Mukesh Ambani the chairman of Reliance Industries announced the JioPhone at the 40th Annual General Meeting. JioPhone is the most powerful feature phone in the world with 4G VoLTE connectivity. It was introduced as “INDIA KA SMARTPHONE JIOPHONE”.
What is the cost of JioPhone?
The JioPhone would effectively cost Rs. 0. But to avoid misuse of the free service, the company is charging a fully refundable deposit of Rs. 1,500 which will be refundable after 3 years.
When will it be available?
The preorders will start from August 24 and will be up for sale from September. The exact sale date and where to preorder is not yet revealed by the company. Furthermore, Mukesh Ambani quoted that they are planning to make 5 million units available every week. In addition, the JioPhone will be available for beta testing from August 15.
We expect it to be made available via flash sales.
JioPhone Features and Specs
The JioPhone will support India’s 22 regional languages and has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, along with a four-way navigation button.
The phone has support for 4G LTE & VoLTE, and the NFC connectivity will be added to the phone later this year. The company did not disclose the specifications of the phone, but it will have support for microSD card, FM Radio, rear camera, and 3.5mm headphone jack.
Key Specifications will be:
- 512MB of RAM.
- 4 GB storage.
- 2000mAh battery.
- 2MP VGA camera.
- Jio’s applications like JioPlay, JioMusic, JioCinema, etc. comes preloaded with the phone.
JioPhone can also mirror content to a SmartTV via a TV cable.
Jio’s own Voice Assistant
The Reliance JioPhone comes preloaded with a digital voice assistant, and there’s a dedicated hardware button to access the voice assistant.
In the live video demo shown at the AGM, the voice assistant seems to be much smarter than the Google Assistant and Apple Siri, because it handled all the commands without a problem. Having said that, it is detecting the voice without issues like other digital assistants. The voice assistant looks quite promising. The Jiophone will also support NFC payment platform, making Jio phone one of the few selected feature phones to have this feature
The Phone comes with emergency message feature. By pressing the ‘5’ key on the device, a message will be sent to the emergency contact you set up earlier in the device.
JioPhone Plans
The company has announced new tariffs exclusively for JioPhone users. Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering completely free services including free voice, unlimited data, and apps for all the JioPhone buyers at just Rs. 153 per month. All the Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan plans can be enjoyed at just Rs. 153 with a JioPhone.
The telecom operator also announced two sachet plans of Rs. 24 and Rs. 54. The Rs. 24 plan gives unlimited benefits for two days, while the Rs. 54 one offers unlimited free services for one week. Jio also promised to bring affordable plans for JioPrime members.
