Freedom 251
| Freedom 251 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Manufacturer | Ringing Bells |
| Technical specifications | |
| display | 4 inches |
| Main camera | 3.0 MP |
| Front camera | 0.3 MP |
| Current operating system | Android 5.1.x "Lollipop" |
| processor | 1.3 GHz quad core |
| R.A.M. | 1 GB |
| Internal memory | 8 GB , expandable to max. 32 GB |
| accumulator | |
|
Battery life (according to manufacturer) |
Max. k. A. Std. |
|
Talk time (according to manufacturer) |
Max. k. A. Std. |
The Freedom 251 is a smartphone manufactured and sold by the Indian start-up company Ringing Bells . It is only offered in India; the purchase price subsidized by the Indian state is only 251 rupees , the equivalent of around 3.28 euros. The device is equipped with the Android operating system in the " Lollipop " version . The name component 251 is based on the purchase price in Indian rupees.
The device is offered to the Indian population for free purchase without a contract to a cell phone provider. This initiative, which is subsidized by the Indian state, goes back to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who expressed his wish in a speech to give all around 1.3 billion inhabitants of his country access to digital media.
Until now, the smartphone was only available from February 18th to 21st. Because the website collapsed on those days, only 30,000 smartphones were bought in advance. Currently (May 2015) it is not for sale according to this.
Funding and criticism
Basically, a mobile phone, regardless of its type, cannot be manufactured economically and profitably at a price of around 3 euros. Even if there is no profit-making in the background of a business model, such a device cannot be produced for such a low price; any conventional business enterprise would generate massive losses with such an offer. Industry analysts put the manufacturing costs per device at around 20 euros.
The prototypes presented turned out to be a modified model of the Adcom Ikon 4 smartphone, which costs around 50 euros. When sales started in February, the Ringing Bells company did not yet have any production facilities or licenses to manufacture and sell cell phones.
Web links
- Official website (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ringing Bells in India: A smartphone for 3.28 euros. In: handelsblatt.com. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Three-euro cell phone for a huge market - Economy - DW.COM. 2016. In: dw.com. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ "Freedom 251": A smartphone for three euros: Will it stir up the Indian market? - FOCUS Online. In: focus.de. Retrieved February 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Freedom 251: This smartphone costs just under 3 euros! - COMPUTER PICTURE. In: computerbild.de. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Cell phone for three euros: Freedom 251 - the Tata among smartphones - Economy - Tagesspiegel. In: tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Freedom 251: India's cheapest Android smartphone launched at Rs 251. In: Indian Express. Retrieved May 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Debashi's Sarkar: Freedom 251 site crashed after 30,000 bookings; to launch Bells SIM card. In: Times of India. Retrieved May 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Frederic Spohr: Chaos over the cheapest smartphone in the world. In: Handelsblatt. February 6, 2016, accessed May 18, 2016 .