The phone will arrive soon with a price tag of Rs. 4,990 ($82/€59)

Apr 26, 2014 01:57 GMT  ·  By

Today, Indian mobile phone maker Intex has officially announced a cheap Android-based smartphone that packs Touch and Type capabilities, in the form of Intex Aqua QWERTY.

The handset arrives on shelves as the first device from the company to pack a QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen display, and should arrive on shelves with entry-level specifications, it seems.

Intex teased the new handset before, but it is only today that it has confirmed the full set of specifications that it will arrive on shelves with.

The handset features a 3.5-inch touchscreen display that can deliver an HVGA resolution, and comes to shelves with the Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system loaded on top.

Moreover, Intex has announced it with dual-SIM capabilities packed inside, as well as with support for 3G networks, and with 512MB of RAM inside.

On the back, the new Intex Aqua QWERTY sports a 5-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, complemented by a VGA front camera for making video calls.

At the same time, the phone has been announced with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor packed inside, as well as with a microSD memory card slot for expanding the available internal memory. The handset is powered by a 1500mAh battery.

Intex Aqua QWERTY is set to arrive on shelves in the next several days, with Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating loaded on top.

As AndroidOS notes, the new mobile phone packs quite decent hardware specifications, considering the fact that it will hit shelves with a very low price tag, at only Rs. 4,990 ($82/€59).

“Aqua QWERTY is one such product which offers the convenience of both touch and type features for users who are QWERTY lovers but wish to explore the touch experience at the same time,” Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Business Head, Mobile, Intex, says.

“We have stepped into the QWERTY keypad smartphone segment after a lot of market research, and we believe that the Aqua QWERTY will be a vehicle of smartphone adoption in the highly untapped segment of women smartphone users in India.”

He also notes that the new device is also “meeting the needs of professionals who want to send error-free texts, without stressing too much on switching the keypad between signs, symbols, numbers and alphabets.”

Soon, Intex should release another budget Android smartphone, called Cloud Y10 and expected to land on shelves with a 4-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz dual-core processor, and a 2MP camera on the back. The handset will arrive with Android 4.4.2 loaded on top and has already been listed on the mobile phone maker’s website as coming soon.