14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that India stopped being an emerging market for quite some time now, as a high number of handset makers are now launching some of their best products in this country.
Among Nokia, Samsung, HTC and LG, regional handset manufacturers have their fair share of market, but their products are limited to the entry-level segment.
Maxx Mobiles, one of the national handset makers, has just announced the launch of two new dual-SIM handsets that will soon be available on the Indian market, the MX372 and MQ368.
Both MX372 and MQ368 phones are part of the Tiny series of handsets and are aimed to budget and youth market.
The MX372 comes with a standard T9 phone keypad and supports dual-SIM, as well as Java app, Facebook and eBuddy IM.
The entry-level feature-phone has a small 2-inch display, optical trackpad, a sub-par 2-megapixel photo snapper and a dedicated music button.
The MX372 weighs just 61g (battery included) and is available in four color schemes: purple, pink, white and wine red.
According to Maxx Mobile, the MX372 is expected to be available for purchase in the next few weeks for Rs. 2,524 (about $56).
The MQ368 comes with a similar sized 2-inch display but unlike the MX372's standard keypad, this one features a full portrait QWERTY keyboard.
In addition, the handset comes with an optical trackpad, the same low quality 2-megapixel camera and Java support.
The phone is powered by a standard 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery that should provide up to 4 hours of talk time or up to 300 hours of standby time.
However, the most interesting feature of the MQ368 is the embedded Facebook and MSN dedicated key, which seem to have the same functionality as the well-known Facebook phones announced by HTC, the Salsa and ChaCha.
The MQ368 is priced at Rs. 2,636 (about $60) and will be launched initially in Mumbai, along with the MX372, but they will slowly reach other cities in India soon afterwards via retail outlets such as Planet M, Tata Croma, Hyper City, Star Bazar, Mobile & Gadgets, Indian Naval Canteen and others.