The Indian smartphone segment saw a buzz in February when Ringing Bells unveiled its Freedom 251 smartphone at an incredible price of Rs. 251. The smartphone made headlines for few weeks, and caught attention of the entire nation. The Freedom 251 from Noida-based start-up Ringing Bells however soon lost its sheen. The smartphone was surrounded by controversies that even lead to an FIR registered against the makers. The biggest highlight of the smartphone was its pricing rather than any specifications under the hood. The company received close to 60 million registrations in few days but after taking initial bookings for the handset, the Freedom 251 makers announced pre-booking money to be refunded to users and also confirmed that it would take cash on delivery, upon delivery. The first orders will be delivered in June.
Since then, another India-based brand – mPhone – made headlines about its range of smartphones, offering great specifications at good prices. Unlike with Ringing Bells, the controversy surrounding the makers of the mPhone ‘Mango’ smartphones was due to the financial state of the proprietors, who were reportedly arrested at the launch of the brand in India for bank fraud.
It is in this atmosphere of doubt for new Indian brands that a Jaipur-based company named Docoss has announced an entry-level smartphone for as little as Rs. 888. Deliveries of the smartphone are in the company’s promotions said to begin from May 2, while pre-bookings close on Friday.
The Docoss X1 is now available to pre-book, however, we recommend users stay away from the deal for now – as the transparency level of the makers in this case is even worse than Ringing Bells or mPhone. Apart from website issues, the entire pre-booking process is a little fishy, and the customer care evaded most of our questions.
Also notable, is that the Rs. 888 price is exclusive of taxes, but there is no clarity as to the total price inclusive of taxes. After failing to pre-book the smartphone via its website (we were shown an error), Gadgets 360 tried to reach out to the company via its customer care numbers. We were informed that customers will have to use the SMS booking system, detailed on the company’s social media handles.
On checking about the delivery of the Docoss X1, a company representative repeated the steps to pre-book without talking about the availability of the handset. Much like Freedom 251, the Docoss official site keeps crashing but opens up after several refreshes. We tried to understand why the company isn’t accepting the bookings via its official site, and the representative said that the pages are under maintenance. The launch was first reported by Phoneradar.
The representative explained that users can pre-order the handset which is available on cash on delivery by sending a text to 7666204430 with details such as Name, Address, and Pin Code. The company via its Facebook and Twitter handles explains users should not call on the SMS number, now discontinued, “Dear Users due to receiving calls on previous SMS centre number we are facing some issues on booking your order.”
For specifications, the Docoss X1 features a 4-inch WVGA display; powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor; 1GB of RAM; 4GB of ROM; expandable storage support via microSD card (up to 32GB); GPRS/ EDGE; 3G; a 1300mAh battery; a 2-megapixel rear camera; a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and Android 4.4.2 KitKat. It weighs 102 grams, and measures 122.2×64.4×9.3mm.