Ringing Bells' India-Only Android Phone To Run About $4 (freedom251.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Freedom 251 is the name of a new affordable Android smartphone which is going on sale in India. It features an 4-core 1.3 Ghz Processor, with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory, and runs an Android Lollipop 5.1 distribution complete with civilian and government applications for Indian citizens. It is being heavily subsidized to make up for the benefits that it will bring to the people who could never afford a smartphone before. Ars Technica notes that the phone is apparently not carrier-subsidized, but as Pocket Now points out, "[t]he nation's defence minister will be at the launch event, a sign that the government has heavily subsidized the project in line with its developmental prerogatives."

Comments

Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

India is a very class conscious society. When I visit India I use a cheap Nokia-the-indestructable phone for calls when not connected to wi-fi. My nephews and nieces call it "servant-maid's phone" and would not be seen dead using it. They would rather buy a cheap unreliable knock off that has an apple logo on it, rather than a reliable Nokia. This 251Rs phone will be instantly marked as the servant-maid, rickshaw-puller, veggie-hawker, coster-monger phone and most of middle class will eschew it. That is actually good. The government subsidy will actually reach the poor. If the manufacturer delivers a half decent product at that price after taking all the govt funds.

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[mitcheli]

How else better to keep tabs on the low class people to make sure they don't try to rise up and overthrow the middle or upper class?

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[Anonymous Coward]

Same story everywhere. Whites are racist towards any other skin color. Although a short while ago, the list also included Jews, Italians, Irish, etc. And ironically, Italians are super racist too - take a look at the racist stuff that happens in soccer matches targeted at black players. Browns are racist towards blacks. Blacks are racist towards other blacks of different tribes.

Chinese consider any one who is not mainland Chinese sub-human and uncultured. Japanese, probably worse. Arabs will treat whites very well, but will treat other browns and Filipinos like absolute filth.

And don't even get me started on prejudice and bigotry based on religion.

Everyone is in the same stinking boat, and drinking the same shitty koolade.

Re: Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[rasmusbr]

Yeah, I don't think Apple has anything to fear from low cost phones in general. Europeans who can't afford to drive a nice car will often splash out on fancy clothes, phones and other sub-$1000 status markers, the iPhone being one of the most popular ones.

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[fustakrakich]

Everyone is in the same stinking boat, and drinking the same shitty koolade.

It's really business. Most people just smell money. They don't see black or brown, just green. The dominant power always looks down on the rest as a threat, it really is natural, kinda baked in. When there is no real enemy, one has to be created.

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[ITRambo]

I disagree with most of what you wrote as your opinions seem to be based on your experiences only. In other parts of the world I'm sure there are cultural norms concerning racism and local mindsets of superiority, regardless of known facts. In middle America where I live anyone that speaks well is accepted. Ebonics is looked down upon as low class.

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[rahvin112]

India is a country that very much wanted communism to win. Yes they are conscious of class and they try to provide goods to the poor but you know what happens you subsidize a phone for $4? They all get purchased and sold aboard for huge profits to those that can purchase them. If the sale price abroad is $50 they will pay the poor $25 to get them subsidized and then sell them abroad.

Re:Apples and Samsungs are safe.

[aristotle-dude]

I disagree with most of what you wrote as your opinions seem to be based on your experiences only. In other parts of the world I'm sure there are cultural norms concerning racism and local mindsets of superiority, regardless of known facts. In middle America where I live anyone that speaks well is accepted. Ebonics is looked down upon as low class.

Try getting citizenship in Japan regardless if you were born there if you are not of Japanese ancestry.

It's not a $4 smart phone

[bobbied]

It's a subsidized phone, only it's subsidized by the government.

Yea, this will end well... Mounds of debt added to the government's obligations, piles of money into the manufacturer's and carrier's pockets. Ah the value of a good lobbyist is vast indeed. Watch the money folks...

