Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 Firefox smartphone offers some extras for Rs 2,299

Powered by a 1 GHz processor, the Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1 has dual-SIM functionality with 2.5 G connectivity.

Spice on Friday showcased its Fire One Mi-FX 1 Firefox smartphone which was announced last week. Priced at Rs. 2,229, the Fire One Mi-FX 1 competes directly with the Intex Cloud FX FireFox smartphonewhich was launched on Monday at a price of Rs. 1,999. The Intex Cloud FX is the cheapest smartphone currently available in India.

Justifying the higher price of Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1, the company’s CEO Prashant Bindal said, “The smartphone comes with a better battery along with a 1.3 MP rear camera with flash and front VGA camera. We are also offering a silicon cover for free.”

The device is aimed at the masses that are looking for ward to use a cheap smartphone to make calls, messages, email, and stay connected on social media.

The 2G Dual SIM enabled handset comes with a 1 GHz processor, 2.5 G connectivity, 8.89 cm HVGA capacitive touch screen, 1.3MP primary camera and 0.3 MP front camera. It packs a 1400 mAh battery. On the storage front, it has a memory slot that can be expanded up to 4 GB. Users will need a microSD card for multimedia tasks as there almost no internal memory.

The Marketplace on this phone help users to download apps. This device also supports several Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil and Bangla and comes preloaded with Facebook, Twitter and Connect A2 instant messaging app. It is important to note that currently users will not find many popular Android apps on the Firefox marketplace.

Spice has also partnered with Aircel to give 1 GB of free data per month for three months.

Asked about Firefox’s plans to launch handsets in the mid-range segment, James Ho, senior director, Firefox Mobile Devices Group told Indianexpress.com: “Currently we are focusing on the ultra-low price smartphone market. We want to help feature phone users in India to upgrade to a smartphone. However, in the coming days, our handset partners are looking at bringing devices in every price segment in the country.”

BlackBerry to turn back to QWERTY, set to launch Passport, Classic in India

Faced with the onslaught of cheap Android phones, BlackBerry is turning back to its core, the popular QWERTY keyboards. In the coming months, BlackBerry will launch in India the Passport and Classic, two devices that will have the QWERTY keyboard at its USP.

"QWERTY has been one of our strong suits, keeping with the consumer trend and demand, we will continue to launch devices based on QWERTY. There remains a large portion of the user base that are loyal to the QWERTY experience," said Sameer Bhatia, Director, Distribution at BlackBerry India.

The unique BlackBerry Passport will offer a 4.5-inch square full HD screen with with a touch-enabled keyboard. "You will be able to navigate web pages, apps and e-mails by lightly brushing your fingers over the keys, which helps with things like scrolling and cursor placement," he said, adding that the keyboard will also support custom commands.

The BlackBerry Classic, meanwhile, will bring back the trackpad and function keys to BlackBerry 10 devices. It will be second device to come out of the Foxconn partnership and could have an affordable price tag.

"We believe that our devices need to stay in step with the times while ensuring to provide die-hard BlackBerry users with the comfort of a keypad as well," said Bhatia.

However, BlackBerry is unlikely to shift to an online only approach like some of the new entrants in the market. "We believe that both traditional retail formats outlets and online platforms are complementary strategies that brands need to harness to ensure complete consumer access and reach," he said. Bhatia said it is imperative to look at OMNI channel presence and leverage both traditional as well as new age formats to reach out to consumers across segments. "Recently with the launch of the new BlackBerry Z3 we partnered with both The Mobile Store and Flipkart to offer consumers an exciting pre-launch offer. The offer was very well received by the consumers, proving that both brick & mortar and online formats have become an integral part of a brand’s retail strategy."