In the 40th AGM of Reliance Industries held today, Mukesh Ambani announced India Ka Smartphone, the JioPhone. The meeting recalled the company’s growth over the 4 decades from a textile brand “Vimal” and the triumph they achieved with Jio. Jio is now the fastest growing company with 125 million customers which made India the number one data consuming country, globally.
Coming back to the feature phone, Jio directors, Akash and Isha briefed its features. The JioPhone is a made in India innovation by Reliance Engineers, with 100 percent 4G LTE capabilities. It looks just like any feature phone but with 4G VoLTE capabilities. Using this you can make voice and video calls in super high-quality and clarity.
JioPhone has 22 major Indian language support and comes with voice command. Currently, the voice commands works in Hindi and English, the user can initiate a phone call, SMS, or a Google search. For search results, the phone will read out the results for the user’s convenience. The phone comes preloaded with all Jio suite apps including Jio Music, Jio Cinema, Jio TV. The Jio apps can also be accessed with voice commands to stream music or watch a TV show.
The phone can be programmed to send a distress message to an emergency contact with the press of a button (numeric keypad 5). The message content will include person’s location and GPS coordinates, and in future, they intend to add local police and other services to this feature. JioPhone also packs the NFC hardware which will be activated later in a software update. Once enabled, you can use NFC to make ‘Tap and Pay‘ digital payments by linking bank, Jan-Dhan, UPI, credit or debit cards. The phone can also mirror its screen contents to a TV screen with an add-on accessory cable. This allows you to stream Jio TV and Jio Cinema content on to your television.
JioPhone Specification and Features
- Compact Design, Alphanumeric Keypad, 4-way Navigation
- 2.4-inch QVGA display
- 4G LTE, VoLTE, NFC
- Voice command button, Microphone and Speaker, Headphone Jack,
- Call History, Phone Contact, Preloaded Jio Apps – Jio TV, Jio Cinema, Jio Music
- Ringtones, Torchlight, FM Radio, micro SD Card Slot for expandable storage
- Battery and Charger, Accessory TV Cable
Coming to the tariffs and pricing of the phone. The JioPhone costs you Rs 0, yes you heard it right, all you have pay is a three-year refundable security deposit of Rs 1500. Friendly trials of this feature phone start on August 15th, 2017, while commercial launch will happen later with pre-orders beginning 24th August 2017. The feature phone users can opt for Rs 153 per month affordable unlimited data tariff plan. You will get unlimited voice calls, unlimited SMS and unlimited data benefits with FUP speed limit of 0.5GB per day. Or the TV accessory cable package similar to Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan Offer costing Rs 309 per month with daily FUP 1GB. Reliance Jio has also launched two affordable sachet plans. This includes the weekly plan for Rs 54 and a 2-day plan for Rs 24.
RIL 40th AGM Highlights
- Fastest growing company in the world – 125 million customers.
- Jio made India the number 1 data consuming the country, globally.
- India’s 4G coverage will be more than 2G coverage.
- Jio launched India ka Intelligent Smartphone: JioPhone
- Disrupted tariffs – Made voice calls free for 50 Cr feature phone users.
- Buy a JioPhone for Rs 0, but with an initial security deposit of Rs 1500 (refundable after 36 months or 3 years).
- JioPhone plan – Rs 153 a month for unlimited data benefits, voice calls, and SMS.
- JioPhone TV-cable and pack Rs 309 for watching on TV. Two Sachet plans of Rs 54 – week and Rs 24 – for 2 days.
The JioPhone will make the 2g phones obsolete. Features like Tap and Pay and screen mirroring of Jio TV/Cinema will become a tough competition to its counterparts. With the ever-increasing 4G coverage the company’s new affordable feature phone will be a boon to the public. You can register your interest on Jio.com. The company plans for world-class optic fiber connectivity to homes and public places and will be the next big monetisation opportunity for jio. Hope you enjoyed the write-up, Peace!