While the ascendant Yahoo of the 1990s now only lives in our memories, its name and branding continue to shamble on zombie-like to its owner Verizon’s other products — this time, the ZTE Blade A3Y, an exclusive phone for Yahoo Mobile bearing its namesake company’s familiar shade of purple.

Besides its burst of color, ZTE’s 5.4-inch 720p phone mostly flashes its Yahoo heritage on your home screen, with a crowded collection of bloatware helpful pre-installed Yahoo apps like the ad-free Yahoo Mail Pro (yes, Yahoo Mail normally features ads), Yahoo Weather, and Yahoo News. The purple back of the phone features a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device, an 8MP camera, and a removable backplate for accessing the phone’s battery. For charging that battery, there’s a USB-C port at the bottom of the phone.

The Blade ships with Android 10, powered by a lower-end MediaTek quad-core 2.0GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. The phone won’t be surprising anyone with speed, and storage is also minimal, starting at 32GB and expandable up to 2TB with a microSD card. With those lower cost, less exciting parts, the Blade hits a budget-friendly price of $49.99.

Yahoo Mobile joined Visible as Verizon’s other MVNO in March and features the same $40 per month unlimited (in name) plan. This is the carrier’s first exclusive phone since its launch early this year, and in its own way, it perfectly captures the diminished state of Yahoo in 2020.

A branded budget phone is just the most recent entry in Yahoo’s long journey from web services titan to name Verizon slaps on things. The telecom giant purchased the branding, email service, and ad technology of the company in 2016, prompting the remaining search engine, forums, and blog parts of the business to attempt to rebrand as Altaba. Verizon would later combine Yahoo with AOL to create Oath, which after several data breaches and privacy issues led to a write-down of the carrier’s purchase of the two companies and a further rebrand to Verizon Media.

All these moves pale in comparison to what Yahoo was: one of the first places many people visited on the web and a dominant search engine in a time before Google. ZTE’s Blade A3Y isn’t the old Yahoo, and really only features its color, but it’s fun to remember what was. The phone is available today for the introductory price of $49 at Yahoo Mobile.

Source: Theverge

---

Reviews is conducting a weekly contest. Answer a simple question and get a chance to win exciting gift hampers from Aiken Care Package. Go to our Facebook page for more details or also can check the details on our Instagram page.

---

Also Read:

ELECTRIC VEHICLES OWNERS HAVE TO PAY YEARLY TAX IN NEPAL

WOMEN IN BIG DATA DOING DATA SECURITY PROGRAM

POST COVID: DIGITAL PAYMENT BOOM IN NEPAL

WHY DOES ONE NEED LIFE INSURANCE?

WHAT MEDICAL DEVICES SHOULD I HAVE AT HOME

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PHONE'S BATTERY?

BEST AUTOMATIC CARS AVAILABLE IN NEPAL WITH PRICES

Verizon is joining an escalating movement to siphon advertising away from Facebook in an effort to pressure the company into doing more to prevent racist and violent information from being shared on its social networking service.

The decision announced Thursday by one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies is part of an boycott organized by civil rights and other advocacy groups under the rallying cry of “#StopHateforProfit.” The protest, spurred by last month’s killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, is supposed to last through July.

“We have strict content policies in place and have zero tolerance when they are breached, we take action,” New York-based Verizon said in a statement. “We’re pausing our advertising until Facebook can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable.”

Verizon noted that it has previously stopped advertising at other popular online destinations, such as Google’s YouTube video service, when it has felt its promotions might appear alongside content inconsistent with the company’s values.

In its own statement, Facebook executive Carolyn Everson said the company respected Verizon’s decision and remains committed to purging hateful content from its services.

“Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good,” said Everson, vice president of Facebook’s global business group.

Other advertisers who have pledged to stay off Facebook and other company services such as Instagram include three major outdoor gear companies, Patagonia, The North Face and REI.

Common Sense, one of the boycott organizers, said other companies who have agree to “pause” their Facebook advertising include retailer Eddie Bauer, web browser maker Mozilla and and a movie studio, Magnolia Pictures.

The boycott, in theory, could pinch Facebook’s profits since the company makes most of its money from ads targeted at the interests that more than 2 billion people share on its various services. Investors, so far, don’t appear worried about that, though.

Shares in the company based in Menlo Park, California, hit an all-time high $245.19 earlier this week and haven’t fallen dramatically. The stock closed Thursday at $235.68.

U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) may invest more than $4 billion for a stake in India’s Vodafone Idea Ltd (VODA.NS), the Mint newspaper reported on Thursday, sending shares in the struggling Indian telecom firm up 10%.

Vodafone Idea’s stake-sale talks had been paused pending the outcome of a court hearing in India, which created uncertainty and could have threatened Vodafone Idea’s survival, Mint reported, citing two unnamed people aware of the negotiations.

But Amazon and Verizon are set to resume discussions following a Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday which gave mobile carriers 10 years to settle government dues.

Vodafone Idea did not immediately respond to Reuter's request for comment. Amazon and Verizon did not return emails seeking comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Heavily indebted Vodafone Idea - a joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) and India’s Idea Cellular - had previously said its ability to continue as a going concern rested on a positive outcome of the hearing.

It has paid the Indian government 78.5 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) in telecoms dues, according to regulatory filings, but still owes roughly 500 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) more.

Shares in Vodafone Idea, which ended 13% lower after Tuesday's court ruling, were up 8% at 10.70 rupees on the NSE index. NSEI by 0405 GMT.

Source: Reuters

Also Read:

INTEL RELEASES NEW LAPTOP CHIPS TO CONFRONT APPLE, RISING RIVALS

WHICH GADGET IS BEST SUITABLE FOR ONLINE EDUCATION? SMARTPHONE, TABLET OR LAPTOP?

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WHEN BUYING A GAMING SMARTPHONE

ONLINE LEARNING EFFECT ELECTRONIC DEVICE USAGE TO RISE

ESSENTIAL ELECTRONIC ACCESSORIES FOR EXERCISES OR WORKOUTS

SMARTCELL BRINGS ATTRACTIVE RECHARGE OFFERS

NCELL INTRODUCES 'ULTRA WI-FI SIM PLUS'