this is tax money well invested. It keeps the "medication" dealers' business open!
Well, that’s what you get for trying to help low income citizens by giving them a smartphone, something that can open SO MANY opportunities for people, seems one of them is well, more cash for drugs unfortunately
There will always be people who abuse the good will of others. But this program has helped so many more. It's unfair to judge it by the bad actors. I used to work in retail with a person who used one of these phones. It was his primary phone and internet browsing device. And in addition to the job we had together, he would also use it to take on gigs to supplement his income with. Those "medication" dealers never had issues affording a phone, but they took advantage of the system. But for those who really couldn't afford to be left behind, these helped so much.
@@Sykxezn I think the program is great. When I graduated college I was living paycheck to paycheck. I wish I had known about this because it would've helped a lot. The problem is that many people get these phones and then sell them, they don't even tell the government they don't want the phones so the state pays the MVNO for 12 months until the person fails to renew the program. After 12 months they can just go to a social services office, claim they lost their phone and request a new one. I think the government should prohibit people from getting a new phone every year, and if they "lose" it more than once they shouldn't be able to get a new one for a couple of years.
@@ruffmadman I totally agree with you, however, the government should implement a deterrent for people that sell these phones because the tax payer is not only paying for the phone itself but also the monthly plan for 12 months until they fail to renew the program. It's a huge waste of money.
I almost got one of these back in High school. Didn't get a phone until sometime in my senior year and used a phone I had lying around with pre-paid service and eventually upgraded the phone due to the screen going out. After seeing a video on these phones, I'm glad I didn't get one of those phones.
Thanks for this very interesting video. Unfortunately, it's not a lot of use for me, as I live in the UK, but I've seen a couple of your vids recently. I especially liked the Unihertz Jelly Max vid. It's the sort of phone I'm looking for. Russ. Hampshire, UK.
The free table that I got is called Blue smartphones M8L Plus 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with expandable storage to 64GB on Android 11 with 4G LTE capability on T-Mobile.
I use work giving away free phones and made close to $2000 a week when we had both ACP and Lifeline funding programs but we lose ACP which was the best funding program. After that it went downhill and signing people up became a headache 😢 well it was fun while it lasted.
One more thing The reason why they give out free phones so they can keep track of you ,really. Everybody that use the phone leave the footprint cuz all your information including where you are thru GPS
I bought a Stratus C5 "Elite" with a damaged touch digitizer at a flea market for $10. It was fairly easy to root, and other then it running a 32 bit build of Android, I don't really have any qualms with it.
This is a really good thing, truth is to get by in the modern world you need internet. Sure it doesn't have to be a phone specifically could be a computer/laptop but the world is so orientated around internet access that tbh it's incredibly difficult to get by without it.
I've been using these for 5 years and went threw about 3 phones, and no there not loaded with anything, and they are just as good as any other phone. Until like 2 months ago, they had Unlimited Data, but the ACP program has been dismantled.
I'm 61 years old and got laid off 9-1-23 ' Thanks Biden' within 6 months i was broke, un hireable because of my age. I had to get a government phone and ended up with a new Motorola one 5G UW Ace for $21. Great phone but I'd rather be working. Keep up with the great work
I had one as a temporary after my phone broke for a while then I upgraded to pixel 6. There obviously not the best but they have higher priced models that have really good specs for the price. Everyone needs a phone now a days
I literally had the phone not too long ago. It was a Vortex S24 though. But I broke my phone because I dropped it and it got ran over. I thought there was a screen protector but there wasn’t. It was a peeling sticker that you take off when you got your phone straight out of the box. The back looked like an iPhone 13 lmao
Download Opera Free Here: opr.as/Opera-browser-johnzoid
EDIT: THE CONTRACTOR SAID HE WAS WITH THE ACP PROGRAM (SO DID THEIR SITE) BUT AS THE ACP PROGRAM HAS DEPLETED THEIR FUNDING ITS TECHNICALLY INACTIVE. THEY ARE PUSHING TO APPROVE MORE- BUT AS OF NOW HAVE NOT. SIMILAR PROGRAMS ARE STILL AVAILABLE, MORE INFO HERE: www.lifelinesupport.org
also: Obama-Phone is a popular nickname for the federal Lifeline program that provides subsidized phone service to low-income Americans. The Lifeline program started in 1985 during the Reagan administration, to ensure that essential phone access was affordable. It expanded to include mobile phones in 2005 under President George W. Bush.
