JioPhone has already hit the market, allowing feature phone users to experience the 4G speeds and VoLTE for calls. Soon after, we saw Karbonn launch a smartphone in partnership with Airtel at a similar price point.
Now, another domestic phone manufacturer Micromax has partnered with the state-owned carrier, BSNL, to launch another 4G VoLTE feature phone in the Indian market. The Micromax Bharat 1 will go on sale from October 20 in India.
It has been priced at Rs. 2200, which is very competitive. You can recharge it with Rs. 97 per month (on BSNL) to avail unlimited data and calls. This is far cheaper than the offerings of both Airtel and Reliance Jio. The best part is that you can use this phone on any network, there is no obligation to be stuck to a specific carrier.
Digging deep, the smartphone packs the Snapdragon 205 mobile platform coupled with 512 MB RAM. It also comes with 4 GB onboard storage with SD card support up to 32 GB. You get a 2.4-inch QVGA display and all this is powered by a 2000 mAh battery. Just like the JioPhone, the Micromax Bharat 1 also supports 22 Indian languages. Moreover, it has a 2 MP rear camera and a VGA front camera.
It will have Micromax entertainment apps pre-loaded on the device along with applications for watching live TV and UPI transactions. There is no NFC on the device, so contactless payments are out of the question here. At present, there is no confirmation on the software running on the phone, so we can't tell you whether the Micromax Bharat 1 supports WhatsApp, Facebook, and other apps.
