Samsung, Micromax launch budget phones to compete against Nokia's Asha range

Eyeing the success of Nokia's Asha series, Samsung and Micromax on Thursday have launched their budget smartphones.

At a press conference in Delhi on Friday, Samsung announced the global launch the REX Series feature phones that will be priced between Rs 4,280 to Rs 6,490. The REX series will have four phones at the moment - REX 60, REX 70, REX 80 and REX 90. Running on Java operating system, Samsung has loaded the TouchWiz UI on these phones. All these touch-enabled phones will have Smart Dual SIM slot. According to the company's press release, the Smart Dual SIM allows to receive calls on one SIM even when the call is active on the other SIM.

The REX 60 has a 2.8-inch resistive QVGA display with up to 15 hours of talktime. It also has a 1.3 MP camera and comes with pre-installed apps. The REX 70 has a 3-inch capacitive display, 2MP camera, Smart Dual SIM feature and true hot swap for changing SIM cards without powering off the phone. The next in line is REX 80 with a 3-inch capacitive display, up to 14.7 hours of talktime, TouchWiz UI with 8 customizable homescreens, 3MP camera and Wi-Fi. The REX 90 has a 3.5-inch capacitive display, Smart Dual SIM and true hot swap feature, TouchWiz UI with 7 customizable homescreen, 3.2 MP camera and is also Wi-Fi enabled. These budget smartphones come with some pre-installed apps including Facebook, Twitter, ActiveSync for push mail with contact and calendar, Opera Mini Browser, 10 Full Version Gameloft Games, etc. Free apps can be downloaded on the REX 70, 80 and 90 from the Samsung App Store.

On the other hand, Micromax has announced the Bolt Series with the launch of Bolt A35. Priced at Rs 4,250, this has a close to 4-inch (10.1cm) capacitive touch display and runs on Android v2.3.5. It is powered by 1GHz processor and has a 2 MP rear camera. It has an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 16GB storage and has a 1500 mAh battery onboard.