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[penguinoid]

It's a subsidized phone, only it's subsidized by the government. ... Mounds of debt added to the government's obligations

In many places, education is subsidized by the government. And costs more than $4. If it increases the GDP or saves money elsewhere, this program could easily pay itself off. Even if not, spending a little to improve the citizen's quality of life is itself a valid function of government.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[bobbied]

In India where Poverty runs rampant, how does this effort help? Children will still be starving, while manufactures of these subsidized phones will be getting fat. There may be a place and time for a government subsidy for cell phones, but in this case, in India, I'm not so sure it's the right place or the right time.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[110010001000]

The starving children can make apps and sell them. Problem solved.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[BarbaraHudson]

Please keep in mind that India made it to Mars orbit on the first attempt. Neither the US, Russia, China or Japan can say that - only Europe and India.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[BarbaraHudson]

Then how come Japan failed?

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple, a couple of years ago when I was back in India, I remember the guy sitting in my next seat on bus trip booking a laborer who climbs up the cocunut tree over the mobile phone. Mind you the laborer answered the phone while he was on the very top of the tree. Without the phone he would have waited for another day to get work! The notoriously poor communication facilities, before the wireless became available played a major role in hindering the development. The connectivity has enhanced the economic activity many fold already!

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[JaredOfEuropa]

That's a rather short-sighted view. Other countries have shown that providing people in underdeveloped regions with access to information can have a big quality on their quality of life and their income. If you're in a remote region, it helps a lot if you can get up-to-date info on markets, weather, agricultural data, and this can provide medical info, education, and access to governmental services as well. If you're a farmer, this can help protect your crops, improve the yield, and get a better price. If you provide other services you can expand your market (it may be worth travelling to the next village to provide your service, but only if you know that there's someone in the village who actually needs you).

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[asliarun]

In India where Poverty runs rampant, how does this effort help? Children will still be starving, while manufactures of these subsidized phones will be getting fat. There may be a place and time for a government subsidy for cell phones, but in this case, in India, I'm not so sure it's the right place or the right time.

The kind of generation upon generation endemic poverty exists because of lack of access, lack of communication, lack of transport, lack of awareness of employment options, lack of information. Take a subsistence farmer or a contract farmer for example. He is completely dependent on rain and weather conditions to get a reasonably successful crop that will give his family just about enough calories to last the rest of the year, and a little bit of money for other survival needs. One bad crop, one bad season means that he has to take a loan from a loanshark / local moneylender at interest rates of 3-5% a week. Inevitably he will become indebted for life, and if another bad season follows, his children with either die of malnutrition or he will commit suicide by drinking pesticide. Or often both. Not necessarily in the same order.

The other big category of poverty stricken people in India are the ones that are less tied to the land. Part time laborers, the ones who work in construction sites, brick kilns, mines, public or private construction projects, etc.

In many of these categories of people, there is a very real benefit to having a cell phone and having rudimentary internet access. Even if not the internet or even wikipedia, to mesaging apps like whatsapp, weather forecasting apps, apps that display job opportunities for temp workers, daily wage laborers etc.

A subsistence farmer or a daily wage laborer could benefit enormously from access to job opportunities, access to better information about the weather, commodity prices, prices of pesticides, grains etc. Or even just the ability to message relatives and be better networked and better informed. Consider the fact that a daily wage laborer in a big city makes 10x the money than a daily wage worker in a remote inaccessible village. Not only that, the big city laborer is also employed many more days in a year.

So why does the poverty stricken villager not move to the big city? Why does the villager let his children become matchsticks? Why does the villager commit suicide even when he knows it also means a death sentence for his family? Why is he, for lack of a better word, so *dumb*? You think a charity organization that will visit his village once a decade and will give him a sack of rice will help him in any way in the long run??

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[Threni]

People say this sort of thing about anything India does. The US and Russia didn't succeed at first attempt to put people into orbit, get them on the moon safely etc precisely because they were doing it first. They were doing the R&D, putting up the money and the people. India just - essentially - bought a 3d printer, made a rocket and launched it. It's similar to the reason elvis impersonators aren't all as famous or respected as elvis was. Once you've got the technology it's not important whether you then target the moon, venus etc.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[Trailer Trash]

Put another way, the money could be used to buy food which will help for a little while OR it could be used to do something that will grow the economy, which helps everybody for a long while.

I'm generally against government subsidies but if this is done correctly I believe it will have a large impact on the economy by giving folks access to information and connectivity that they wouldn't otherwise have access to. It's hard to say what all will come of it but it seems like a worthwhile experiment.

