JioPhone pre-booking deadline nears; here’s how you can get one

Key Highlights:

• JioPhone to be available for user beta testing from August 15.
• Pre-booking of the JioPhone will start from August 24.
• Five million Jiophones to be available for sale per week.

Reliance Jio’s latest offering the 4G VoLTE enabled feature phones – JioPhone is expected to be available for sale by early September.

Those who want to get their hands on the phone first can pre-book the phone which will begin on August 24.

"We are targeting to have five million Jiophones available every week," Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani said.

The JioPhone will be available for user beta testing from August 15, 2017.

The ‘effective’ price of the phone is zero; however Ambani said that an initial security deposit will be taken from customers of Rs 1500.

And after a period of three years, JioPhone users can return the phone and will be returned their initial security deposits.

"To avoid potential misuse we will collect a 100% refundable security deposit of Rs 1500 which will be refunded after three years," Ambani added.

The phone will be available for pre-booking via the MyJio app or by visiting a Jio retailer from August 24, a report by DiscountWallas said.

JioPhone Specifications

The phone is speculated to have single SIM slot which may support only Jio SIMs and Qualcomm and Spreadtrum chips, a report by Gadgets 360 said last week.

The phone can operate voice commands without headphones plugged into it.

It has a calling and sending SMS via voice command feature. The Jio apps like – JioMusic and JioCinema are pre-loaded on the phone.

Like all feature phones, JioPhone will have an alphanumeric keyboard. It has a 4-way navigation GPS and an additional SD card slot.

The phone supports 22 Indian languages and will allow users to speak to the phone as well as use the keyboard.

Other features of the phone include microphone and speaker, headphone jack, ringtones, torchlight and FM radio.

Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan plan for JioPhone users will be Rs 153 per month and will allow for unlimited data usage.

The company announced Rs 24 - two-day sachet and Rs 54 - weekly sachets data plan as well.

Live TV and movies can be projected from JioPhone to TV via Jio cable which will be available for Rs 309 pack, Ambani added.