Ringing Bells, a new tech start-up in India, is ready to launch on Thursday, June 30, the cheapest smartphone in the world called Freedom 251.
According to Irish Examiner, the world's cheapest handset will come with an incredible low price tag. Freedom 251 will cost Rs. 251, which is about $3.66 in US dollars.
The device was first unveiled mid-February. Only hours after the announcement, seven million people registered their interest and the company's website crashed. At the time, the manufacturers were forced to delay shipping and refund over 30,000 pre-orders.
After the mid-February unveiling, critics claimed that it would be impossible to produce a phone so cheaply. Ringing Bell is now hoping to convince them that they were wrong.
Mohit Goel, CEO of Ringing Bells, told The Indian Express that Freedom 251 aims to bring a real liberation to all customers. The product goes on sale on June 30 and the company is hoping to sell more than 200,000 devices in the initial phase.
The world's cheapest smartphone aims to support the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the "Make in India" and "Digital India" initiatives, Goel said. There are no plans to sell the Freedom 251 in Europe or North America.
The 3G phone is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. It comes with 1 GB RAM and storage of 8 GB. The dual-SIM smartphone features a four-inch screen, 3.2MP front-facing camera and 8MP rear camera.
The phone runs Android Lollipop 5.1 and comes pre-installed with Google Play, YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp. The mobile device is available in two colors: white and black.
According to Mail Online, customers who registered their interest in the Freedom 251 smartphone will pay on arrival of the product. However, it is expected that many customers to miss out securing a pre-order on the device.
Soon after the outage in February, Ringing Bells has announced in a notice to its customers that was receiving 600,000 hits per second on its website. If this is to repeat now, it is likely the website will crash again before all those interested in the device are able to place their orders.
