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| Prime Minister Modi’s Make In India campaign was an inspiration for the "world's cheapest smartphone", Freedom 251 |
February 18, 2016, NewsCrunch
On the day of its launch the "world's cheapest smartphone" Freedom 251 was hit with negative press and social media scepticism.
Freedom 251 made a splash as it took full page advertisements in leading dailies and was formally launched by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was also on stage as did the phone maker Ringing Bells founder and director Mohit Kumar Goel.
Goel said Prime Minister Modi’s Make In India campaign was an inspiration for the product,
The phone, which sells for Rs 251 + Rs 40 for shipping, promises a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, a 4-inch display, and a rear and front cam.
But here is why Freedom 251, a smartphone at Rs 251 may be too good to be true.
1) The cheapest dubious phones in the market have a starting price of Rs 1,500. As DNA points out even using the cheapest components would have taken the cost price of Freedom 251 to Rs 1,000.
So, there is no information why Freedom 251 is being sold at such a huge loss.
Does the phone come with a locked in data plan the way iPhone is sold in the US?
This is unlikely, as Freedom 251 is being targeted at the low-income users, which is not an attractive segment for telecom companies to offer lock-in deals.
2) It is still not clear how Freedom 251 looks like. Some say in its official photo, Freedom 251 looks like Smart 101, another phone sold by Ringing Bell. Others say the photos on the website and newspaper advertisements were different.
3) The Hindustan Times says the review device of Freedom 251 they received featured branding of an another company, Adcom. Adcom, an IT product importer, said they had no idea that Ringing Bells was sending their phone for review.
4) If you do manage to get hold of Freedom 251, do not count on the support. The numbers listed on the website do not work, said India Today. A reporter of the publication paid a personal visit to the Ringing Bells office at Sector 63 Noida on Wednesday.
On the day of the high-profile launch, the office was deserted except for a security guard.
5) Freedom 251 went on sale this morning. Many optimistic souls, who tried to book it online, failed to do so. The common complaint was that the address page kept on refreshing, asking them to enter their details again and again.
They also found that the company may take as many as four months to deliver the product.