Airtel India launches a most affordable Android smartphone for just INR 1,399 (effective) in partnership with the Karbonn, the original smartphone OEM from India. Just like the 1500 JioPhone, the device does follow a set of terms and condition to make it an INR 1,399 rupees priced smartphone.
Importantly, a user has to pay an initial payment of INR 2,899 to get the device. A user has to recharge a monthly amount of INR 169, which packs 0.5 GB 4G data along with free voice calls for 28 days. A user has to make recharges for 36 months, and after 18 months, the company will repay INR 500 and the company will refund remaining INR 1000 rupees after the cycle of 36 months. Making it a total cash back of INR 1,500.
However, if you don’t like this bundled offer, one can go with any of the recharge plans, which should sum up to INR 3,000 in the first 18 months of the actual purchase. To claim the INR 500, and INR 1,000 for the 18th month and 36th month respectively.
This plan is called as “Mera Pehla smartphone” which directly translates to my first smartphone, which is a direct hit on the JioPhone. To be fair, even the specifications of this smartphone is pretty impressive for the price tag.
The Karbonn features a 4.0-inch WVGA IPS LCD display, paired with 2.5D curved tempered glass. Under the hood, the device is powered by a 1.3 GHz unknown quad-core SoC, paired with 1 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 8 GB onboard flash storage with a dedicated micro SD card up to 32 GB.
In terms of camera capability, the device offers a 5 MP rear-facing camera with a single tone single LED flash and a 0.3 MP front-facing selfie camera. The device offers a single SIM card slot with 4G LTE and VoLte capability. Connectivity features like Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot are also present.
The main feature that gives an edge over the JioPhone is the 2.0+ billion Android app store availability with social media apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and other social media apps, which is missing on the JioPhone. The Airtel smartphone runs on a custom version of Android Nougat 7.0, which is also an added advantage. The device offers a smaller 1500 mAh battery, which is bit smaller compared to the Karbonn, however, considering the price we don’t have anything to complain.
Here is the official product statement from Raj Pudipeddi, Director – Consumer Business & CMO, Bharti Airtel:
“As the market leader and pioneer of 4G services in India, Airtel’s aspiration is to digitally empower every Indian with high speed data access. We are delighted to partner with Karbonn to remove barriers to smartphone adoption and enable millions of Indians to leapfrog to a full touchscreen smartphone experience. We plan to partner with multiple manufacturers to bring affordable smartphone options to the market and build an ‘open ecosystem’ of low cost devices. This is yet another step in our ongoing journey to deeply understand customers and bring innovation that delights them.”
What do you think about this offering from Airtel and Karbonn? Do these offers change your plans to purchase JioPhone? Share your views in the comments below.