New Jio featured phone launched at price of Rs 0/-. Know the details of new strike of the company.

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani today announced the JioPhone, a long rumoured 4G featured phone that he said will deliver “digital independence” to all Indians. The handset, introduced as “India ka Smartphone” and launched at an “effective price” of Rs. 0 (though buyers will have to shell out a refundable, upfront deposit of Rs. 1,500 for the device). JioPhone will be crucial for the company in tapping the estimated 50 crore feature phone users who have not been able to join the Jio 4G bandwagon because of the high costs associated with smartphones. Here are some important points associated with the newly launched phone –

1. The JioPhone is free, but you must deposit Rs 1,500 (fully refundable after 3 years). (Full details of the JioPhone)
2. JioPhone users will get unlimited data at Rs 153 per month, entirely 4G, and all voice calls and SMS will be free. (Full details of JioPhone plans)
3. Testing starts August 15, pre-booking for the phone starts August 24, will be available in September on first-come first-serve basis. Jio says it aims to make 5 million.
4. The JioPhone of course comes with Internet connectivity, follows voice commands, and recognises 22 Indian languages.
5. Access to Jio services like JioTV, JioMovies, and others will be included.

Although Reliance Jio launched in India in September, the company’s offering has been restricted to smartphone users as it is a 4G only network, and to make calls, a phone has to support the VoLTE technology, which is usually not found on basic phones. The company aims to change that with the JioPhone, which comes with 4G VoLTE support. The JioPhone will include access to apps like JioCinema, JioTV, and JioMusic.

The phone will be available from August 15 – for testing, in beta, and will be up for pre-booking from August 24 from the MyJio app and Jio offline stores. Users who pre-book will be able to buy the phone from September, on a first come first serve basis. It will come with a couple of different data packs.
JioPhone plans.

Users can either pay Rs. 153 per month, for which they will get free voice and SMS, and unlimited data (high-speed data FUP is 500MB per day), along with Jio apps. They can also choose to pay Rs. 309 per month to get all this, plus the support for mirroring your screen on a TV, via a cable that can even be plugged into CRT TVs. After three years, you can return the phone, and get a full refund on the deposit. Aside from that, the company will also have two sachet packs, at Rs. 24 for two days, or Rs. 54 per week, for users who don’t want to commit to Rs. 153 as an upfront payment.

The company will also be adding NFC support to the JioPhone to allow tap and pay solutions with a linked bank account, Akash Ambani said. This will also support UPI payments, and debit and credit card payments, similar to Samsung Pay, he said. The company confirmed the phone will have a 2.4-inch display, panic button, expandable storage, and FM radio, among other features. Key JioPhone specifications leaked before the launch included dual SIM functionality, 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera, FM radio, and Bluetooth connectivity. The JioPhone has also been tipped to come with a 4GB of internal storage, and 512MB of RAM.

According to Mr. Mukesh Ambani, data is the oxygen of digital life, and no Indian should suffer because of unaffordability. Sadly the vast majority of mobile users are starved of data. This unfairness must end, and Jio is committing to ending it today, he further added.

Jio’s network continues to rapidly expand. In the next 12 months, company aims to cover 99 percent of the population. Jio intends India’s 4G coverage to be more than its 2G coverage. To meet the need for device affordability, the company realised it would have to release a 4G VoLTE feature phone, as even an entry level smartphone costs between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 4,500.