Archive for the ‘Tests and Reviews’ Category

Using the Samsung Galaxy A03s Smartphone for VerusCoin (VRSC) Mining

28, Oct 2023

One of the most popular and affordable smartphones to get if you are interested in crypto mining VerusCoin (VRSC) is the Samsung Galaxy A03s that is also easier to find and also widely available as a locked phone with some no-contract operators at great prices (you can use it for mining without activating a SIM card and getting a phone plan). With a regular price in the $50 USD range for locked phones available on Amazon from Tracfone, Total by Verizon and Simple Mobile and often going for as low as $30 USD when in promotion like it was for the Amazon Prime Day for example it is great way to get it for even less. It is definitely a great device to get you started with mobile crypto mining or if you want to give it a try before deciding should you get into it anyway, offering decent performance with a low power usage and with a killer promo price if you manage to snag a good deal. So, let us see what can you expect from the Samsung Galaxy A03s if you are interested in mining VRSC…

The Samsung Galaxy A03s has been launched in 2021 as a lower-end device with Android 11 operating system (updates to Android 13 are currently available) and decent hardware inside, though nothing too fancy. The device uses Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 (12nm) chipset and has an 8-core ARM processor inside (4x 2.35 GHz Cortex-A53 and 4x 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 cores), uses USB Type-C 2.0 interface that supports up to 15W charging and has a 5000 mAh non-removable battery inside. The model we have from Tracfone is with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, though there are apparently other variations with different memory amount, so make sure to check which one you are getting. The device has a 64-bit processor and an operating system running in 64-bit, unlike some other smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G that are simply no good for use as crypto mining devices at all. Considering the price point for locked A03S devices and the specs you are getting they actually do make a lot of sense to be used for VRSC mining, especially when you take a look at the performance numbers and power usage as well.

What about the most important thing here, namely the performance you can expect from the Galaxy A03s? Well, it is really great for a smartphone you can get for $50 USD or even $30 USD at times… of course if you are getting a Samsung Galaxy A03s that is not locked to a specific mobile operator it will cost you more, but you don’t need unlocked smartphone to mine with it if it is the only thing you are going to be doing with it. The average hashrate when mining VerusCoin (VRSC) with the Galaxy A03s is around 3.6 MH/s with a power usage of around 2.6 Watts measured at the wall (using Userland and ccminer, a bit slower when using VerusMiner), so damn good performance and very power efficient device. Not the fastest out there, however the price you can get it at is really the best thing here and for that price the performance is surprisingly good… almost makes you start thinking along the way of actually building a smartphone mining farm, though going for large scale mining with smartphones does present some unique challenges that still need to be addressed. You might also want to check out the Alcatel TCL A3 and TCL A3X Smartphones as they can offer similar performance for a lower or similar price point as the Samsung Galaxy A03s, although these devices do come with their own specifics as well, so make sure to check our review.

Using Alcatel TCL A3 and TCL A3X Smartphones for VerusCoin (VRSC) Mining

25, Oct 2023

Time for another look at budget smartphones that could be used for crypto currency mining such as VerusCoin (VRSC). We are going to check if the Alcatel TCL A3 and Alcatel TCL A3X smartphones are any good for mining VerusCoin. Both the TCL A3 and TCL A3X are available at a really good price point, especially when looking at operator locked phone prices, making them an ideal option for use as crypto miners. The big question however is if the current price point of about $40 USD (for operator locked devices) is worth it for these devices when you take a look at the mining performance they offer in return and this is precisely what we are going to be checking out now. And as you might’ve noticed already from some of our earlier posts, some cheaper and some even not so budget smartphones are not suitable for mining usage at all due to specific software configuration of the OS (running in 32-bit mode) even if the hardware inside is 64-bit capable, so, another thing to check with these devices as well…

The Alcatel TCL A3 was released in 2011 and comes with Android 11 (even after like 20 system software updates you are still on Android 11), it is powered by Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 (12 nm) chipset that uses an octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 (8-core A53 CPU, 64-bit), has 3GB RAM and a removable back cover and removable 3000 mAh battery (rarely seen nowadays). It uses the older micro-USB connector for power and data transfer, but the package from Total by Verizon we got (Tracfone inside) had not only a data cable, but power adapter included as well. A really good deal price wise that you can get with Total by Verizon TCL A3, 32GB, Black – Prepaid Smartphone (Locked) at $39.88 USD from Amazon currently (limited quantity and up to 2 devices per order).

The Alcatel TCL A3X is very similar, also released in 2011 with Android 11, powered by Snapdragon 460 (11 nm) chipset with an 8-core 1.8 GHz Kryo 240 CPU, 3GB RAM and non-removable back cover and a fixed 3500 mAh battery. The A3X seems to be just a slightly improved version of the A3 model that should also offer a bit of a performance improvement as well. It doesn’t feature a removable back cover or battery, not that it matters much as the phone won’t power on without a battery anyway (the A3 that is). The TCL A3X also comes with a micro-USB connector for power and data transfer and has not only data cable, but power adapter inside the package from Tracfone we got. The list price of that one is usually $79.99 USD, but it is currently available for half that or even less. A really good deal price wise that you can get with Tracfone Alcatel TCL A3X, 32GB, Prime Black – Prepaid Smartphone (Locked) at $39.88 USD from Amazon currently (up to 2 devices per order) and there is even a 20% discount coupon bringing down the price to just $31.90 USD at the moment!

