Datawind unveilings low-cost 5-inch phones PocketSurfer

Datawind, the maker of the low-cost Aakash tablet, has come into the smartphone category with the takeoff of PocketSurfer5, a range of three smartphones with 5-inch touchscreen, two of which are priced less than Rs 5,000. Named PocketSurfer smartphones, some of the specification of the smartphones comprise five-inch screens, dual SIM and have Linux and Google Android operating systems (OS), front VGA camera’s and micro SD and USN ports.

Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli. Says -"We are submitting 40% lower prices than the cheapest smartphone accessible in the market. We have achieved these price points as we make our own touchscreens in Amritsar and Montreal and these constitute 50-60% of the cost of the smartphone.

PocketSurfer is a 5-inch display, dual-sim support and equipped with internet acceleration technology which helps load webpages fast even on 2G networks. One more two phones, PocketSurfer 5 and PocketSurfer 3GS are established on Android 4.0 platform. The 2G models of PocketSurfer have 1 Ghz processor and 3G model has 1.2 Ghz dual core processor. The linux OS based PocketSurfer has only front VGA camera, however other two models have both front and rear cameras.

Datawind's smartphones will be at first offered online and the company plans to tie-up with a cellular operator as part of its sell plan. Datawind arrived the tablet market in April 2012 and has sold 1 million tablets while then and is planning an inventory of 80,000-1 lakh per month for the smartphones in India.

The entry-level smartphones is the PocketSurfer 5X at Rs.3,499 for a dual-SIM smartphone with a 5 inch touch-screen. The second in the range is PocketSurfer5 and is priced at Rs.4,999. PocketSurfer5 offers the best of features on an Android Jelly Bean platform offering connectivity to Internet through Wi-Fi and EDGE networks.