14 DAY TRIAL // Indian carrier Idea Cellular has just announced an affordable Android smartphone, which will be available through its official retail channels in Maharashtra & Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Gujarat, UP West & East, and Haryana.
Dubbed Idea Ultra, the smartphone has been priced at only Rs 10,500 outright, which is about $170 or €125. As AndroidOS points out, customers who purchase the Idea Ultra will also receive 3GB of 3G mobile data, along with free Idea TV for 3 months.
The handset comes with a large 5-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display that supports 854 x 480 pixels resolution and a decent 1.2 GHz quad-core processor provided by MediaTek.
On the back, Idea Ultra sports an 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus and video recording, while in the front, there is a secondary VGA camera for video calls.
As expected, the affordable handset offers dual-SIM support. It is also worth mentioning that it packs 512MB of RAM, 4G of internal memory and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
Idea Ultra ships with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and features FM Radio, Bluetooth, built-in GPS and 2000 mAh Li-Ion battery that has yet to be rated by the manufacturer.
“The true potential of mobile broadband can be unleashed only with the development of the entire ecosystem. Keeping this in mind, Idea has been actively focused at offering affordable 3G smartphones with high-end features, in addition to rapidly growing 3G network and product portfolio, to ensure that Idea users enjoy the best 3G experience.
“We are now encouraged to venture into the 12.7cm (5”) category Smartphone with ULTRA, which is targeted at the evolving and experimental, young Indian consumers, for whom the smartphone is increasingly becoming an integral part of their lives,” said Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular.