text: Ringing Bells had in mid-February this year planned to deliver 25 lakh units of Freedom 251 before June 30. (source: IANS) Ringing Bells had in mid-February this year planned to deliver 25 lakh units of Freedom 251 before June 30. (source: IANS) 
   
   The world’s cheapest smartphone at Rs 251 (less than $4) is here, finally. Its makers, the Noida-based startup Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd, say they have made it possible despite allegations from various quarters that such a phone would not see the light of the day. Even an FIR was lodged against the company. 
   
   According to Ringing Bells’ Founder and CEO Mohit Goel — sitting comfortably in his Sector 62 office here, the company has been able to keep its promise to consumers. 
   
   “We are ready with nearly two lakh ‘Freedom 251’ handsets. We will start delivery from June 30,” Goel said, adding that once he is done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), he will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset. 
   
   The company had in mid-February this year planned to deliver 25 lakh handsets before June 30. However, it received over seven crore registrations before its payment gateway crashed within three days. 
   
   “We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent till we come out with the product. Now we have a 4-inch, dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated,” he said in one breath. 
   
   According to Goel, he is facing a loss of Rs 140-Rs 150 per unit, but hopes to make profit on volumes. “We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives has been fulfilled with ‘Freedom 251’,” Goel said. 
   
   The 3G device has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GB. No device was, however, given to IANS. Only a photograph was allowed to be taken. 
   
   The company has offered an 8MP primary camera with flash, a 3.2MP front camera for selfie and a 1,800 mAh battery. It runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). The phone is available in two colours — black and white — with centrally aligned rear camera and branding on the back panel. It has a speaker just alongside the branding. 
   
   The device displays the Indian Tricolour when you switch it on. The company has incorporated all the basic Google apps in the handset. “Our devices are completely ‘Make in India’ and were manufactured at our Haridwar-based manufacturing unit. We plan to sell two lakh devices every month,” he said. 
   
   The company is also planning to launch a 32-inch high-definition LED television — also called “Freedom” — in the first week of July. 
   
   “These will be the cheapest television sets in India and will be available for less than Rs 10,000. Within two days, the delivery would be made and we will sell them online,” Goel said, adding that the company currently has one lakh such pieces in stock. 
   
   In comparison, the cost of 32-inch HD LED TV sets normally begins from Rs 13,000. 
   
   Ringing Bells launched “Freedom 251” in February 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 handsets from another domestic handset maker Adcom. 
   
   However, the company maintained that the device had been developed “with immense support” from the government. 
   
   “Our humble beginning to provide a high-tech gadget that will benefit all in the hinterland and bridge the huge gap that clearly exists between the metros and semi-urban/rural areas is in keeping with the government’s initiatives,” Ringing Bells President Ashok Chadha had earlier said. 
   
   Doubts were raised over Ringing Bells’ handset after some experts said no phone could be manufactured for less than Rs 2,000. 
   
   For all the latest Technology News, download Indian Express App ||||| We’re still not convinced it’s not an elaborate scam, but the Freedom 251 – known globally as the “$4 smartphone” – will begin shipping to customers soon. At least that’s what the CEO of the company that sells the device is promising. 
   
   When Ringing Bells, an obscure company based in Noida, announced it would sell a real smartphone for just Rs. 251, consumers and media were almost universally skeptical. And rightly so, seeing that the “prototype” Freedom 251 units that Ringing Bells showed to the press were actually Adcom Ikon 4 units disguised with corrector fluid… 
   
   Despite skepticism – and a police investigation – Ringing Bells pushed on with its plan and eventually gathered a whopping 70 million registrations for the device. The company said it would deliver the first 2.5 million units by the end of June. 
   
   CEO Mohit Goel told IANS that Ringing Bells will only be able to deliver a fraction of what it promised – about 200,000 units will ship out starting on June 30. 
   
   Goel said Ringing Bells would open a second phase of registrations for the Freedom 251 after it ships the first 200,000 units. It isn’t clear why the company needs another registration round, given the massive number of registrations it received back in February. 
   
   Despite not yet delivering on his initial promises, Goel considers that he already proved critics wrong: 
   
   “We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent till we come out with the product. Now we have a 4-inch, dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated,” he said. 
   
   Ringing Bell plans to sell around 200,000 Freedom 251 every month, despite taking a Rs. 140-150 loss per unit. The company said it would partner with third-party developers to preload apps on the device, and, rather counterintuitively, hopes that it would reduce its losses once it ramps up shipments. 
   
   Mohit Goel’s dreams go beyond giving away smartphones. The Ringing Bell CEO said the company would introduce the cheapest television sets in India next month. But they won’t be as cheap as the Freedom 251 – Ringing Bells’ HD LCD TV set will reportedly cost Rs. 10,000. 
   
   Has anyone here ordered the Freedom 251? Do you believe it’s actually real?
target: – Smartphones going for about $4 are said to be shipping this week in India, and the manufacturing company's head says he's pleased that they're finally coming out, even though the company will take a loss on each phone, the Guardian reports. Ringing Bells originally said it would ship 2.5 million units of its Freedom 251 phone—a 3G Android with a 4-inch screen, 8GB of storage, an 8MP main camera, and a 3.2MP selfie camera—by the end of June, per Android Authority, but now CEO Mohit Goel tells the Indian Express that's been dropped down to 200,000 shipped out by June 30, with more soon to come. There had been much skepticism over whether the phones actually existed. "We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent till we [came] out with the product," Goel says. "Now we have a … dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated." Talk of the phone has raised disbelieving eyebrows since it was announced: In February, Ars Technica called the whole deal "awfully shady," noting that initial previews of the phone showed an unattractive, cheap-looking unit that appeared to be another company's phone "rebranded" with white correcting fluid. The Guardian notes that Ringing Bells is losing about $2.20 per smartphone, but Goel tells the Express he hopes to recoup profits in volume. "We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives has been fulfilled with Freedom 251," he says. Also reportedly to be released from Ringing Bells within the next month or so: a 32-inch high-def LED TV that retails for less than $150.