However, during the Obama administration, awareness of the program grew, and more people gained access to free or discounted cell phones, especially as mobile technology became essential for employment, healthcare, and education.
The nickname “Obama phone” gained popularity, partly due to viral claims suggesting the program was a new initiative by President Obama to give free phones to supporters. While the administration did not create the program, it did support efforts to modernize and promote it as part of broader efforts to improve connectivity and reduce digital divide
36 seconds ago
2nd answer
Stay far away from opera browser.
Please don't stoop to promoting spyware!
It's jammed packed full of chinese spyware... What a joke you promoting that while talking about malware on the phone!
Disappointing to see you can be paid to scam your audience.
Android 14. Removable battery. This combination doesn't feel real... Some should take notes.
haha right? and all the accessories too? sheeeeeesh 😂
Memory card slot, headphone socket AND removable battery !!!
seriously. I was saying that about the Moto G stylus 2024. just cuz it had an SD card and a headphone jack and a charger in the box. And it was unlocked. these days you get benefits for buying cheap phones
But its not offered in the suburbs only in the hood... Just saying.. Come to the hood and get a free phone.. But your tracked, always...
I've had hundreds of these things,This is one of the better ones. The aws phones were especially bad.
Also the sky wireless ones are terrible, samsung had a 3" screen "galaxy" one for a few years.
Couple of things from nuu were available for a few years.
The sv 150 lte was bad.
The "fake" camera is what they used to call a depth sensor, basically for portrait mode photos and whatnot.
fun fact : if you actually cover up that sensor, it does affect the portrait photos (essentially making them normal as they don't have any data)
@@priyanshuyt2913 eeyup it basically only gives the other sensor some depth of field data for the portrait mode to work. I found out about this when I got a Samsung A01 in early 2020 lol
@@WildWildWeaselI found out about this through your comment 😭
your a smart dude man, also thank you for this I was so confused😭
Our country is such a POS. Look at the way people live..or choose to do nothing at all...and expect others to take care of them. So not only do we provide housing, cash and not having to pay any taxes or repay anything and expect this kind of hand out to help anyone? Guarantee more drugs are bought via text and calls than migrants who are illegally here...I say you get nothing! Just like willy wonka
I’ve found like 3 of these lying on the road over the last few years. All of them were missing the battery and looked like they were ran over.
Congratulations, you’ve come across what criminals call a ‘burner’ phone
now you know!
Explain please @@pawanbhutra9763
Those are dennis phones
So it's a burner support phone, instead o prepaid regular@@johnzoid74
I work for a Internet company. When ACP was a thing, my city was surrounded by stands on the streets offering them. The issue here is that a lot of these costumers that already had the ACP weren't aware that they can only have the discount in one bill (Some of them were aware but tried to double dip on trying to have discounts on most of their bill with no avail). So they would eat the bait, get the free phone and then come to our store to complain why their ACP is gone from their Internet/phone bill. The abuse that companies did with the ACP was very annoying.
yess... I used to work as a CSR for Boost, and as soon as the customer said ACP I knew I should lit up a cigarette cause it was going to be a long, boring and annoying call. there were several people who'd call in asking how to get on ACP only to find out their ACP had been active for some months already, on some other account lmfao.
Used to work for a Telco company before, we had the ACP too. It was the worst time of my life, I was taking in calls as a supervisor/manager. Non stop calls from 9-5 of the same exact issue, they were told they can get both the internet and free phone without any problems and here they are on the phone with us complaining why one of their free services isn't working.
I think it's very critical in our world people have access to a phone. I grew up without one till I was 18, they weren't mainstream. Now try getting a job without one lol.
Naw, it's just a way for the Gov to launder money and provide kickbacks.
You are totally right. Most places want you to email in for an application, and when you get the job, a lot of the on board training is done online. As well as payslips and rotas.
