EE has launched a whole range of own brand devices recently and the latest is The Rook, described by EE as the UK’s lowest price 4G smartphone.
Like its big brothers the Harrier and the Harrier Mini, The Rook is designed to give more people access to 4G without the hefty price tags usually associated with 4G phones. The handset itself costs just £49, and existing EE customers can buy it for just £39 as long as they buy a £10 top-up at time of purchase. Customers who buy The Rook are also entitled to 20% off selected EE accessories.
The Rook is aimed mainly at pay as you go customers, and is currently the only handset in this price range that offers 4G capabilities. Pay as you go packs available with The Rook come in three categories; everything packs, talk and text packs, and data packs. Example packs are:
Everything packs:
- £10 for 500 MB data, 150 minutes, and unlimited texts, valid for 30 days
- £15 for 2 GB data, 500 minutes, and unlimited texts, valid for 30 days
- £25 for 4 GB data, 1000 minutes, and unlimited texts, valid for 30 days
Talk and text packs:
- £1 for 10 MB data, 25 minutes, and 50 texts, valid for 7 days
- £10 for 10 MB data, 250 minutes, and unlimited texts, valid for 30 days
- £15 for 10 MB data, 750 minutes, and unlimited texts, valid for 30 days
Data packs:
- £1 for 100 MB data, 10 minutes and 10 texts, valid for 7 days
- £10 for 1 GB data, 50 minutes, and 50 texts, valid for 30 days
In addition to pay as you go personal customers, The Rook is also likely to be available on EE’s business price plans, providing an affordable option for medium to large businesses that want to give their employees the flexibility that 4G offers.
According to Sharon Meadows, Director of Devices at EE, “At EE, we believe everyone should have access to 4G and the experiences it offers on the go. The Rook provides a great 4G smartphone at a compelling price – allowing even more people to enjoy the benefits of our superfast mobile network from high speed web browsing and downloads to gaming and streaming.”
Features of The Rook
The Rook has many of the feature usually associated with a more expensive 4G handset including the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system, MediaTek® Quad-Core 64bit processor, and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a selfie camera. The 4 inch screen has a high resolution FWVGA display, 8 GB internal memory and an external memory card slot with a maximum capacity of 32 GB. It measures 126 x 64 x 10.3 mm and weighs 130g. The 1,500mAh battery is expected to last for five hours of talk time and up to 400 hours of standby time.
As well as the two Harrier smartphones, other devices in the EE own brand range include the Eagle and Harrier tablets, the Buzzard and Osprey WiFi devices, and the UK’s first 4G action cam.