14 DAY TRIAL // Indian OEM iBall is one of the few that did not announce anything regarding the release of Windows Phone devices. Many Indian companies have already confirmed plans to launch smartphones powered by Microsoft’s mobile platform, including Micromax, Lava Mobiles and Karbonn.
It looks like iBall is more comfortable in the Android territory, though given the fact that Microsoft has announced that it will offer Indian OEMs the Windows Phone platform to put on their devices license-free, iBall may be tempted to enter the new market as well.
Anyway, until then, Android fans and enthusiasts in India will be pleased to know that iBall has just announced the immediate availability of one of the cheapest smartphones launched by the Indian company, the Andi 3.5 Classique.
As the name suggests, the smartphone packs a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 320 pixels resolution. Design-wise, it may be considered “classic,” as in totally unimpressive.
Nevertheless, iBall Andi 3.5 Classique is aimed at customers who cannot afford more expensive products, so the only problem would be the smartphone’s reliability rather than its features.
The device ships with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, no surprises here. Keep in mind that this entry-level smartphone will never receive any software updates in the future, so what you get at launch is what you will use until you switch to another device.
The insides of the Andi 3.5 Classique are even less appealing than the outsides. The smartphone is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core processor probably provided by MediaTek.
It is also equipped with a 256MB of RAM and only 512MB of memory. It would have been utterly unusable if iBall hadn’t added a microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
One of the positive points is the fact that it supports dual-SIM capability. Other than that, iBall Andi 3.5 Classique does not come with any impressive features.
On the back, the smartphone packs a sub-par 2-megapixel photo snapper with LED flash, while in the front there’s a secondary VGA camera. Some connectivity features have been included as well, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS with A-GPS support.
According to AndroidOS, iBall Andi 3.5 Classique is now available for purchase in Black and White color options via major retailers, both online and at brick and mortar stores, across India. The smartphone can be had for just Rs 3,399 outright, which is about $55 or €40.