Idea Cellular Prepping Self-Branded Android Smartphones

Telecom operator Idea Cellular will soon launch self-branded Android smartphones in India.. On Idea Cellular's earning conference, Idea MD Himanshu Kapania disclosed that the company is prepping Idea-branded Android smartphones in a bid to accelerate the 3G adoption. The Idea smartphones are likely to be affordable and come with all the basic smartphone features.

According to AndroidOS.in, Idea's first smartphone is likely to be the rebranded version of Huawei Ideos X1 Gaga. China-based manufacturer Huawei is an OEM and provides smartphones to telecom operators and other partners. Several rebranded versions of Huawei devices are available in the market, such as Spice Mi-410 and MTag 3.1. Idea is likely to follow suit by launching the smartphone with a different name. The name of the device is however not official yet.

The Ideos Gaga runs on Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, featuring a 528 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. The device has 152MB of internal storage, expandable up to 16GB via microSD card. It has a 2.8-inch capacitive display with 240 x 320 pixels resolution and 3.2MP camera. The Ideos X1 has a Li-ion 1200 mAh battery. On connectivity front, the Ideos Gaga supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1.


Huawei India has listed the device as coming soon on their official website. Though there is no official word on the pricing, the Ideos X1 is expected to be priced aggressively, perhaps under Rs. 5,000.