Why the fuck are you here
@@wadewilson6628 What? Why would they need to launder money?
@@n.d.n.e1805some weird conspiracy I guess
I saw the thumbnail that said: "Obamaphones." When I was 12, my friend and my classmate were sitting at a lunch table. My friend told me to ask my classmate "Why do you have an Obama phone?" I said that to him and he said "Shut up, don't call it that." I was very confused because I thought that was the ACTUAL official name that came on the packaging. I Imagine getting an email with a sleek CGI video announcing "The all-new Obama phone 4" with a picture of his face engraved on the back. Even today, I always giggle at this memory. "Why didn't your friend ask the classmate himself?" He pranked me by asking me to do that and I totally fell for it. It's still one of my happiest memories from middle school.
A lot of people in Orange County, CA take advantage of the low income here or homeless and offer to pay them $10 for them to go and get a phone like you have and then they sell it on ebay and such to make $20 profit. It's quite disgusting....
That's why US needs a proper ID document and to be able to get only one phone per ID every 2 or 3 years let's say.
No they dont. You are just making shit up. Probs hate homeless people, probably a bit rapey and racist. A loser.
Problem is when you're homeless and things like that, your more prone to breaking your phone or losing it and getting it stolen. @@fuguthefish
Or use the phone as a burner
@@fuguthefish yessuh massuh fuguthefish. I'll licks the boot suh. Who tf getting hurt by this to justify such a dumb impossible policy? I hope they give away 100s to the same people. They still get out in the pool of society.
My parents are both disabled and have a government phone. It breaks my heart when I hear/see other people crapping on them when some people have things happen that are out of their control and thus use devices like this. Thank you for paying this tech the respect it deserves and not shitting on it like a lot of other people
Dot worry about those 'reviewers' many if these so called reviewers don't know much about phones and only care about the latest and greatest. This phone doesn't look half bad and more importantly it will help people in need.
Honestly it's great that the government are doing things like this. And who cares ? The whole point of the program is to people in need who don't have a phone and need to contact family or just need it for general purpose.
Honestly mate, people want the world from their phones but really and truly the only thing that matters is if the phone can make calls, take photos and connect to the internet and as long as it runs well then I'd say it's a pretty solid phone. Don't listen to all these reviewers, as long as you're happy with what you have and it serves you well then that's all that matters.
The problem is that the government is using taxpayers' dollars to give away free phones, and on top of that, we have to pay a monthly fee on our cell phone plans. Im all for helping peoplethat fall on hard times, but a majority of people just refuse to contribute to society. @djcircumsized
I mean if they are on disblity they can get tghe latest Iphone though any carrer for a much better experice then waiting in a line for hours to get just a Walmart phone with out a plan of any kind... Kkinda seems like a massive waste that is a net negative for everyone involbed... Also even if you are on food stamps you can still get the same phone with a plan with less hasle at walmrt for way like then a hourly wage... So yeah like Obama care which is also useless as thealth insurence is way less flexble now and much more expensive as the are forced to sell men pregnancy insunce and instead of your health mattering it';s your age so my able body 60 year old dad pasy an isnae amount of the most basic insurance but I a sikckly a disabled 6 different 29 year pays way less for the best insurance that isn't just extrvgant... So yeah this is the 3rd Obama plan to be a net negative to everyone involved... the first was thecash for cluncers which massively damaghed the car and steel markets in the US as well as get and insane amount of people into massive car dedt as they destreroed their perfectly good used car they could have traaded in for more or keep as an invastemnt... My my grandma oldmoblie which is worth now thenb what we got from cash from clunkers... Like being a hard core obmama fan is fine he was a presd but being dilustional about the effects of his program on people you claim to care about is just sick and twisted...
i used to get a government phone, it was some old model of ZTE, so i assume that the government gets in touch with various budget manufacturers and offers them a bunch of money for lower end phones they can use in the ACP program.
I have a fake phone from the California government
Brand: Soho Style
Android: 13
Chip: Mediatek
Carrier: T-mobile
yeah, these seem to have the minimum needed to be a functional smartphone. pretty spartan user experience but if you're in need of such a phone it's far better than nothing at all. already having the latest AOSP out of the box makes them vastly superior to what you had before.
