A touch screen android smartphone in Rs 251? You will say we are kidding, but we are not. This is something claimed by Ringing Bells for their smartphone called Freedom251. The price is too good to be true. It is also making people sceptical about the genuineness about the company and are they actually giving phones at this price or is it a scam.
The official launch of the phone took place on February 17. Phone was unveiled by enior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. It was said that the Defence Minister, Manohar Parikkar will launch it but could not make it due to cabinet meetings. The following day there were full page advertisements covering the front page of leading national dailies saying, bookings will start from Thursday 18 February from 6.00 am in the morning and will close on 21 February at 8.00 pm.
The phone comes with the following specifications:
- a 4-inch WVGA resolution display,
- a 1.3 Ghz quad-core processor,
- Android 5.1,
- 1GB RAM,
- 8GB total storage space,
- a 3.2 megapixel rear camera and .3 megapixel front camera,
- a 3.2 megapixel rear camera and .3 megapixel front camera,
- 1450 mAh battery.
Wondering how can such specifications come at such a low price? Asked to explain the pricing, company President of Ringing Bells Ashok Chadha said they were not subsidised by the government, and would benefit from economies of scale. “By going for Made in India components, we can save on the 13.8 per cent, also we will be selling online first and thus save the costs incurred on large distribution networks,” said Chadha. Even though, there is a delivery charge of Rs 40 and it will be delivered after 4 months.
One can buy the phone at the website freedom251.com. But that is not proving to be a cakewalk for the buyers. The interested buyers claim that site keeps on crashing and they are not able to make the payment. The site had this message displayed,”Dear friends, we are grateful for enormous response and your kind patronage and would submit that as of now we receive approx 6 lacs hits per second as a result of which due to your kind overwhelming response servers are over loaded.” They claim they have ‘taken a pause’ and will resume in 24 hours. Later the site started working but still one cannot make the payment as it keeps on redirecting to the same page.
The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) has written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to get into depth of the issue asking the rate could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale. They had also said that it is not appropriate for the senior political and government leadership to be present at the launch till the air around this is cleared and it is not shrouded under controversies.
For the review of the device watch this.
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