Reference Auto

In order to avoid the inconvenience of keeping two phones, more and more people in India are opting for dual SIM handsets and Samsung Electronics is among the phone giants betting big on this lucrative segment with the launch of the Guru E2152.

Samsung has priced the Guru E2152 almost on par with its competitors (at Rs 3,500) and hopes to pip Nokia’s C1 and Nokia C2 in the budget-conscious market ahead of the festival season.

The Samsung Guru E2152 is an ergonomic phone with a 2-inch QQVGA 262K TFT screen. It weighs a shade above 80 gms and sports a slimmer look (with a thickness at 135mm) compared to the Nokia C1 and C2 (which are 155 mm and 14.7 mm in width).

The Guru E2152 has a 100mAH battery that gives it 11 hours of talk time. The phone has an internal memory of 7.5 MB that can be expanded by up to 2 GB.

Samsung’s dual SIM phone also trumps Nokia C1 and Nokia C2 in features. But the price is a shade above the Nokia phones, which Samsung hopes will not be a hindrance factor as it has a load of offerings for its customers.

So far as connectivity features go, the Samsung Guru 2152 dual SIM phone supports GPRS, EDGE and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP connectivity. The phone is also equipped with a VGA camera (640x480 pixels) which can shoot videos at 15 fps. Other features include an FM radio, a standard MP3 player and support for Facebook and Twitter platforms. The phone has dual standby feature, which allows a handset user to have two SIM cards from different operators.

“We are hoping to enhance our presence in this segment through a series of innovative product launches and the new Guru dual SIM E2512 is an example,” said Ranjit Yadav, director, mobile and IT, Samsung Electronics. He added that the dual SIM market was one of the fastest growing segments in India.

With the dual SIM market turning fiercely price dependent, thanks to a few homegrown handset brands, only those phones that are feature-rich and economically priced can surge ahead in the race. But of course, Indian customers have turned brand-sensitive also and the Samsung Guru E2152 dual SIM phone can score on this to notch up healthy sales.