Celkon launches the A27 for Rs 8,999

After Celkon’s recent attempt at an Android smartphone with the A200, the company today launched the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-running A27. The phone is set to cost Rs 8,999 and the company has revealed some of the handset's features.

Much like the recent crop of Indian smartphones, the A27 has dual-SIM support. It is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and has 512MB of RAM. It is equipped with an 1800 mAh battery.

The Celkon A27 has a 4.63-inch screen

Here are some other key features of the A27:

• 4.63-inch touchscreen
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 4GB internal memory

The company hasn’t revealed if the screen is scratch-resistant or not, but it has mentioned that those who buy the phone will get a scratch-guard free with it, so the screen may be some cause for concern. Also included in the box is a flip cover to keep the handset even safer from scratches.

We recently reviewed Celkon's earlier offering—the A200. Going by the review, the A200 is a smart-looking piece of mobile hardware. It's very neatly designed and the smooth, curved edges and glossy finish, albeit prone to scratches, gives the handset a refined look.

Celkon has gone with a simple 3-button (soft touch) system for the OS. A volume rocker with well-articulated buttons are placed on the upper right hand side of the device, with the 3.5 mm handsfree and micro USB ports placed on the top on either side of the power/sleep mode key. A hot-swap microSD card slot is placed under the rear panel . The A200 is a dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) handset with slots placed neatly under the panel. Access to these will require you to remove the 1500mAh battery. There’s also a 5 megapixel camera on the back accompanied by a set of dual LEDs.

Celkon has chosen to go with a non-customised, stock version of Google’s ICS (Android 4.0.4) OS. The 1.2GHz dual-core processor running under the hood pretty much ensures speedy performance. Overall, the UI proved to be fluid. Although the 512MB of RAM is sufficient, 1GB would have made quite a difference. A User Profiles setting is also provided, so you have a certain measure of quick control for switching between profiles.

Check out what we thought about the Celkon A200 in our review.