Top 10 features of the Jio Phone
The Jio Phone is here. It has been rumored, leaked and talked about a lot and now it has been launched by Reliance Jio. The Jio Phone is a feature phone with very limited smart phone capabilities. In fact, I would call it a cross over between a smart phone and a feature phone. Here are the top 10 features of the Jio Phone. Read on to know all the details of the Jio Phone.
#1. It is effectively free
The mobile is priced at Rs 1500. But the money is like a security deposit. It is fully refundable after 3 years on the return of the used phone. Now the question is, will this feature phone last for 3 years? Will Jio give the money back if the mobile is broken or in a poor condition? Even if they don’t give the money, the user would get back 1500 in the form of Value added services.
#2. Special Jio Plans to start at Rs 24
Reliance Jio Phone users get a special tariff or Rs 153 per month for unlimited calls, SMS and 1 GB of Data per day. The user can also recharge on the weekly or daily basis. Weekly recharge for the same plan would cost Rs 54 and Rs 24 would give them 2 days of data and calls.
#3 Sim Locked (Dual SIM)
The mobile would support Dual SIM. But the SIM 1 has to be Jio SIM and any other SIM would not work. The second slot can be used for other SIM, but only for network calls and not for data.
#4 Jio Apps
The mobile will come loaded with all of JIO apps, giving access to all the media content for the users. The mobile has a small 2.4-inch screen, but it has a bunch of apps in it including WhatsApp and Facebook, pre-loaded,
#5 Forked Firefox OS
The mobile, reportedly, runs on a forked (highly modified version) FireFox OS. It has 4 GB of internal storage and just 512 MB of RAM. The OS functionality has been limited to support the minimal hardware. It is not yet clear if the mobile would have some sort of app store.
#6 Voice controls
Jio Phone would support voice controls. You can dial a number or ask for some information, just like Siri or Google Assistant, but with limited functions. I remember using such features on my old Nokia mobiles. But we will have to wait to see if that works on the Jio Phone flawlessly.
#7 NFC support
The mobile has NFC sensor hardware, but it is not enabled. An OTA update would enable the NFC once the NFC payment systems are functional in India.
#8 24 India Language
The JIO Phone is a phone for the masses and it supports 24 regional Indian languages. Typing and reading in Indian languages would be supported on the Jio Phone.
#9 Jio Cable
The mobile comes with a cable which can be used to connect it to any TV. LED or CRT or any TV can be connected to the mobile for casting. But you will have to be on the 309 plan to watch Jio content on a big screen.
#10 SOS Button
Emergency feature on smart phones is a need of the hour and JIO Phone has it too. It can be configured with a few numbers and pressing the “5” thrice will send a panic alert message to all the numbers. The mobile does not have GPS, so it may not send GPS coordinates.
Apart from these features, the mobile has all the basic features like calendar, calculator, FM Radio, Torch Light, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc… Jio Phone will be available to pre-book from 24th of August and will be available to buy from September on a first come first serve basis.
Full Specifications of Jio Phone
