It’s finally here: the first African-designed smartphone!
Congolese inventor Verone Mankou said that the so-called Elikia, which means “hope” in the local language, went on sale this weekend in the Republic of Congo.
Mankou, 27, head of the company VMK, said the Android-powered device was on sale only in Congo for now, but he planned to launch it in other countries.
The phone was initially due to go on sale in October, but its launch was delayed “because of an explosion in demand,” he claimed.
Although the $170 phone is Congolese by design, it is manufactured in China.
The phone has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 512 megabytes of RAM and a 650-Mhz processor. Its camera is five megapixels, and it also comes with GPS and Bluetooth.