He said that the program started with Reagan (A Republican), but it's called the Obama phone????
@@Chicago48 maybe Reagan came up with the idea, and obama put it into action.
The term “Obama phone” originated as a popular nickname for the federal Lifeline program that provides subsidized phone service to low-income Americans. The Lifeline program started in 1985 during the Reagan administration, to ensure that essential phone access was affordable. It expanded to include mobile phones in 2005 under President George W. Bush.
However, during the Obama administration, awareness of the program grew, and more people gained access to free or discounted cell phones, especially as mobile technology became essential for employment, healthcare, and education.
The nickname “Obama phone” gained popularity, partly due to viral claims suggesting the program was a new initiative by President Obama to give free phones to supporters. While the administration did not create the program, it did support efforts to modernize and promote it as part of broader efforts to improve connectivity and reduce digital divide
Android 14 is a definite surprise. Usually these phones are at least a few years old. Not bad at all.
newer versions are better at spying
It is, its from 2018 hardware wise
It's basically a cheap Chinese phone meant for developing markets. Unisoc chips are as cheap as bad as they get for a SoC that is usable, and doesn't even appear on budget phones in the Chinese domestic market. Still, for a free government phone, it's not half bad. All specs are made to be as cheap as possible while maintaining an acceptable level of performance, and access to mobile phones is really an essential in today's world. I'm happy to see this programme.
This specific unisoc processor is bad, but non all unisoc processors are like that. The unisoc T606 is equivalent to a snapdragon 662 or helio g85 from mediatek and is very usable today. This particular unisoc processor on this free phone is really bad.
Not all Unisoc processors are bad. I mean Motorola uses them on most if their phones.
you know like 99% sure it's a trick for the government to spy on you, and steal all your data
honestly there came a point a few years ago when these smartphones became good enough to use for whole life. Like if you were stuck on an island with that phone and solar battery charger and starlink, youd be pretty happy,
You can’t even get on a bus without a phone. My brother just fell on hard times and it blew my mind to find out that there’s no physical bus pass it has to be scanned in your phone. Taxis don’t exist anymore in most cities as far as flagging them down in the streets so you can’t get anywhere without a phone or do anything these days. Can’t handle your banking, can’t get to a physical bank without transportation which you can’t get with cash which you can’t get without transportation. My brother went from gainfully employed to homeless in 3 months. Programs like these need to exist imo. They should be forced to be donated by the cellular carriers as a stipulation of their constant mergers they promise won’t raise prices but always do. Prices have doubled since the t mobile acquisition of sprint
I will mention as I was homeless and on the program when it blew up in 2014. They used to have so many different phones. They used to give out old Nokia phones, even Motorola razrs Kyosera duratough flip phones. they gave out sidekicks. So yeah the program was sketchy AF in 2014. But started becoming more structured. Now they use Standard Vortex phones. Depending on the company you go through, you can get a higher end Vortex phone.
maybe they just bought old stock from anyone that had it or idk.
That phone looks really cool for a free phone! I always have low expectations for cheap or free phones/tablets.
Unfortunately Android 14 needs at least 6GB RAM and a 2.4ghz CPU to run smoothly. These phones have much less.
I have ran A13 on a Samsung S6. Debloated.Its fine@@fred-youtube
@@fred-youtube 2.4ghz yep, 6gb ram, no 4gb is enough
PLEASE SAY YES FOR MORE VORTEX PHONES PLEASE GUYS.
Hi klonoa from klonoa
@@Sykxezn Brother is that u?
I have one and I'm in PA. It's terrible. Sometimes it doesn't make calls and a lot of times I can't even open the text app. It does get a little bit of data per month but it will only last a few days then you're completely cut of from the internet unless you buy data. I guess it's better than nothing if you can't afford a phone but Cricket and Boost have better phones for free
when did you get yours?
Try disabling the built in apps that you don't need.
