14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like the invasion of cheap tablets on the Indian market will be stopped for a short while, as Lakshmi Access Communications Systems (LACS) manufacturer plans to release a 5-inch Android smartphone in the near future.
According to the guys over at Androidos.in, “Magnum Mirchi 5” will be introduced in India next month and will be available for purchase for a suggested retail price of Rs. 20,000 (about $435).
Headquartered in Bangalore, LACS has some experience with Android devices, as the company is known for launching at least 13 tablets in the country.
Although Magnum Mirchi 5 seems to be a beast on paper, it will be interesting to see how well the phone will perform in reality.
According to the manufacturer, Magnum Mirchi 5 will be powered by Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform.
Equipped with a single core 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, the smartphone features a very large 5-inch capacitive touch screen display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution.
Unfortunately, the handset only packs 512 MB of internal memory and 512 MB of RAM, which seems a bit low for a top-tier Android smartphone.
There's no mention of any microSD card slot for memory expansion, but we assume that more details about the phone's specs sheet will be announced in due time.
In addition, Magnum Mirchi sports a 5-megapixel photo snapper with video recording capabilities, as well as a secondary VGA front facing camera for video calls.
The smartphone will be delivered with support for HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as accelerometer, eCompass and light sensors.
Other connectivity options that will be part of the phone include: mini HDMI and USB 2.0 HS ports, 3.5 mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.1, and FM Radio.
With only a few strong points, Magnum Mirchi 5 seems overpriced ahead of launch, especially on a market where cheap devices are preferred.