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The latest low-cost, practically disposable handset to hit the market comes courtesy of Hop-On in the form of the $10 HOP1800. The handset will be available to use worldwide as it will come in two models, the dual-band 850/1900MHz or the 900/1800MHz for Europe and Asia. The HOP1800 is just the handset and will require a local and working SIM card wherever you choose to use the handset. The Hop1800 will offer users up to 4 hours of talk time and 150 on standby.

According to the press release is being marketed as the “perfect iPhone traveling companion” thanks to the cost of “roaming fees going though the roof.“ The HOP1800 is currently on the market and being sold just about everywhere to include “retailers such as drug and convenience stores, big box retailers and to businesses looking for a unique branding opportunity.“ While the handset itself is selling for $10, Hop-On is also offering a $5 rebate should you choose to return the phone after using it in an effort to “keep it green,“ which makes sense because at $10 simply tossing it in the trash after use, aside from filling up the landfills will not be a real loss to your wallet.

Via [SlashPhone]

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If you think a $20 disposable cellphone is still way beyond your budget, you might want to take a look at UK supermarket chain Asda’s latest offering. Beating Hop-On Inc. to the punch, Asda has started selling easy to buy “disposable” phones last week. These will set you back a miserly £5 (or about $10) a piece. Only a couple of low-end handsets are available for now, and these are the Nokia 1112 and the Sagem my220x. These certainly beat the circuits out of any new specifically-made-to-be-disposed-of cellphone that Hop-On Inc. and similar ambitious companies are planning to produce with their own version of this gimmick. So that’s bargain bins and landfills: 1, high-technology: 0.

Read [Daily Mail] Via [Wired]

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CTIA 2008 seemed to be a pretty good one, and perhaps almost all companies can say that they geniunely benefited from the event. Take the little-known Hop-On Inc., for example. While other folks were busy churning out the next iPhone killers elsewhere in CTIA, this little company introduced a concept for disposable cellphones, which will cost you only 13 euros, or about $20 US a piece. The phone uses a chip from Texas Instruments, and will work on the 900/1800 MHz frequencies. What this means for us is that the dawn of cheap, disposable phones is upon us, and we can all look forward to easy mobile telephony, whenever and wherever we are in the world (if ever this becomes available globally). I just hope they could at least include a screen and a game on these things—$20 USD should at least warrant that I’ll have some fun, right?

Via [Gizmodo]

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