But cricket and boost “free” phones still make you pay for the service.
but boost sucks so bad lmao
This matches my experience, I used it for group chat for my new job and upgraded when I could. I'm grateful it was something I could get, I needed it at the time
I have a government tablet they don't have the best cameras but the processing and screen display works pretty well they're also equipped with the latest software
opera being mentioned not even a minute after the phrase "phone packed with malware" is almost poetic.
Your glazing other browsers bruh. Legit all browsers except chrome do the same damn thing.
@@roydraper616EXCEPT chrome??
@@roydraper616Firefox exists. I use Zen Browser, a fork of Firefox which removes all telemetry and has a lot more features.
I still don't understand why people go against Opera that harshly. It's a browser. Every fluffin browser on the market collects your browsing data. Even Firefox to an extent. And these find their way to china with or without Opera.
Opera is cheeks no cap
I bought a phone from alibaba once,randomly it would play chinese songs,short sound clips.
You serious? That's so funny 😂
😂😂😂
@vinco1 Ikr
Imagine the phone doing that while you sleeping at 3am
@@zaf2774 lol
I was on this program a couple of years ago but I had my own phone so all I needed was a SIM card. I was with Access Wireless and the service was no better than T Mobile where I live. Unlimited talk, text, and data but it’s throttled when you’re in a busy area. This is a benefit not much talked about and the easiest to enroll with. If you are lower income and on Medicaid or food stamps see if you qualify it’s going to save you money.
i've seen my fair share of phones like this, and i can say this is probably the best one i've ever seen. usually, they're either really bad java feature phones for stuff like food stamps, and once i got a blu view 3 with an ACP provided sim card, so that was interesting (my local dollar general sells them for about $20-$30)
Video starts here 3:42 . No he doesn't get the phone for free
Clearly he doesn't qualify lol
6:16 Bro looks like Jim Carrey
or jerryrigeverything youtuber
No
😂
bro is fried
That phone seems pretty good but with some of the previous lifeline phones a cool life hack is to put the sim card in a better phone like a second hand iPhone or Samsung and it will work if it's unlocked
can confirm, i have one that sits on my desk for literal emergencies. As in if people cannot get a hold of me on the phone I carry with me and its urgent, to contact me there. That old 1st gen SE sits plugged into the wall and unconnected to Wi-Fi, it has come in handy a few times when my cell phone reception has gone to shit since its one of those 'find a signal and pull' kinda deals i think. Lucky for me, should my main phone get disconnected for whatever reason I can just pop the sim card into my phone and run with it, granted it has limited data now with the funding having run dry but that's not much of a problem these days with WiFi being practically everywhere.
I used to get these phones and throw them in a redmi note 11. I have since switched to an actual plan
I tried getting one when I became disabled and was told I didn't qualify for one. I tried a couple of years later and was told the same thing. Oh, well.🤷🏼♂️ Looks like I'm not missing much...
Yeah not missing much … Family Dollar has good cheap options !
@johnzoid74 , I found it's better in more ways than one just to save my money up and buy my own. So far I haven't been disappointed especially with my Motorola phones which I bought from from their website. Every few months they have a sale and send me an email about it.
@@donotneed2250 the federal program that was funding these phones has ended but some states still have an equivalent program. You should call your local social services office.
there's actually two separate programs that I think people confuse between the ACP and the lifeline program. The lifeline program predates the ACP. I think you were able to bundle the two which is why a lot of the marketing or conversation around it often gets it confused
Exactly.
I was recently at a cellphone store here in Canada and they sell these phone for $65 (canadian)
that phone very much looks like a rebranded Samsung Galaxy A24. Maybe the internals are different but the outside and look are exactly the same
Pay phones do not exist any longer. Everyone needs a phone now. if it works that's all that matters to allot of people.
I qualified for and received an "Obama Phone" when Obama was the President. It was a Samsung brick phone. Still have it, but it died like a couple months ago (won't charge or even turn on), but my access to the service expired when I started getting back on my feet. I kind'a miss it.
1:55 im using opera on my ancient nokia rn
that’s so rad
Get him a new phone loll@@johnzoid74
let me guess, is it opera mini?
