Akash-maker Datawind enters smart phone market with 3 low-cost models

Datawind, the makers of the low-cost Aakash tablet, has entered the smart phone market in India with three low-cost dual-SIM smart phone models.

The UK-based company, which has come out with five-inch screen sizes, has priced the smart phones around 40 per cent lower than competitors in the Indian market, so as to make a dent in the world's fastest growing smart phone market.

The devices cost between Rs3,500 and Rs6,500.

The top-end PocketSurfer3G5 model with its built in 3G modem offers faster internet connection and better HD quality entertainment, the company said in a web site release.  

The smart phone is backed by power efficient Dual Core ARM Cortex A7 with speeds of up to 1.2GHz, to offer seamless performance.

It is powered by solid battery offering back-up of up to four hours and two days of standby talk-time and surfing time.

The smart phone also comes with integrated FM radio function and a large built-in memory of 4GB, expandable to 32GB with microSD card.

Other features include multi-tasking, multi-touch, ability to share on the go with Bluetooth, 2MP rear camera and powerful speakers.

Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn hold over 60 per cent of the smart phone market in India where the five-inch smart phones form bulk of what consumers buy.

Datawind is in talks with a few service providers to bundle free data with the handsets.

The company is banking on technology it has developed that compresses web pages 30-times to increase the speed at which consumers can view pages on a mobile phone screen.

All handsets come with touch screens made at the company's India and Montreal manufacturing plants that also make such screens for its tablets.

The touch screens are then sent to an assembly plant in China, from where the devices will be shipped back into India, Suneet Singh Tuli, chief executive officer, Datawind, said.

Smart phone sales in India recorded a 229 per cent year-on-year growth in the quarter ended September 2013, according to market tracker International Data Corporation.

Vendors shipped a total of 12.8 million smart phones in the July-September period, a rise of 28 per cent over the second quarter.