What can you get for $7 or Rs 500 these days?
Maybe a pair of average headphones, a meal from your favourite cafe, two games of bowling, train ticket from Mumbai to Goa or maybe an Uber ride from your home to your office and back in terrible heat outside.
Well these are the first things that come to our mind if given a budget of Rs 500. After all it is not a lot of money for the common man these days, when we have scams not less than Rs 1 Million.
An Indian company, on the other hand, has something else in mind. When expensive smartphones are getting more expensive, like the Samsung Galaxy series or Apple iPhones, Ringing Bells, an indian handset maker, is all set to launch a smartphone for $7 only! Yes, you read that right, there is no typo. As low as Rs 500, you can have a smartphone which can be used like any other budget smartphone. Government of India has also played a key role in developing the smartphone.
To be named Freedom 251, the smartphone will be the cheapest smartphone in the world. The exact price of the smartphone is not yet clear, but we think that the phone will be priced around Rs 500 or $7, or quite close to it. The launch event if scheduled for today, 17th February, and the likes of Manohar Parrikar and Murali Manohar Joshi are expected to be there for the event.
About Ringing Bells
Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd. is a smartphone company in India which has launched smartphones under the brand name ‘BELL’. They have launched inexpensive smartphones which satiate the needs of a customer looking for mid-range smartphones. They currently have Smart 101, Master and 4u in their portfolio along with a Kiwi portable 5600mAh power bank.
The BELL smartphones are known for have most connectivity options desired from a basic smartphone and a host of features like 4G capability, large touchscreen, big battery and decent camera resolution. One can’t expect mind-blowing abilities from these affordable smartphones, but they do the job well above expectations.
Is it a gimmick or will the phone be worth it?
To be honest, the phone hasn’t released yet, but going by the hype that has been created around it, Ringing Bells better hopes it is a superhit. They are also launching it keeping in mind the Digital India vision of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. It is expected to connect a wide audience in India that currently use feature phones.
However, going by the past releases from the Indian Government, including the Aakash tablets project which got shut in 2015, we are not expecting anything ground shattering.
Yes, it will create headlines in the market and people will be interested to know about the product, but there are only a few days before the honeymoon period ends.
Just like the Datawind tablets, Freedom 251 could get lost in the abyss of smartphone industry tagged as the cheapest smartphone, before another one claims the title.
Freedom 251 might not be as good as expected, but it is sure to connect the vast population in the country still stuck with feature phones. Imagine a construction worker having access to more jobs and information on the internet through his/her smartphone. That is a vision of Digital India and we are not far from making it reality. However, instead of making phones dirt cheap and useless, companies should focus on improving quality of handsets currently present in the market.
We only hope RInging Bells has the inventory and industrial output to be able to keep up with the demand. We all know everyone wants to get a smartphone priced cheaper than their mobile phone bill, and if the demand crosses supply, people could turn away from the handset maker.
Fell proud that Indians can do impossible to possible.
To be a Indian I will buy it although me having 3 Smart phones.
As it is made in our country.
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surely I will buy this phone as it is made in India
Many peoples booked this phone. Paid Advance money. 7 days passed. But not supplied.