@@woahglaceon ofc
@@rzzcpWHAT IS THAT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BIRLD IN UR PFP. . .
him after sponsoring opera:🗿
the sim pin said 6 digits try like 12456 or 000000
sometimes it uses a default unlock pin to access the device. they are generally unlockable after they have been activated on the carrier you order them from
Looks like a welcome phone 😂😂
except that welcome phones are overpriced for their quality and random unisoc/mtk cpu, and that phone is free
It may be made in Dubai but it is made in China.
I wanna see a teardown of the phone
Not just Family Dollar phones do this, EVERY phone you buy from Major Brands, like Walmart, Dollar Gen, etc, install a bunch of crap that fills the storage.
Yo that the obama phone 😂😂😂
yeah people call it that but ironically the program started under Reagan.
Those sweet Reagan cell phones😂
It is likely that Obama added cell phones to the program that was probably like, for cheap land lines and shit. That’s my guess without doing any research, so Obama phone it is.🤷🏻♂️ Plus Regan phone doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This was useful. I sent this to a friend of mine who needs this.
links to the program are in pinned comment if you read through
The ACP ended on June 1st
I was just using one of these phones, the camera is so bad I had trouble taking photos of my ID for verification purposes
ive gotten 4 of these over the years, still have two, the other two were given to local homeless who i knew needed them.
Can I ask did you verify through a website because I had to.
And I got to say it was a month to get the phone.
Now idk what happened I guess it was because I first used my middle name then I put in my middle initial which was a mistake I made but I really didn't want multiple phones lol
7:53 the cpu itself from UniSoC, so yeah the SC9863A is lower class for cpu processor smartphone.
ACP ended earlier this year, Lifeline is still around.
Bro that phone looks like some samsung galaxy phone, id like to see you check more vortex phones
They only make bad phones
I'm on Mint and it's not much more money than someone who might have to pay the $10/month for the government plan. Interesting.
The first government phone I had, was some old, generic android that was glued shut so you couldn’t remove the sim. Now, they just send you a sim or a phone like this, so if you want to use the sim in an unlocked phone, you can.
The charging block will break if your outlet is pretty stuck. I literally had 2 blocks pull apart from the prong side face like it was glued together lol
The battery is always read a little bit smaller than advertised. 3000 mAh is the typical size. The actual size is smaller.
My goodness, I know exactly where you were. I’ve bought a whole lotta stuff at the Lowe’s and Walmart right there. Great video John!
4:42 that looks familiar to me
Reminds me of housing trust.
Where I live, if you qualify for one and apply for one, you can get a government owned house, for cheaper rent, mainly for low-income people. Buuut, currently it takes around 10 to get into one, and they normally aren’t in good condition and cheaply made. They are also commonly in feral neighbourhoods, mainly due to all the housing trust hoses being stuffed into one place, it makes it quite feral.
The battery reading the system and all's has actually relies on a file of the Android OS which contains the basic information of the hardware and software of the smartphone, it's an XML file on the root of the system partition, or some times under a specific path of folders in some cases like proprietary UIs
Government phones have definitely gotten better with time. I remember when they first started giving out smartphones and they were so bad, they might as well have been given out flip phones because the hardware in the smartphones were so laggy and poor, you couldn't do much other than text and makes calls. But these days, government smartphones are actually good. If someone qualified for one and has access to the internet, you can check out some government phone services that let you choose from different models. Airtalk Wireless for example offers Samsung Galaxy and even iPhones. You do have to pay for them but they are cheaper than retail. I mean $55 for an iPhone 8 Plus is not bad. It may be old but it still does 99% of what current iPhones can do. They have a lot of phones under $50 as well as a smartphone that's just labeled "generic" so it's probably just whatever they have on hand.
I used to work with elderly people on Medicaid and these phones work perfectly for their needs.
This is really not too bad for people who can't afford it to buy one themselves. I really appreciate government programs like this.
