Freedom 251: Ringing Bells unveils world's cheapest smartphone in India

After launching the world's cheapest 4G smartphone, Smart 101, Ringing Bells has revealed most affordable touchscreen handset, called the Freedom 251, in India.

The new Freedom 251 costs just Rs 251, making it the world's cheapest 3G smartphone. It will go on sale on the official company website at 6 a.m., Feb. 18.

The company is hosting a special launch event on Wednesday in Delhi, which will be presided over by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP Member of Parliament Murali Manohar Joshi.

This ultra-affordable budget phone promises quite a good bouquet of features which are seen in much higher-end phones.

The Freedom 251 sports a 4.0-inch qHD (960x540p) and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, 8GB inbuilt memory with option of expansion up to 32GB and a 1,450mAh battery. It also comes with two cameras — a 3.2MP snapper on the back and a 0.3MP shooter on the front.

The company is also offering one-year warranty on the device and has more than 650 service centres across India.

Many might wonder how Ringing Bells has been able to keep the Freedom 251's price so low. This smartphone might be subsidised by the Central government as part of the Make in India, Digital India and Skill India initiatives. It comes preloaded with a women's safety app, and applications like Swachh Bharath, Fisherman, Farmer and Medical.

Earlier, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had run a similar initiative with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology in association with DataWind to bring out the Aakash tablet, an affordable education tool for underprivileged students.

Going by the price-feature ratio, Freedom 251 is poised to kick up a huge storm in the Indian smartphone market. [Prospective buyers can pre-book the phone HERE]

Key specifications of Ringing Bells Freedom 251: