JioPhone is a feature handset with smartphone-like capabilities: Know more

After disrupting the telecom market with ultra-affordable tariff plans, Reliance Jio Infocomm on July 21 unveiled a feature phone with smartphone-like capabilities, effectively priced free. The analysts believe that the JioPhone would bring another wave of disruption but this time it will impact both, telecom incumbents and feature phone manufacturers.

With the launch of first feature phone with 4G long-term evolution (LTE) ready capabilities, Reliance Jio aims to bring 500 million feature phone users of the country to its network, which is driven by data and is the only 4G only network in the country.

While the JioPhone performs all the basic tasks of a feature phone – voice calls and SMS, Reliance Jio has integrated smartphone-like capabilities such as Voice Over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) for voice call, Jio apps for videos and music, and Jio chat for instant messaging etc. that becomes the key differentiating factor of the Jio Phone.


Let's take a look at the smartphone-like features of Jio Phone:

High definition voice calls 

The Jio Phone is a first LTE-ready feature phone that comes with unlimited calling bundled with all the tariff plans. The phone uses VoLTE feature – voice calls using data packets – that allows high definition voice calls. The high definition voice call feature is still not available in all the smartphones and feature phones usually stick to 2G network for voice calls. Therefore, the feature is a first for any feature phone.

Voice commands 

The Jio Phone can be operated using voice commands. The voice command feature is not limited to calling and messages but the Jio apps can also be operated using the app – music playback and video playback.

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