Soon, a smartphone named after Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi, Gujarat's Chief Minister, will very soon have a smartphone named after him, perhaps the first Indian political leader to do so. It will be called 'Smart Namo'

Namo is an existing independent body of fans of Narendra Modi. The term Namo represents both the first two letters of Modi's name and surname, as well as stands for 'Next-generation Android Mobile Odyssey'. The team working on the Smart Namo hails from Surat, Gujarat. Ammeet Desai is the main co-coordinator. He has been running a manufacturing company for OEM smartphones in China for six years now. 

According to the website, this will be a five-inch phablet with Corning Glass 2. It will be powered by 1.5 Ghz MT6589 Turbo Chipset and will feature a 13MP rear camera. The phone is likely to have four different variants - 1GB RAM with 16GB ROM or 2GB RAM with 16, 32 or 64GB ROM. When asked for further details, the team said that the smartphone will run on Android v4.2.1. It will be upgradable to v4.3 over the air when available in India.

It will run on a stock Android OS. No heavy customizations will be done to tweak the structure. Wallpapers, themes and custom ROMs can be downloaded from the website.

In an email interaction, Desai said that the product will be at par with India's top brands although manufactured is Shenzhen. An application has been submitted to the Gujarat government to set up an assembly line in Gujarat as well.

"This will be done by end of 2013. The smartphone will be equipped with latest Android ROM and features like DLNA and NFC," he said. 

In the effort to make it stand out, the phone will be pre-loaded with apps pertaining to the BJP, Narendra Modi and India Vision.

In India, the smartphone is likely to retail at Rs 16,000 from this September. Features phones will be available for Rs 1,000 onwards.

Interestingly, the group also plans to launch a signature edition which will be auctioned on eBay. To do so, it will require Modi's authorisation. The proceeds will go towards welfare or relief work of choice.

The signature versions will be priced around Rs 21,000 for the 2 GB RAM with 32 GB ROM and Rs 15,000 for the 1 GB RAM version with 16 GB ROM. The 2 GB RAM with 64 GB ROM variant will be auctioned on eBay.

 The group has received purchase requests from over 65,000 people. A UK/USA edition or an NRI edition is also under consideration. An "Android Tablet, laptop .....is under plan," Desai said.