I have a vortex because i receive ssi and food stamps. I only use it for calling because it absolutely sucks. For regular mobile games i use my old Samsung s10+ that ive had for what seems like forever
So just so you know. There are many many lifeline program companies out there today lol. I go through safelink which is through the tracfone company. I got the Samsung Galaxy A25 through safelink for a whopping 80 dollars through the upgrade feature they have for the lifeline program users. This phone can run from 160-300 dollars depending on where you buy it. It is actually a really decent phone with amazing specs. I literally have no issue with this particular phone. You should definitely do a review of it please and thank you lol. I love your channel man thanks for all the videos. ✌️😊
You can get the newest iPhones With Health Care and Verizon
I saw Obama Phone and scrolled thinking this was straight outta 2014.
It's awesome there is this program.
Imagine someone poor, in debt, but looking for a job, can always contact the employer, call family etc.
And specs are really decent for such phone.
Maybe a camera 8Mpix instead of 5 would be great, but, i expected like 2GB RAM and 16GB and Android like 10 or 11, but wow, it's much better!
HOLD ON, there's a second stage to the Android 14 Easter Egg? HUH... DID NOT KNOW THAT...
I can't wait for phones to have removable backs again and batteries because it'll be easier to repair and have the phone customisable again
The galaxy S5 was waterproof with a removable back so people can't complain about the lack of water resistant and nobody needs wireless charging anyway
The acp program was supposed to end or resume or sumn like that on June 1st of this year so idk.
Edit: BUY EVERY VORTEX PHONE TO REVIEW IT lol.
thank you- yes I updated with pinned comment and description as I learned through comments. I was confused because the contractors site still read as an ACP provider
@@johnzoid74 ah ok, well your welcome Mr johnzoid.
no way, my dad's the city engineer for slc!
i have one of these crappy things. its slow and crashes often. it's basically unable to run more than one app at once, and has very little storage. it also overheats when it's in my purse for only 10 mins.
Man! Your content is absolutely good to watch. Whenever I get a notification from your channel that a video has been uploaded, I'd watched that video all the way to the end and what makes me more excited is exploring phones like its features, specs and the uniqueness of the phones. You made my day a lot better when I am bored. Been watching for a while now.
I’m not from the us, I’m from Guatemala, and recently I saw one of those vortex phones on fb marketplace which was “imported”, the seller was charging about $100 for it.
I didn’t buy it but this vid coincidentally appeared on my recommended a few days later
how tf is a free phone better than mine
ACP isnt a thing anymore
I mean.. they’re pushing hard as hell to extend the program and they’ve depleted the fund.
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ran out of funding and was officially paused as of June 1, 2024. Some households received partial subsidies in May, but the program has been inactive since June.
In July 2024, a Senate panel approved $7 billion in additional funding for the ACP, although this funding has yet to be fully authorized or implemented. Until further legislative action is taken, ACP remains inactive, but eligible households may explore the federal Lifeline program, which offers ongoing, lower-cost internet options.
Here in San Francisco I've found 7 lower-end phones like these in like 2 years. They were 3 different models and I was surprised when I found out these were Obama-phones lmaooo. They all worked. One day I asked my mom's nurse about it and she told me people often get these phones and sell them immediately after to get some cash for more cigs. It seems like this is tax money well invested. It keeps the "medication" dealers' business open!
They should just give feature phones out.
Well, that’s what you get for trying to help low income citizens by giving them a smartphone, something that can open SO MANY opportunities for people, seems one of them is well, more cash for drugs unfortunately
There will always be people who abuse the good will of others. But this program has helped so many more. It's unfair to judge it by the bad actors. I used to work in retail with a person who used one of these phones. It was his primary phone and internet browsing device. And in addition to the job we had together, he would also use it to take on gigs to supplement his income with.
Those "medication" dealers never had issues affording a phone, but they took advantage of the system. But for those who really couldn't afford to be left behind, these helped so much.
@@Sykxezn I think the program is great. When I graduated college I was living paycheck to paycheck. I wish I had known about this because it would've helped a lot. The problem is that many people get these phones and then sell them, they don't even tell the government they don't want the phones so the state pays the MVNO for 12 months until the person fails to renew the program. After 12 months they can just go to a social services office, claim they lost their phone and request a new one. I think the government should prohibit people from getting a new phone every year, and if they "lose" it more than once they shouldn't be able to get a new one for a couple of years.
