World's most cost-effective Smartphone – Indian enterprise Launches $3.sixty seven Handheld - odditycentral (weblog)

Indian enterprise Ringing Bells is making waves within the tech industry with its latest product, the ridiculously low priced 'Freedom 251' smartphone priced at an dazzling 251 rupees ($three.sixty seven).

despite the mobilephone's low price, the enterprise is promising a number of swanky elements like 8GB storage, 8MP and three.2MP fundamental and secondary cameras, sample lock with face detection, 5-inch contact screen, 1080p video support, bluetooth, and of course, 3G assist. "We may be the first Indian business to offer an incredible smartphone at a incredibly cost-efficient expense," the Ringing Bells web site states, including that the mobile will work on a "no-frills" platform that's a "minimalistic and light take on the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system."

according to a Ringing Bells spokesperson, the enterprise believes that the cellphone – strongly reminiscent of Apple's iPhone 4 – will "bring a revolution" in the business. while the initial promise turned into to rate the cell beneath 500 rupees ($7.three), the genuine can charge became printed on the launch event last Wednesday, developing a world stir. The high profile adventure performed in Delhi changed into attended by individuals of the Indian Parliament and other state stage leaders. The website went reside for pre-orders day after today, however with 600,000 hits per 2nd their site crashed inside a few hours and that they have been pressured to shut bookings. The enterprise later printed that they obtained 37 million orders on Day 1 and 24.7 million on Day 2. They are now promising to carry the contraptions to all their valued clientele inside four months.

Freedom-251-smartphone

image: BCCL/Gizmodo

"we are humbled and intensely grateful in your overwhelming response and trust," they stated, in a statement announcing the closing of pre-orders. "Respectfully, this is to recommend that the response a long way exceeds the quantity that we had anticipated and therefore, we at the moment are closing the invitation to bookings in this section 1. We admire and well known that we may additionally now not have been in a position to meet the wants of all, however will in reality seem forward to serving you again within the subsequent section."

Critics, of course, are extremely skeptical of the enterprise's promises. a lot of them argue that the can charge of the add-ons on my own can be a long way bigger than the promised retail fee. That's now not together with construction, distribution, and advertising. The Indian cellular association has written to India's telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, asking him to dig deeper into the remember and complaining that it's inconceivable to fee a 3G cellphone below 2,seven-hundred rupees in India. The excise and income tax departments are additionally reportedly investigating the enterprise's funds.

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photograph: TechPP

"It looks like it is highly subsidised by way of the enterprise and it is not clear how they plan to sustain this," observed Tarun Pathak, an analyst at Counterpoint expertise analysis.

according to Indian media outlet Hindustan instances, the controversial cell is riddled with problems. "When HT got its arms on a Freedom 251 unit, it had assorted problems," their record mentioned. "The phone doesn't seem the rest like Freedom 251's photos on Ringing Bell's web site. The mannequin we acquired looks nearer to an iPhone, comprehensive with a circular domestic button. Most constructed-in app icons on the freedom 251 are an immediate copy of icons on Apple's iPhone. Even the internet browser is a rip-off of Apple's Safari browser that simplest exists on iPhones, iPads, and the Mac." The record further introduced that the unit they bought had the manufacturer name 'Adcom' emblazoned on the entrance, covered up with whitener. however when they contacted Adcom, a Delhi-primarily based importer of IT gadgets, the enterprise head denied having any knowledge of this.

Freedom-251-smartphone3

photo: TechPP

however Ringing Bells assures that the device despatched out to the media was only a prototype. "In view of the shortage of time and in view that these had been to serve simplest as prototypes to a restrained listing of folks, we went forward," pointed out business president Ashok Chaddha. "we might certainly point out that the ultimate Freedom 251 manufactured/assembled in India can be to similar specs – i.e. no exchange."

Ringing Bells additionally denied allegations that the Indian government is subsidizing the freedom 251, including that they plan to import components from Taiwan and collect the telephones in India, as a consequence getting obligation waiver by way of state governments of round 20-30 p.c. promoting the handhelds completely online will additionally convey down fees via an important margin, they declare.

 

Sources: BBC, India instances, Hindustan times

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