Freedom 251 launched as 'world's cheapest smartphone' at Rs 251
The 251 Freedom site has now stopped taking orders due to overwhelming response that has led to the servers to crash. “We receive approx 6 lacs hits per second as a result of which due to your kind overwhelming response servers are over loaded,” the site claims. It has also said to have ‘taken a pause’ and will resume in 24 hours.Those who woke up early this morning (read me) to book the just launched Freedom 251 were treated to the Freedom 251 site that refused to load. Soon, people took to Twitter to vent out their frustration as the site crashed even before the bookings started.
The site is up and running now and bookings seem to be open. Rs 251 means less than a monthly mobile bill and the curiosity has drove everyone to the site. We also tried securing a handset and here’s what you need to do. Head to the official Freedom 251 page. Though the phone is priced at Rs 251, one may have to shell out an additional Rs 40 as shipping charges. This means, you are paying Rs 291 overall for the phone.You will then have to enter your shipping address, mobile number and email ID. Also required to tick the terms and conditions checkbox before buying the device. Once we hit on buy, it brought us to the same page asking to insert the shipping address and other details. Each time we tried, we were reverted back and couldn’t make it to the payments page. As you see in the screenshot above, the page also states four months of delivery time. It is quite possible, it may be doing it to avoid going the Aakash way (cheap tablet from Datawind).As for specifications, Freedom 251 features a 4-inch qHD display with 960x540 pixels resolution. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. The smartphone offers 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded further up to 32GB using a microSD card.
The smartphone comes equipped with a 3.2MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front facing snapper for clicking selfies. Its connectivity attributes include 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and packs a 1,450 mAh battery.
The site is up and running now and bookings seem to be open. Rs 251 means less than a monthly mobile bill and the curiosity has drove everyone to the site. We also tried securing a handset and here’s what you need to do. Head to the official Freedom 251 page. Though the phone is priced at Rs 251, one may have to shell out an additional Rs 40 as shipping charges. This means, you are paying Rs 291 overall for the phone.You will then have to enter your shipping address, mobile number and email ID. Also required to tick the terms and conditions checkbox before buying the device. Once we hit on buy, it brought us to the same page asking to insert the shipping address and other details. Each time we tried, we were reverted back and couldn’t make it to the payments page. As you see in the screenshot above, the page also states four months of delivery time. It is quite possible, it may be doing it to avoid going the Aakash way (cheap tablet from Datawind).As for specifications, Freedom 251 features a 4-inch qHD display with 960x540 pixels resolution. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. The smartphone offers 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded further up to 32GB using a microSD card.
The smartphone comes equipped with a 3.2MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front facing snapper for clicking selfies. Its connectivity attributes include 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and packs a 1,450 mAh battery.