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India launches “world’s cheapest smartphone” at under R60

In South Africa, R60 can get you a McDonald’s burger, chips and soda, but in India, the equivalent of three crisp R20 notes will get you an Android smartphone.

A mobile manufacturing company in India called Ringing Bells is gearing up to open pre-orders for the Freedom 251 smartphone, going for 251 Rupees, which equals R57.92.

For that price tag, you obviously can’t expect to get the equivalent of a mid-range R4 000 smartphone.

But with the Freedom 251, customers aren’t a raw deal either, it seems. The smartphone offers a 4-inch screen (which is the same size as the Sony Xperia E1), 8GB internal memory, 1GB RAM, a microSD slot, 3G connectvitiy, WiFi, runs Android 5.1 and comes in white only.

Those who love taking selfies and photos with a smartphone won’t be excited about its 3.2MP rear camera and 0.3MP front camera, though.

There does seem to be misinformation around the smartphone’s exact design however. The Freedom website displays what is the Smart 101, a bigger, higher-end mobile manufactured by the company, when in fact the actual Freedom 251 is vastly different.

Smart 101

 

According to Ringing Bells, the phone’s low price is partly due to “immense support from the government”

Pre-orders for the Freedom 251 will be open as of tomorrow, 6AM India time (2:30am here in South Africa), on the smartphone’s website.

Its official launch in New Delhi yesterday was a bit of a big deal as it was attended by top government officials and members of parliament.

Would a collaboration between government and a local mobile manufacturer be possible here in South Africa? We don’t know but it certainly would be beneficial.

Although the smartphone market is growing significantly, a vast majority of Sub-Saharan citizens are still using 2G handsets and while lower-end 3G smartphones dominate the smartphone market, R999 is still a steep price tag for many users.

[Source – Gadgets 360]

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