After Tablets, Reliance Intros Smartphones With Bundled Plans

Noida, Delhi -- (SBWire) -- 09/18/2011 --Coolpad Overseas, joint-venture of Reliance Communications and Hong-Kong listed China Wireless Technologies, launched a 3.5 inch, Android Eclair (2.1) based CDMA smartphone, D530, in Kolkata, which will arrive in Chennai on Thursday, and will subsequently appear across the country.

The D530 is Coolpad's first CDMA-only Android Éclair handset being introduced in the country. The phone will offer CDMA high speed at 3.1 Mbps, and a 3.5 inch touchscreen. The phone is priced at Rs 7999 with Reliance Communications promising 100 per cent value back with discounted tariff over the next 24 months.

A company spokesperson also confirmed to 'The Mobile Indian' that Coolpad will launch eight or nine more phones by the year end, which will include GSM devices running Android. The company is in the process of setting up an R&D center in the country and will also launch an Android tablet.

Reliance Communications' spokesperson said, "We will roll-out this phone across the country shortly. We will also look at launching other products from the Coolpad portfolio; it can include a tablet."

Mitash Chatterjee, circle head, Kolkata, Reliance Communications, said, "We have a large loyal base of high ARPU CDMA customers. We have partnered with Coolpad to bring a wide range of handsets to cater to this base. Furthermore, with the largest footprint of high speed data across 1,000 cities including major metros like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with 3G like speeds of 3.1 Mbps as well as data centric devices like Coolpad D530, we expect substantial growth in the smartphone data usage revenues."

This phone is based on an outdated Android 2.1 (However, features like a WiFi hotspot are available on this phone despite only later versions of Android coming with the feature by default). The device has a 3.5 inch touchscreen and a 2 megapixel camera. It comes with Google Maps and A-GPS support. The phone is powered by a 1280 mAh Lithium ion battery, which we think is a bit small for a phone this size.