Ringing Bells’ new smartphone, the Freedom 251, is shipping June 30th and for just $4. The dirt cheap Indian smartphone raised eyebrows some months back because of its seemingly unrealistic cost. Ringing Bells says they are shipping 200,000 units in their first run and hope to continue to get orders. The price of the Freedom 251 reflects its internals. What you’re getting for your money is a 4″ 960×540 display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of memory, 8GB of expandable storage, 8-megapixel rear camera, 3.2-megapixel front camera and Android 5.1. The specs aren’t stellar but the price aligns with what you get.
Ringing Bells’ business plan is to hook the huge number of Indian users who can’t afford a smartphone. While you can purchase low-cost phones for around $50 in India, that price is even out of reach for some. The company says it is losing money on these $4 phones but hopes to sell enough of them to make their investment back. The company hasn’t extended the press any review units to test so there’s no telling how the device is going to perform.
It’s likely that the Freedom 251 isn’t going to perform to the standards of even a decent mid-range phone. But it might, at the very least, perform well against other low tier budget phones. We also have to keep in mind that the target buyer has likely never owned a smartphone before. Taking that into account, the Freedom 251 will probably be an amazing new tool to them. Just remember some of your old devices and how slow they were by today’s standards (even the first iPhone). People buying this device will probably consider it a substantial upgrade from what they’re using now.
What do you think of Ringing Bells Freedom 251? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or hit us up on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://mashable.com/2016/06/25/worlds-cheapest-smartphone-freedom-251-release-date/#eF1HhSaVqZqL” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Mashable[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
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