Freedom 251 'Cheapest Smartphone' to Launch on Feb 17

BENGALURU: Considered a luxury not too long ago, smartphones have reached a point that they can now be considered a commodity. But on Wednesday, things will reach a whole new level. “As part of its attempt to connect every Indian, local smartphone manufacturer Ringing Bells 'with immense support' from the India government will launch an affordable smartphone called the Freedom 251 on Wednesday,” reports Masnish Singh from NDTV. The Freedom 251, touted as India's cheapest smartphone and likely the most affordable smartphone in the world as well will sport a price tag below 500 (approximately $7). “The Indian smartphone manufacturer said that it will reveal the exact retail price of the handset and other details like its specifications at the launch event,” adds Manish.

The purpose behind the Freedom 251 reminds us of Aakash tablet, also known as Datawind Ubislate 7+, which was promoted by the Indian government to provide college students with affordable computing and Internet-browsing machines. The tablet was launched in India in 2011, and was sold at a price point of under 3,000. The project, before closing last year, further decreased the price of the device and it was being made available to students across the country at a price of under 2,500.

With making a smartphone available at a price under 500, the Freedom 251 has the potential to significantly improve the lifestyle of people in the country with a low income. It will be interesting to see whether or not Ringing Bells is able to manufacture and sell this device at a large scale.

Ringing Bells made headlines earlier this month when it launched the Smart101, a 4G capable smartphone at a price point of 2,999 (approximately $44). It sports a 5-inch display, a 1.3GHz quad-core SoC, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded using a microSD card (32GB).

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