Local networking and telecommunications company Seemahale Telecoms will upgrade and relaunch its flagship Phoenix smartphones.
The company is currently poised to bring to market three models of its flagship handsets launching initially with the last 2: Seetel Phoenix ST400, ST500 and ST510, all of which will run on the Android 6.01 mobile platform.
“We are excited about the imminent release of the second generation of our devices as this will show the local market that we are here for the long haul and not just for the short term,” says Dr Thabo Lehlokoe founder and chairman of Seemahale Telecoms. “Although this is our second phase with cellular phones, our future plans include the introduction of tablets and wearable devices.
Dr Lehlokoe adds that his plans to bring affordable telecommunications devices to the market extends beyond his company’s current scope as it also has plans to have the mobile devices 100% produced in South Africa in the medium term.
“Having the products produced in South Africa will also contribute to skills development and employment creation in the country,” he comments. “In addition to producing the devices locally, we would like to have repair and service centres located here as well as develop a network of SME distributors for the products.
He adds that Seemahale Telecoms will also work with local application developers to produce locally-relevant applications for the devices that will be relevant to South African and other African users alike.
He says that, although the devices come at comparatively affordable prices with the entry level ST400 at a recommended retail price of R699 and the higher end ST510 at R3499, all the devices are targeted at the digitally astute and social media savvy user.
To this end, the new devices boast a new app that Seemahale has acquired a sole licence to and will be preinstalled in the Phoenix devices. The Crunch Gallery and Crunch Cam apps reduces digital content (pictures by between 5x and 8x and videos by at least 50%) of their original size with no perceptible impact on the image quality.
“With digital content and social media activity expanding exponentially, not only will the ST500 and ST510, the initial launch products come with a minimum of 16Gig of internal storage, we decided to bring our devices already loaded with the Crunch software to help users conserve their much needed space on their devices as well as reduce their data usage when uploading to social media platforms or sharing through instant messaging services,” explains Dr Lehlokoe.
Meanwhile, Seemahale Telecoms is already in advanced stages of discussion with South Africa’s mobile network providers and has also engaged a number of brick and mortar retailers and online retailers that intend to stock the Phoenix range of handsets. Seemahale aims to have the devices in stores in time for the festive season.
