Ringing Bells, the makers of the controversial Freedom 251 smartphone has revealed that the company is scheduled to deliver 65000 handsets. The company will deliver the smartphones for those customers who have pre-booked the device via cash on delivery (COD) basis. Previously, the company has claimed to have delivered 5000 Freedom 251 handsets.
Recently, the company revealed that they will be conducting a lucky draw to select 5000 customers from the overall 25 lakh registered customers. The company added that the lucky draw was conducted with the help of automated software to eliminate duplicate registrations.
According to company sources, they have started shipping of Ringing Bells handsets to customers from West Bengal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, New Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
If the company manages to ship additional 65000 units of Freedom 251 as claimed, the overall total delivery of the much-hyped smartphone will account to 70000 units across the country.
Responding to media queries, Ringing Bells founder and CEO Mohit Goel claimed that the company has been able to maintain its original promise to customers.
Previous claims
Earlier, Goel had claimed that nearly two lakh Freedom 251 units are ready and the delivery will start from June 30. However, the company rolled back and claimed to have shipped only 5000 units at the initial phase.
Freedom 251 Specifications
On the specifications front, the Freedom 251 features a 4-inch IPS display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB expandable internal storage, 8MP rear camera, 3.2MP front-facing snapper loaded with Android 5.1 Lollipop. An 1800mAh battery completes the package.
Tough Times
Ringing Bells had to face heavy scrutiny from law enforcement officials since many people thought that the claims made by the company are bogus. This is because the company launched the registration process just after 10 days of the registration of domain name.
With no proper disclosure of manufacturing facility, the company had to go through tough times. In the meantime, a FIR was lodged against the company as per a complaint from a parliament member. However, the court asked the company to fulfill the promises before the date.
In February, Ringing Bells had planned to deliver 25 lakh handsets before June 30. The company received massive seven crore registration across India before the payment gateway crashed. However, the company offered to refund the payment and added that devices will be delivered on COD basis.
Ringing Bells had announced that they will again start the registration process once they complete the shipment of all the two lakh phones. However, this is a remote possibility since the company has so far claimed to have 5000 handsets with another 65000 about to be shipped.