JioPhone Specifications
The JioPhone comes with a 2.4 inch QVGA display. Adorned by an alphanumeric T9 keypad below the display, the JioPhone is the first feature phone from Jio. It supports 4G LTE and apparently, it is a Jio-only phone. In other words, you can only use a Jio SIM with the JioPhone.
Moving on to the next highlight of the JioPhone, it comes with voice recognition that can make calls, send messages and play movies or shows. Reliance Jio demonstrated it on stage, showing that it’s nearly flawless. How it works in real life remains to be seen, though.
Other features of the phone include a microSD card slot, camera, headphone jack, torchlight and FM Radio.
The JioPhone will also support Digital Payments. According to the company, the phone will get more features like Tap and Pay support via NFC, support for linking Bank account, Jan Dhan account, UPI account and Debit/Credit cards etc will be added via an automatic software upgrade in the future.
JioPhone Rs. 153 Plan Details
Along with the JioPhone, Reliance Jio also announced a new plan for its first feature phone. Jio customers can subscribe to the Rs. 153 plan that offers All Unlimited – Data, Voice, SMS and Jio apps access. At the announcement, Reliance Jio revealed that voice will always be free, in line with all other offerings from the company. The plan comes with unlimited data as well, but the daily limit has been fixed at 0.5GB, some sources suggest. SMSs will also be fixed at 100 messages per day, but this is due to TRAI’s limit and not Reliance Jio.
Pricing and Availability
The JioPhone is effectively free. All Reliance Jio customers can pre-book this 4G LTE feature phone. You will have to pay Rs. 1500 at the time of purchase though, but it is a fully refundable deposit that can be claimed at the end of 3 years by returning the phone to Jio. The JioPhone ‘friendly trials’ start on August 15th, coinciding with the 70th Indian Independance Day. Existing Jio customers can pre-book their unit starting on August 24th using the MyJio app or by visiting a Jio retailer.
