A week after launching the Bharat 1 4G feature phone, Micromax has introduced the Bharat 2 Ultra. Launched in partnership with Vodafone, the Bharat 2 Ultra is priced at Rs 999, making it among the cheapest 4G smartphones in India. The smartphone will be available for purchase from November across stores in India.

The effective price of Rs 999 will be valid on purchasing this smartphone with a new or existing Vodafone connection. At first, you will have to pay Rs 2,899 for purchasing the Bharat 2 Ultra. After which, you need to recharge for at least Rs 150 every month for a duration of 36 months. The recharges can be done in parts but should amount to Rs 150 every month.

After 18 months is completed, you will receive cashback of Rs 900 which will transferred to your Vodafone M-Pesa wallet. After another 18 months, Rs 1,000 cashback will be returned the same way. So essentially, with the total cashback of Rs 1,900 received, you pay only Rs 999 for the Bharat 2 Ultra. 

The Bharat 2 Ultra features a 4-inch WVGA display. It is powered by a Spreadtrum SC9832 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. The smartphone comes with  512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. For photography, the Bharat 2 Ultra sports a 2-megapixel rear camera, and a VGA front camera. The smartphone also comes with a few camera features like scene, frame and burst modes. On the software front, the Bharat 2 Ultra runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box. It is fueled by a 1,300mAh battery.

This is the sixth smartphone under the Bharat series launched by Micromax. The company says that the affordable Bharat series has so far achieved 2 million sales across the country. This isn’t the first partnership between Micromax and a telco. The Bharat 1 4G feature phone was launched in partnership with BSNL. It comes bundled with BSNL’s Rs 97 plan that offers unlimited calling hours, data, free roaming and SMS, with validity of one month. The Bharat 1 feature phone is priced at Rs 2,200, and is currently available for purchase across offline and online platforms.

With the onset of the festive season, BSNL and Micromax have joined hands to launch a new 4G feature phone, called the Bharat 1. Priced at Rs 2,200, the feature phone will be available across India at offline and online retail points, starting October 20.

Referred to as the “pataka phone” by Micromax, the Bharat 1 attempts to compete against the Reliance JioPhone with its offerings. Essentially, the Bharat 1 comes bundled with a Rs 97 BSNL Unlimited Plan, in which users get unlimited calling hours, unlimited data, free roaming and free SMS, with a one-month validity.

“With the Rs 97 plan offered by BSNL with the Bharat 1, I believe the network provider will be able to make its mark with this offering in the competitive telecom industry,” said Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha at the event.

In terms of specifications, the Micromax Bharat 1 features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, and a removable battery. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 205 chipset with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage. For photography, it has a basic VGA selfie camera, and a 2-megapixel camera at the back.

The Bharat 1 comes with dual-SIM connectivity and support for 3G and 4G VoLTE. It is fueled by a 2,000mAh battery. The feature phone has support for 22 Indian languages. 

Additionally, the Bharat 1 comes bundled with the BHIM app, and has support for net banking, and access to the BSNL app. It also has Live TV, music, movies and videos bundled with it.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has tied up with device-makers Lava and Micromax to offer mobile handsets at low cost to its customers with bundled offers, a senior official said today.

“BSNL has tied up with Micromax and Lava to provide instruments to BSNL customers at low cost. We are coming out with bundled offers on the handsets manufactured by Micromax and Lava with BSNL SIMs…the cost details are being worked out,” BSNL’s Hyderabad Telecom District (HTD) Principal General Manager K Ramchand told reporters here.

He said six rural exchanges are commissioned with Wi-Fi in Hyderabad Telecom District and another 112 rural exchanges will be covered by December end this year. On BSNL’s latest ‘Plan 429′, which was launched recently, that provides unlimited voice and 1GB data per day for 90 days for prepaid mobile services for Rs 429, he said since its launch there have been more than 3.5 lakh connections under Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Circles.

On linking of Aadhaar with mobile numbers, the BSNL official said a total 68,000 have already been linked in HTD.

The next version of Microsoft Office — Office 2019 — will be released in the second half of 2018 and its previews will start shipping mid-year. The release will include perpetual versions of the Office apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and servers including Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business, Microsoft said in statement late on Tuesday. Office 2019 will add new capabilities for customers, including improved inking features like pressure sensitivity, tilt effects and ink replay.

“New formulas and charts will make data analysis for Excel more powerful. Visual animation features like Morph and Zoom will add polish to PowerPoint presentations,” the company added. The release will bring server enhancements, which will include updates to IT manageability, usability, voice and security. Office 2016 — the current version — was launched two years ago. 

Earlier this month, Microsoft rolled out a feature on its ‘Teams’ service which will allow guest access to all Office 365 commercial and education customers. The feature will allow Office 365 users to add people from outside their company to a team, so the guests can participate in chats, join meetings, collaborate on documents and more.

After having launched Bharat 2, Micromax has upgraded the series with two new smartphones – Bharat 3 and Bharat 4. The smartphones  were spotted online recently, but without a price tag or availability details. The Bharat 3 is priced at Rs 4,499, while the Bharat 4 retails at Rs 4,999. Both the smartphones are available via retail outlets starting today.

Continuing with the India-centric theme, the Bharat 3 an Bharat 4 both come with support for 22 Indian languages. There’s a Smart Key located on the left side of the smartphones. The Smart Key works as a shortcut key to take screen shots, capture photos, and also to turn on silent mode.

The Bharat 3 and Bharat 4 offer a similar set of specifications. To begin with, the Bharat 3 features a 4.5-inch FWVGA display with a 2.5D glass on top. The Bharat 4 flaunts a bigger 5-inch HD display with a 2.5D glass as well. The smartphones are powered by the MediaTek MT6737 quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. The Bharat 3 comes with 8GB of internal storage, while the Bharat 4 has 16GB of onboard storage. 

In the photography department, both smartphones are equipped with a 5-megapixel rear camera of f/2.4 aperture, flash and auto-focus. Up front, the smartphones house a 5-megapixel camera with flash for selfies and video calling. The Bharat 3 is fueled by a 2,000mAh battery, and the Bharat 4 packs a bigger 2,500mAh battery. On the software front, both the smartphones run on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. The connectivity options available on the Bharat 3 and Bharat 4 include dual-SIM card slots, 4G LTE with VoLTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and OTG support.

Speaking of competition, the Bharat 3 would go against the likes of Intex Aqua Style III and iVoomi Me 5. As for the Bharat 4, the smartphone would compete against the recently launched Intex Aqua 5.5 VR+.