The entry-level smartphone supports multiple Indian languages

Jul 4, 2014 04:01 GMT  ·  By

Recently chosen by Google to be among the first handset makers to launch Android One smartphones in India, Spice Mobility continues to flood the local market with new mobile phones.

The new addition to its portfolio is an entry-level smartphone called Spice Stellar 445, which will be available for purchase this week for just Rs 5,299 outright, which is about $90 or €65.

Even though it costs under $100 (€75), the Spice Stellar 445 offers more than decent features. According to T M Ramakrishnan, CEO, Devices, Spice Retail Ltd., “this is the first 10.16 cm smartphone from Spice with a Quad Core processor that enables multitasking and faster speed.

“Through the multiple Indian languages option in our products we intend to reach out to the masses with the readiness of their choice of language in their mobiles. The idea to empower every Indian through their smartphones has been our engine of growth and we have been working towards it by proliferating data services through our 3G enabled handsets.”

The budget-friendly smartphone will ship with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, which is understandable for such a cheap device. It’s even better than we expected, seeing that many handsets in the same price range are powered by an older version of Android, namely Jelly Bean 4.2.

However, Spice knows its business well, which is why it added some of the most important features for customers in India. This means that Spice Stellar 445 will offer dual-SIM capability with dual standby support, as well as FM Radio function.

Another major feature that customers in the country are looking to get into a smartphone is microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB). But, aside from that, those who purchase the Spice Stellar 445 will also receive 2GB of free cloud storage via Spice Cloud service.

On the inside, the Spice Stellar 445 is equipped with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, which is complemented by only 512B of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.

It also sports a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution, as well as a sub-par 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Moreover, the entry-level smartphone includes 3G support, which will make the 1.3-megapixel in the front even more useful. Spice Stellar 445 is powered by a 1500 mAh battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer.

Spice also confirmed that the Stellar 445 comes with support for multiple Indian languages, including Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi. It’s also preloaded with several popular apps, such as WhatsApp, SwiftKey, and Olx.