iBall enters Indian cellphone market with seven new handsets

Just when we thought that Indian cellphone market was overrun with players, here comes a new one. iBall, a company that has been identified mainly with computers and computer accessories, today announced its entry into the Indian cellphone market with seven new handsets. And these are seven rather distinct handsets – there is a waterproof handset, a slim slider, a touchscreen phone, two style-oriented handsets, a very slim QWERTY phone and the ones that caught our attention the most, handsets for the elderly. The seven categories in which these handsets fall have been called Shaan, Waterproof, Sleec, Flip, Posh, Touch and Senior.

While, most of the handsets have the usual features that we are seeing from new players (dual SIMs, long battery life, Opera Mini browser, et al), there are a few new touches that we like. For instance, the waterproof handset can actually float on water; the phones for senior citizens have large fonts and large keypads and an SOS button, pressing which emits a siren noise and also sends texts to five notified numbers; and the slim QWERTY phone comes with an optional cover that houses an additional battery. Not too bad, we think, and given iBall’s reputation, we expect the phones to be solid, sturdy affairs.

Of course, no further comments until we get our hands on some review units, but we must admit to being a bit curious about the prices of these handsets, which were not mentioned in the release. Knowing iBall, they would not be too expensive. Hence the curiosity. But enough. For now.