Jio effect: Airtel may be launching a Rs 2,500 4G smartphone this Diwali

India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel in talks with multiple handset makers to bring a 4G smartphone for a price as low as Rs 2,500-2,700 to take on Reliance Jio.

While Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has announced plans to offer Internet-enabled feature phone for a refundable deposit of Rs 1,500, Airtel is placing its bet on a full-fledged smartphone as it believes people would be ready to shell out a little more to get a loaded handset.

A source familiar with the development said the new 4G smartphone - that will debut around Diwali - will come bundled with Airtel's 4G connection and "attractive" data and voice plan to woo mass market customers.

The planned dual SIM 4G smartphone will sport a four-inch display, dual camera, VoLTE calling and a longer battery life.

The Android handset will come with 1 GB RAM, said the source who wished not to be named.

He, however, did not say when the phones would be available for booking.

Reliance Jio had, in July, announced that formal bookings for Jio Phone would open on August 24, while the phone itself is expected to be available from September.

According to industry estimates, six million bookings have been recorded for JioPhone, that offers free voice calls and sms for life. Unlimited data offering comes for Rs 153 per month.
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Xiaomi Redmi 4 on sale from noon today: Phone's a steal at Rs 6,999

Xiaomi Redmi 4, a budget device from the China-based smartphone manufacturer, will go on sale on Tuesday at 12pm IST via Amazon India and Mi.com. The smartphone will only be available in two variants on launch day-Matte Black and Elegant Gold colour variants.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 price in India starts at Rs. 6,999 for the 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage variant.

The Redmi 4, a made in India smartphone, is the latest addition to Xiaomi’s entry-level Redmi series and succeeds the popular Xiaomi Redmi 3S and 3S Prime, which according to company, is the smartphone most sold in India online with 4 million sales within just 9 months.

The smartphones in Redmi series offer great features at affordable price tags. Each Redmi device offers a massive battery in a sleek and compact body. The Redmi 4 is no different and it carries the legacy forward by offering a very efficient 4,100mAh battery.

Key features:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 Octa-core processor
• 4100mAh battery that can last for 2 days under regular usage
• 13MP PDAF (phase detection autofocus) camera, 5MP, f/2.0 front with Beautify mode
• 5-inch HD display
• Metal body with fingerprint sensor. 2.5D curved glass
• Dual SIM (3-choose-2 hybrid SIM tray)
• LTE and VoLTE support
• Three variants: 2GB RAM + 16GB Flash, 3GB + 32GB, and 4GB + 64GB
• Up to 128GB microSD expandable storage
• Available in Black and Gold colours
• MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0

While the Redmi 4 weighs heavy in terms of specifications, we tested the device to check its capability to judge its worth and here are the observations:

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Next from Jio 'digital mission' -- connected car app, JioTV, music and more

Breaking news - In this fast-moving age, how about a a car controlled by a mobile app or a TV that can store programmes and movies of the last seven days? All these will soon be possible in India, coming out of Reliance Jios stable as a part of its 'digital lifestyle mission.

Is Realince Jio only about 4G connectivity? Its officials beg to differ. "We want people to adapt to the digital lifestyle and we are working hard towards it," said one official while this correspondent took a tour of the Jio Experience Centre -- often called the birthplace for Jio's digital drive.

From SIM activation, metro tickets to connected cars, Jio is trying to give a digital touch to every aspect of life. The Jio Experience Centre in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City on the Thane-Belapur road reveals many gadgets and apps to completely digitise lifestyles in the coming days.

Staring with its SIM connection, Jio has made a scanbox to facilitate preliminary documentation. This scanning process (provided to its retailers), has helped reduce activation time from four-five hours to three-four minutes, officials claim.

At present, Jio is experiencing 600,000 lakh activations per day, on an average.

Changing a mobile phone is generally an irritant as transferring contact details, photos and data is often cumbersome, besides the fear of data loss or theft. For this, Jio has a device, SwitchNWalk, to transfer up to 1 GB data in 45 seconds from one device to another without storing any data. It works for both Android and iOS.(Read More)

RIL plans to invest another Rs. 30,000 crore into Jio Infocomm

Reliance Industries is planning to invest a sum of Rs. 30,000 crore into Reliance Jio Infocomm to further its development and improve its signal strength.

The company in its board meeting held earlier on Friday decided to invest another Rs. 30,000 crore into its telecom unit and sell 600 crore preference shares to raise the amount. These preference shares will be sold through a rights issue and will be nine percent non-cumulative optionally convertible (OCPS) available at Rs. 50 each including a premium of Rs. 40.

RIL had already invested Rs. 1.71 lakh crore while setting up its telecom venture Reliance Jio Infocomm. Ever since its launch on September 5, 2016, Jio has amassed more than 70 million users, owing to its free voice calls and data plans. The subscriber addition rate is said to be one of the highest, thereby, raising Rs. 30,000 crore last year and rights issue in two tranches in January and September.

The telecom major, however, has been suffering from lack of network coverage and call drop, which it now looks to overcome with the new investment.(Read More)

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With a price tag of Rs 1,000, RJio's 4G VoLTE phones can disrupt the market

Latest Business News - Last year, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio disrupted the telecom space with super affordable 4G tariffs. The company seems to be geared to continue its disruptive streak by launching super-affordble feature phones that, apparently, will do away with the need for smartphones.

According to an Economic Times report, Reliance Jio is considering launching 4G VoLTE-ready feature phones that would cost as little as Rs 999. What's more? The phone is said to be able to access Jio’s high-speed 4G internet, the Jio digital store and play music.

The phone, keeping affordable pricing in view, might lack some advanced functionalities, but it is speculated to boot Google’s Android and might have physical keyboard and front-facing camera.

Going by the figures, about 65% of India’s subscriber base still uses feature phones. With the base price of smartphones starting from Rs 3,000, the adoption rate for smartphones has been weak. Reliance Jio is already selling smartphones under the LYF brand with price tags as low as Rs 3,499. These smartphones come bundled with Jio SIMs. Setting a new benchmark, the new feature phone, with a Rs 999 tag, will allow more people to go mobile.

At Rs 1,000 or thereabouts, the phone can potentially disrupt the market.(Read More)