You must have heard about the controversy behind Ringing Bell’s cheapest smartphone in the world, Freedom251, which was promised to be delivered starting June. Well we heard about it being a possible scam and all the hoopla around it.
In a complete turnaround of events, the company has woken up from a 4-5 month slumber and promised to deliver its first set of smartphones starting 28th June. The smartphones will be delivered to all those who purchased the phone from Ringing Bell’s website.
“We will start shipment of Freedom251 from June 28 to customers who paid for it earlier on COD (cash-on-delivery) basis,” said Mohit Goel, Director – Ringing Bells.
After receiving around 30,000 requests, the company stopped taking more orders and the website crashed thereafter. Such a cheap phone with mid-level smartphone specs is bound to receive attention and who wouldn’t buy a smartphone for Rs. 251.
Apart from the bookings, around 7 Crore people registered for the smartphone and the number kept rising until Ringing Bells stopped further registrations, and the whole scenario came under Government’s scanner.
So is this company legit?
We still have two weeks to come to a conclusion and still cannot say anything until the smartphone comes to our hands. However, after all the allegations and criticism, the company has gone ahead with the original plan which shows it might be partly legit.
What no one can understand is the pricing of the smartphone, when a similar smartphone assembled in India can cost almost 10 times the MRP. Ringing Bells says that the phone will be manufactured in Noida and Uttarakhand where plants will be setup for mass production.
Leading industry experts are still puzzled with the company’s claims and this phone has made ripples in the international market already. $4 does not fetch you a medium pizza, let alone a smartphone.
If you are one of those 30,000 who successfully booked the smartphone, let us know whether you received the smartphone and if it works like a sub-Rs. 5k smartphone.
Well I m waiting for the phone to be delivered.