@@ruffmadman I totally agree with you, however, the government should implement a deterrent for people that sell these phones because the tax payer is not only paying for the phone itself but also the monthly plan for 12 months until they fail to renew the program. It's a huge waste of money.
Glad to see that your getting a lot of sponsors
@@seabass1111
thanks man. I’ve delayed doing any ad placement since the start of the channel but have started just recently.
I almost got one of these back in High school. Didn't get a phone until sometime in my senior year and used a phone I had lying around with pre-paid service and eventually upgraded the phone due to the screen going out. After seeing a video on these phones, I'm glad I didn't get one of those phones.
My friend has one of those with a freakish charging port on the top
Thanks for this very interesting video. Unfortunately, it's not a lot of use for me, as I live in the UK, but I've seen a couple of your vids recently. I especially liked the Unihertz Jelly Max vid. It's the sort of phone I'm looking for. Russ. Hampshire, UK.
Ur selfie shot seems that u have always a bad day but always ignoring it🤣🤣🤣
This thing basically is similar to the Samsung galaxy a20 both in look and spec. I still use this Samsung phone in 2024, runs great for what i need.
the world needs more videos of niche cheap phones like this
The free table that I got is called Blue smartphones M8L Plus 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with expandable storage to 64GB on Android 11 with 4G LTE capability on T-Mobile.
I use work giving away free phones and made close to $2000 a week when we had both ACP and Lifeline funding programs but we lose ACP which was the best funding program. After that it went downhill and signing people up became a headache 😢 well it was fun while it lasted.
One more thing The reason why they give out free phones so they can keep track of you ,really. Everybody that use the phone leave the footprint cuz all your information including where you are thru GPS
i really doubt you're interesting enough to constantly surveil. if you were worthwhile they'd have other ways of monitoring you
I bought a Stratus C5 "Elite" with a damaged touch digitizer at a flea market for $10.
It was fairly easy to root, and other then it running a 32 bit build of Android, I don't really have any qualms with it.
I've had a couple of vortex phones myself. They weren't too bad. The only thing that I had an issue with was the fingerprint sensor.
@1:33 yeah its called corruption and graft
This is a really good thing, truth is to get by in the modern world you need internet. Sure it doesn't have to be a phone specifically could be a computer/laptop but the world is so orientated around internet access that tbh it's incredibly difficult to get by without it.
that 2nd sensor is so called "depth sensor"
I've been using these for 5 years and went threw about 3 phones, and no there not loaded with anything, and they are just as good as any other phone. Until like 2 months ago, they had Unlimited Data, but the ACP program has been dismantled.
Yo this is creepy as hell Brodie I just got one and this video was suggested and this isn't even the phone I'm currently using
Thanks bro Opera actually increased my Aura
please buy all the vortex phones and do an unboxing and first impressions
I'd like you taking a look at a BLU phone. I'm curious if they still self-install apps these days.
Your channel rocks! Good video.
Obama phones
I'm 61 years old and got laid off 9-1-23 ' Thanks Biden' within 6 months i was broke, un hireable because of my age. I had to get a government phone and ended up with a new Motorola one 5G UW Ace for $21. Great phone but I'd rather be working. Keep up with the great work
I'd be intrigued to see the ones off their website, please do that video too! :)
I love the OG phone vibe where you can remove the battery!
I enjoy your videos man keep doing what you do😊
This is a nice idea as phones are necessary to getting a job be it trapping or something more legit.
I had one as a temporary after my phone broke for a while then I upgraded to pixel 6. There obviously not the best but they have higher priced models that have really good specs for the price. Everyone needs a phone now a days
I literally had the phone not too long ago. It was a Vortex S24 though. But I broke my phone because I dropped it and it got ran over. I thought there was a screen protector but there wasn’t. It was a peeling sticker that you take off when you got your phone straight out of the box. The back looked like an iPhone 13 lmao
we had similar in the UK with free laptops but not anymore. (it was acer laptops with a celeron and an annoying block on some websites
That phone weirdly reminds me so much of my old Moto e6, the unboxing, taking off the backplate, the screen is a lot different.