How low is low enough for a phone to be considered cheap and affordable. The phone in question is the Freedom 251 smartphone from manufacturer Ringing Bells and the reason for it to be considered really affordable is that it costs a mere INR 251 or $4. That sure is ridiculous by any means and might evoke thoughts of it being crap at best.
Surprisingly, the handset boasts of better specs than its price might suggest. That includes a 4-inch 960 x 540 pixel qHD IPS display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage with a microSD slot as well for the further expansion of the latter.
Running Android 5.1 Lollipop, the handset also comes with a 3.2-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel front camera setup while a 1450mAh battery will be providing the juice. The handset also offers GPS while connectivity options it comes with include 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
The Freedom 251 also comes with a few pre-installed app which includes Women Safety, Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farmer, Medical, Google Play, WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube.
However, while the specifications can be considered to be just bare minimum, which again leaves no scope for complaint given the ultra-low pricing, it is the look of the device that has caught the attention of many. And going by its uncanny resemblance with the iPhone, something that also applies to the way the apps look as well, let’s just hope all of the hype generated by the handset is not ringing any bells at Apple’s legal wing.
The last time the country has seen a device being offered at outrageously low prices was the Aakash tablet whose $35 price tag had created a lot of hype.
Experts have also pointed out the device that is being put forward as the Freedom 251 also looks awfully similar to the Adcom A400, which applies to the internals as well. This had led many to believe if it actually is the Adcom A400 that is being rebranded as the Freedom 251.
Maybe that’s the requisite that the government had to agree to for the manufacturer to shift their production lines to India for it to be branded as a ‘Make in India’ project.
Meanwhile, bookings open tomorrow, February 18 at 6 AM and will remain open until February 21, 8 PM. Deliveries will commence 4 months later.
