Highlights
- Jio Phone bookings online and offline start on August 24
- JioPhone delivery to start in September
- The phone can be prebooked via MyJio app and offline Jio stores
On August 15, the Jio Phone will be out in the market for beta testing. However, the Jio Phone beta trials will be for a limited set of people only, and most of us will have to wait for the public release. The Jio Phone booking date is August 24, and the handset will be delivered starting September on first come, first serve basis. The August 24 Jio Phone registrations will see a lot of rush, so you need to be quick in making the pre-order, whether online or offline. If you are curious about the registration
Details you need to fill to remain updated on Jio Phone bookings
Jio Phone price
Jio Phone is free, according to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani. Nevertheless, it requires the user to make an upfront payment of Rs. 1,500, which is refundable after three years. Regarding the Rs. 1,500 security deposit, he had said at the AGM, "The security deposit is necessary to avoid any potential misuse of data."
Mukesh Ambani at Jio Phone launch event on July 21
Jio Phone specifications, features
To recap on the Jio Phone, the entry-level phone will come with unlimited voice, data, and texts. Customers will have to recharge with a Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan monthly pack of Rs. 153, which will give them free voice, texts, unlimited data (high-speed data capped at 500MB per day), and free access to Jio apps for 28 days. At the 40th AGM, Ambani also announced an accessory "Jio Phone TV-Cable" that will allow users to connect their phones with any kind of television sets. For connecting phone to TV, users will have to recharge with Rs. 309 per month pack for large screen.
Talking about Jio Phone features, the device comes with an alphanumeric keypad, 2.4-inch display with QVGA display, microSD card slot, torchlight, FM radio. It will be a single SIM handset that works only on 4G VoLTE networks. The phone supports voice commands and 22 Indian languages, and has a panic button as well. A short demo of the voice command feature on Jio Phone was showcased during the keynote presentation where the device was able to play music via Jio Music. Additionally, the handset will also come with a panic button that is enabled when long-pressing the number 5. Moreover, the Jio phone will come with advanced NFC support for digital payments that will be rolled out to users via OTA software upgrade. Qualcomm and Spreadtrum have confirmed their chips power the new feature phone.
The phone does not have WhatsApp supportat the moment, though we did catch glimpse of a web browser, Facebook, and PM Modi's Mann Ki Baat broadcast during the unveiling at the Reliance AGM.
According to analysts, Reliance Jio aims to reach another 100 million users with its new feature phone; this will be in addition to the 125 million users that already use the Jio telecom network. Moreover, the 4G VoLTE-enabled feature phone will completely change the low-end phone segment and bring about a new era of innovation in this segment. On the other hand, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has termed the Rs. 0 pricing a clever marketing move by the company and attempt to save government levies like licence fee.
The Jio Phone looks awesome but is there any catch? We discussed that on our weekly technology podcast Orbital, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below.
