Catching them all, for less

Some people out there may have resisted the Pokémon GO craze because the game simply doesn't appeal to them or they'd rather not walk around the streets in the dead of night searching for elusive Squirtles, but for others the barrier to entry is a technological one; despite their ubiquitous nature, not everyone on the face of the planet owns a smartphone - and often, those who do find that the spec list of their particular model doesn't meet the demands of Niantic's new game.

Thankfully, our pals over at Eurogamer's Digital Foundry branch have discovered what has to be the cheapest means of playing Pokémon GO. The solution is the Oukitel K4000, one of the many cheap and cheerful Chinese Android handsets currently available online.

The phone - which cost $99 / £60 from eBay - meets Pokémon Go's requirements, which are:

  • Android 4.4 to Android 6.0.1: Device ships with Android 5.1
  • Preferred resolution of 720x1280: Check
  • 2GB RAM: Check
  • Strong internet connection - WiFi, 3G, 4G: Support for all three, yes even 4G
  • GPS and location services: Check
  • Intel CPUs are not supported: Device uses quad-core ARM Cortex-A53

The biggest issue is that the phone lacks a gyroscope, so you can't use motion controls - making the AR view useless. However, many plays turn AR off anyway, so it's not a deal-breaker.

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[source eurogamer.net]