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[aNonnyMouseCowered]

NIH syndrome or something close to that. Japan only consumes/uses tech invented or heavily modified, like anime was once knockoffs of old American cartoons. Some exception for military hardware made in the USA. India gladly uses foreign tech and has the benefit of the Indian diaspora (number of US tech companies are led by Indian expats and some of these return to their former homeland).

Re:It's not a $4 smart phone

[BarbaraHudson]

So why did China and Japan fail in their first attempts if it's so easy? Also, I never mentioned the moon - just first attempts to get to Mars. The US failed on the first attempt. So did the Russians. So did China. So did Japan.

Once you've got the technology it's not important whether you then target the moon, venus etc.

Right - it's plain to see that you don't know what you're talking about. If what you claim were true, how come the US and Russia, which had lots of experience in both earth orbit and earth-luna missions, failed in their first Mars attempts?

What's stopping this plan?

[omnichad]

1. Buy a bunch of these phones
2. Sell them abroad on eBay for $10-15
3. That's really it
4. Profit!

Re:What's stopping this plan?

[110010001000]

Maybe they are locked to Indian networks and also are only 2G. You can get a $15 Android phone on Amazon right now. Also you should be more sensitive and not call women "broads" or try to sell them on eBay. They don't like it.

Re:What's stopping this plan?

[gaiageek]

Specs here indicate it has 3G (42Mbps) on bands 900 and 2100 used throughout Asia and Europe. Since it's not being sold by an Indian telecom, I would guess that it's unlocked, but I'm sure we'll get an answer to that question soon.

Re:What's stopping this plan?

[gaiageek]

The world already has $10 Android phones. That said, this probably has better specs than most of them with 1GB RAM, an IPS display and dual SIM slots. Combine that with the fact that for a poor person in India, making $1 for an hour of work is incentive enough, and I'm sure we'll see these on eBay in the near future.

Re:Not surprising - Android phones $15 at walmart

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

This. When my fifth-grader wanted a music player and a handheld to play games and text, I walked up to the pay-as-you-go phone section in Walmart and bought a $40 Android smartphone. My son hooked it up to WiFi and now communicates with me via text apps. There was never any need to activate the pay-as-you-go phone service.

Well done, India

[Anonymous Coward]

Now what about providing the 500+ million Indian citizens with basic services, like electricity, running water and sewage? If you want to be regarded as a modern country, it is high time for you to do that. Anyone can have nuclear weapons, if that's what they really want.

Re:Well done, India

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Those things require magnitudes more money, and require a much bigger tax base of people working at nontrivial jobs.

This is accomplished by building factories and other things, which requires not having to give 10% kickbacks to half a dozen officials.

Re:Well done, India

[Anonymous Coward]

And you think the Indian Government isn't doing any of it? Just last week, there came an article on the Indian Government providing electricity to as many as 253 villages in every week.

And if you feel that isn't enough - stop complaining, start helping out.

Re:Well done, India

[zentigger]

You mean a modern country like the USA? I hear they are doing a great job of providing clean water, and reliable utilities, and I'm sure there are a bunch of AT&T customers in Florida that would love to tell you about the quality of phone service that they no longer have available, since it was too expensive for the private telco to maintain. After all, it's easy to show 13% growth in the short-term while you still have assets to sell and people to fire.

Re: Well done, India

[rasmusbr]

Basic communication, e.i voice, text and email is arguably as important as those things that you list.

Re:Well done, India

[Kjella]

India is a work in progress in many areas, but feeding the economic engine so you can have more skilled workers - yes, no matter what you might think of outsourced Indian developers and helpdesks they're skilled for India - paying taxes so they can build out more schools, power, water, sanitation etc. might be more productive in the long run. These are not the spoilt brats of the western world, if you give them the chance to learn many will work hard to improve their life. A phone is a pretty damn cheap tool to give them opportunities. And they are working on those other things, but like China they pretty much have to pull themselves up. Nobody can afford to really help hundreds of millions of people on foreign aid.

Re: Well done, India

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to update your priors. India has a birth rate of 2.3 per family, and it has been decreasing for quite some time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

On the scale of poor decisions...

[mongothesecond]

Start the countdown to an official Indian Android app store, and further to that store having horrible adware and malware issues.

Re:Well done, India FTFY

[zlives]

"g to give 80% kickbacks to half a dozen officials."