Freedom 251 is happening, first batch ships on June 30

The Freedom 251, the under-$4 smartphone, was unveiled last February as the cheapest smartphone in the world priced at INR 251. It gained big momentum, but then suspicions began to pile up.
The fiasco began with swapping the beautiful picture of the device with a more accurate (and less flattering) one. And it was all OK, you know, it costs $4. But then the first prototypes sent to the media were some poorly masked Adcom phones that normally sell on the Indian market for about $50. And finally, all of the Android icons were absolutely identical with Apple's iOS ones.

Freedom 251 (click to expand)

Ringing Bells fought to keep the media smear out of the brand, but eventually it came under investigation by the Indian government, which was falsely introduced as a participating party in the Freedom 251 development.
All ended with the investigation and Ringing Bells' promise of fulfilling all pre-orders.
And here we are today, four months later, on the verge of seeing the first batch hit the market. The company announced it will begin shipping the Freedom 251 on June 30. It claims has north of 200,000 units ready and waiting.
Last we heard, Ringing Bells found some developers to help lower the cost of the phone by preloading their software ("government related bloatware" was mentioned, whatever that is). Even with that extra funding, the company was falling INR 150 short of their targeted INR 251 price and hoped for help from the government. We don't know if they got it, though.
Anyway, if you have doubts whether the Freedom 251 exists, maybe these live pictures will help. The 4" $4 phone with a 4-core processor was caught in the wild and is indeed real. The rest of its specs include 8GB expandable storage, 1GB of RAM, a 3.2MP main camera with LED flash, a VGA front snapper, a 1,450 mAh batter and Android Lollipop.

Freedom 251 (click to expand)

Also, Ringing Bells ditched the iOS icons in favor of Android-themed ones.
June 30 is almost here, so we'll know if Ringing Bells succeeds in making the world's cheapest smartphone against all odds.

REOUMER OF FREEDOM 251

New Delhi: In some respite to India's cheapest smartphone makers, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd - the Noida-based firm that created a global buzz after announcing the launch of the controversial Rs 251 Freedom 251 smartphone last month.

While hearing the plea, the division bench of Justice BK Narayan and justice Shashi Kant ordered the UP state government to furnish a status report on an urgent basis by April 5, further directing that no coercive steps be taken till then against the three top accused - directors Mohit Goel and Dharna Garg and president Ashok Chadha.



Ringing Bells created a global buzz after launching an Android smartphone at Rs 251 .

#Android phone #freedom 251 #ringing bells #rs 251 phone

A first information report (FIR) was registered last week against Goel and company president Ashok Chaddha under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Information Technology (IT) Act on a complaint filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya.

The court also directed the petitioners to submit their passports to SSP Noida within 24 hours.

According to lawyer Abhishek Vikram representing Ringing Bells, the three petitioners will "fully comply with the orders of the court by submitting their passport and will provide full cooperation to the investigation agency".

"We have nothing to hide. We are committed to affordable smartphones to people of this country and we shall achieve that. We will stick to fair practices and comply with regulations of our great country," Mohit Goel, director, Ringing Bells, told IANS.

"We remain committed to cooperate with any government agency that may need to inquire our organisation for any reason or suspicion. We have already done so with authorities/agencies that have so required," Goel added.

"I do maintain that we will deliver the most affordable quality products to our customers through our range of smartphones including 'Freedom 251'," Goel added.

Ringing Bells launched the product last month in the presence of veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

It distributed some "prototypes" of the product to the media which turned out to be Adcom handsets. However, the company maintained that the device has been developed "with immense support" from the government.

According to the company, 'Freedom 251' will run on Android 5.1 operating system and will sport a 4-inch qHD IPS display, a 3.2-megapixel primary and a 0.3-megapixel front camera.

However, doubts were raised after assessments of the viability of the handset found that such a device cannot be offered for less than Rs.2,300-2,400.

Ringing Bells had received 30,000 orders on the first day.

The rest of the customers for the first 25 lakh handsets were to be selected on first-come-first-served basis as the company received about seven crore registrations before the payment gateway crashed.

Later, the company decided to return the money to the customers who pre-booked the Rs.251 device on the first day of the sale.

The company said it planned to give 25 lakh handsets in the first phase before June 30.