So, the price for the Alcatel TCL A3 is really good, even better with the deal on the Alcatel TCL A3X that comes cheaper at the moment and should be slightly better in terms of performance. The only bit of a drawback, no USB-C cables, but older micro-USB, though that is not a deal breaker here considering that both devices do come with the cable and even a charger in the package. They both have 8-core 64-bit CPUs – two different chipsets that should have similar performance, and fortunately they both do come with Android OS running in 64-bit mode, so, yes, you can run the VerusCoin (VRSC) mining software on these as well as other mobile miners. Even though they do not have OS updates past Android 11 they still run perfectly fine with it for mining purposes, so you are good to go. Here you can find more about the situation with 32-bit Android OS and why it is important to have not only 64-bit CPU, but also an operating system like fortunately it is on the TCL A3 and A3X.

What about mining performance then, now, that we know they are good to go for mining VRSC using the ccminer miner. Well, a very pleasant surprise here – the hashrate you can expect is very similar to the one of the popular mining option that is the Samsung Galaxy A03s. The Alcatel TCL A3 (left) does manage to provide a stable VRSC mining hashrate of around 3650 KH/s (3.65 MH/s) with a power usage of about 3.2 Watts measured at the wall. The Alcatel TCL A3X (right), as expected, performs slightly better with a VRSC mining hashrate of about 3865 KH/s (3.86 MH/s) with a power usage of about 2.7 Watts measured at the wall, meaning better efficiency as well. The bit higher performance of the TCL A3X might not be worth with the regular list price, but with the current promotional price making it cheaper than the TCL A3 makes it the clear winner here. If you miss the current deal and if you only find a locked model at the regular list price, then the TCL A3 is definitely more attractive choice for half the regular price of the A3X with just a bit lower performance and slightly higher power usage.

Is BLU View 2 a Good Smartphone for Crypto Mining – Unfortunately No

23, Oct 2023

If you are looking for a good deal on a smartphone that you can use for crypto mining a coin such as VerusCoin (VRSC) then you might’ve stumbled on a really great looking, price-wise at least, offer for the Total by Verizon BLU View 2, 32GB, Black – Prepaid Smartphone (Locked) for just $29.99 USD (Ad). The offer at that price for the BLU View 2 (Tracfone inside) locked for Verizon does seem very good after a quick look at the specifications of the device as listed on Amazon’s website, so good, that in fact you will probably be tempted getting one just like we did. A 5.5-inch smartphone with 32GB internal memory (expandable via micro-SD card), 3000 mAh removable battery, 3GB RAM, 2.0 GHz Octa-Core CPU, 64 Bit, USB-C connector and even a charger included and that for just 30 bucks, seems like a very sweet deal mind you that it is locked even though you should not care if you are going to use it for mining only.

A qucik look at the smartphone’s specs over at GSM Arena confirms that the processor should be an “Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53” (8-core), even though there is a bit of discrepancy there saying 2GB of RAM only and not 3 GB as Amazon’s description mentions. There is however a tiny bit of a problem here, both the product page of Total by Verizon on Amazon and GSM Arena’s specifications of this device are wrong as it turns out that Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22 (12 nm) chipset used in this device is actually only a quad-core CPU and not an octa-core as both websites claim and we actually had verified that personally after ordering one of these smartphones expecting it to do great for mining VRSC with it. You can always make a mistake, but when the mistake is multiplied it gets confusing even for people that usually double-check things…

Not that it is such a big issue when you can easily return the smartphone for a refund, but what remains is the disappointment from something that might’ve been a great deal ending as just a simple mistake and the BLU View 2 had the potential if it was really with an 8-core CPU. However, not only that it is a quad-core A53 ARM CPU inside, but the Architecture reported is armv7l and that is the second huge disappointment here essentially making this device unsuitable at all for crypto mining as even with a decent 4-core 64-bit CPU you should be getting decent hashrate… or at least be able to run the mining software. Essentially, while the CPU itself should be 64-bit, the operating system (Android 11) comes with a 32-bit kernel, so you are not able to run 64-bit applications and most miners (at least the ones that are worth using) do require both 64-bit CPU hardware as well as 64-bit operating system to properly install and run and in order to provide you with a decent hashrate while mining.

The situation with the 32-bit software here is very similar to what we have seen with the Verizon Samsung Galaxy A13 5G that is also a no go for crypto mining. And while the BLU View 2 is much more budget option, with a bit older and lower-end hardware and with a 4-core processor apparently, here the 32-bit software won’t come as that much of a surprise like it is on the A13 5G from Samsung that we really did not expect to come with 32-bit Android support only. Anyway, the BLU View 2 comes very attractively priced (the locked model), but is not such a great deal with the wrong specifications listed and considering the correct ones and the fact it is with a 32-bit Android 11 operating system. It is indeed with a 4-core ARM CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 32-bit Android OS. The result is essentially an unusable device for crypto mining!


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