14 DAY TRIAL // Indian carrier Idea Cellular has just launched two new affordable Android smartphones that will soon be available for purchase through its official retail channels, the Ultra+ and FAB.
Customers who purchase either of the two smartphones will also receive 1.6GB of free data and free Idea TV for free months, with a pack priced at Rs 259 for existing customers and Rs 261 for new subscribers.
The more expensive of the two, the Idea Ultra+ will be available for purchase for Rs 8,300 ($135 / €100) outright. The second Idea smartphone to go on sale soon, the FAB will become available for only Rs 4,999 ($80 / €60).
Specs-wise, here is what you can get if you choose the Ultra+ smartphone. First of all, the smartphone is equipped with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.
Obviously, the smartphone offers dual-SIM capability and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB). Idea Ultra+ sports a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) resolution.
The smartphone also packs an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus, LED flash and video recording, as well as a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video calls.
The second handset launched by Idea Cellular, the FAB is an entry-level Android smartphone that sports a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 800 x 480 pixels resolution.
Idea FAB is equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and packs a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and video recording.
The bad news is that both Idea Cellular’s smartphone ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, which is kind of old even for such cheap handsets.
At this price range, customers in India have lots of other alternatives that come with better hardware and newer software like Android 4.4 KitKat platform.
On the positive side, Idea Ultra+ and FAB offer 3G connectivity, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB and GPS with A-GPS support.
“With the mobile phone increasingly becoming the first screen for a majority of users across semi-urban and rural India, Idea has remained focus at proliferating mobile internet through these smart devices by making them available at affordable price points for increased adoption.
“The new Idea Ultra+ and FAB will offer a wider choice of 3G smartphones in the low to mid segment price category, while giving our users an experience of high-end smartphones,” said Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular.