New Delhi: In a development that could increase internet usage in India, Noida, UP-based smartphone maker Ringing Bells on Monday launched the world’s most affordable smartphone — Freedom 251 — priced Rs 251 or $4.
The price should not make you mistake it to be kid’s toy phone as the company says it is a fully functional 3G handset, with a 4-inch display, Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM.
A quick review by this corespondent found the smartphone to be sturdy and touch very responsive. The call quality is also good.
The Android Lollipop-based handset, which is yet to hit the market, has an onboard memory of 8 GB, which expandable upto 32 GB. It features a 3.2-MP rear and a 0.3-MP front facing camera and a 1,450-mAh battery.
Freedom 251 will come with preinstalled apps including Women Safety, Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farmer, Medical, WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. The features will help in digital inclusion of villagers.
Bookings for the Freedom 251 will start from Thursday. Indian Cellular Association (ICA), however, asked telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to get into depth of the issue, saying the rate could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale.
