Essar Group promoted The Mobile Store is bracing itself for the next phase of growth. After having attained leadership position in the mobile handset retail space, the firm is now set for its next phase of growth and has now forayed into offering its own range of handsets branded as ‘RAY’ with the launch in May 2009.

“We have introduced the RAY range keeping in lines with the aspirational value of majority of the Indian consumers who vie for a feature rich phone at affordable price. We have added quality quotient to this need to make it more appealing” says Mr.Rajiv Agrawal, MD, MobiStore while speaking to TelecomTiger.

While currently four models are on offer catering to different segments, the company says that the positioning of the handsets are based around the value for money proposition with the best features on offer at the most competitive price.

The company provided TelecomTiger with the M31 model among its range of RAY models for review.

This dual-SIM phone having Java-based operating system has good metallic look and has got a sophisticated appearance. Overall look-wise the model is satisfactory. However minor changes like modifying the silver-coloured buttons which allow the user to shift from one SIM to another can be done with.

There is a CIF camera, 2 inch TFT display touch screen with display size 240 x 320, FM radio, expandable memory option, Bluetooth connectivity and MP3 player. The phone comes with a USB slot and the dual SIM function allows use of both the SIM connections simultaneously unlike earlier available versions of handsets when only one SIM would be of use in case of dual SIM phones.  It promises to offer 80-150 hours of continuous stand-by and 2-3 hours of continuous talking time. The handsets are manufactured in China.   There is scope of improvement on the camera front where the picture quality can be enhanced. But then one should understand that to expect the best quality in the features on offer for a competitive price will not be a justified judgement.

For a value for money proposition, the model indeed is in sync. Not many models of competitors are available for the mentioned price and that too with so many features on offer.

For a retail price of Rs 4,109/-, the features on offer are virtually tempting.

Other models on offer under the Ray range include Ray T60, Ray M20 and Ray T65 priced at Rs 6,919, Rs 2,159 and Rs 6,489 respectively.