Reliance announces JioPhone, an effectively free 4G feature phone for the masses
The JioPhone will be available to customers
starting August 24. Customers will have to pay INR 1500 ($23) up front, which
will be refunded after three years of using the phone when the phone is
returned, essentially making it free.
The cost of using the device is also
rockbottom. As usual, local calls and SMS over Jio's 4G VoLTE network are
completely free of cost. 4G data will cost INR 153 ($2.38) per month and will
include 500MB 4GB data per day. Exceeding that will reduce the speed to 128Kbps
until it resets next day.
To make purchasing the data plans even
cheaper, customers can choose to purchase a weekly plan for INR 53 or a 2-day
plan for INR 23.
Reliance has also provided a way to access
the company's media streaming services. While the phone itself won't be able to
handle these services directly, you can purchase an optional cable for the
device and plug it into the television. Then you will be able to access
Reliance's entire library of music, movies, and TV shows on the big screen. Access
to the media library requires subscribing to the Jio Prime plans.
The device itself is a basic feature phone
with a 2.4-inch QVGA display and also has NFC functionality for digital
payments.
The phone will be available to beta testers
from August 15 and open for pre-booking from August 24. Pre-bookers will get
the device September onwards. The company also plans to manufacture the
JioPhone locally starting Q4 2017.
Source: gsmarena
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