JioPhone

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JioPhone ‘Made in India’ VoLTE feature phone launched, effectively free with refundable security deposit

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Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of the Reliance Industries at the company’s 40th AGM today announced that Reliance Jio has crossed 125 million customers in 10 months of launch, adding 7 customers every second on average and has more than 100 million paying Jio Prime customers.

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He also introduced JioPhone, the company’s first VoLTE feature phone that is ‘Made in India’. The phone has a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, Alphanumeric keypad, 4-way Navigation key, microSD slot, rear camera, torch light, FM Radio, comes with 22 major Indian languages and has voice commands call someone, reject a call, browse internet, open apps and more.

It comes pre-loaded with Jio Music, Jio Cinema and Jio TV. You can long press ‘5’ in the keypad to call emergency number so your location including GPS data goes to your emergency contact. It also has NFC support, and tap-and-pay payments through UPI, credit and debit cards will be enabled through software update. Hope we will know the complete specs such as WiFi hotspot and other details soon.

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JioPhone also comes with separate Dhan Dhana Dhan Rs. 153 per month plan that offers unlimited voice and data (500mb/day).

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There is a new JioPhone TV pack for Rs. 309 that lets you watch Jio TV on any TV, including non-smart TVs, says Jio. There are Rs. 54, a week and Rs. 24 2-day sachet packs for those who can’t go for monthly packs.

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The JioPhone is effectively free, but to avoid misuse, the company is collecting Rs. 1500 as a security deposit, which will be refunded after 3 years.

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The JioPhone beta testing will begin from August 15th and the pre-booking for everyone through My Jio app and Jio retailer will be available from August 24th and shipping will begin in September in first-come-first serve basis. Jio expects to roll out 5 million JioPhones a week and the phones will be ‘Made in India’ from Q4 2017.


Source: http://www.fonearena.com/blog/22562...ly-free-with-refundable-security-deposit.html
 
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LOL, these guys' excuses are terrific! security deposit to prevent 'misuse'.

But otherwise, they just added an additional two fingers to the competition's discomfort...

I'm guessing they won't allow existing numbers? New sims only?

And truly unlimited data? Sounds too good to be true. Maybe there are hotspot restrictions?
 
^^ Yeah, i'm definitely expecting an FUP.

Unless it doesn't have any kind of tethering/hotspot. In which case people can use only so much data on a feature phone, so it doesn't matter anyway.
 
  • Beta launch on August 15 th
  • Pre booking starts from 24 th August
  • Planning to deliver 50 lakh phones per month

  • Refundable deposit of 1,500 returned only after 3 years (no matter when you feel to return the phone )
  • Jio TV, Cinema and Music app available ( other apps ? )
  • Jio Phone to TV cable needs ₹ 309 plan
  • Can connect to old CRT TV as well as LCD/LED TV
  • Jio wants to replace debit / credit cards with Jio Pay
  • NFC support will be added later
  • Support 22 major Indian languages
  • Has voice command support
  • Supports voice command in Hindi as well ( as per demo )
  • Could support voice commands in other Indian languages ( no confirmation, yet )
  • Has GPS and emergency alert by long pressing 5 key

₹153 - One month ( 28 days ? ) free voice, data ( and SMS ? )

₹24 - for 2 days

₹54 - 1 week
 
WiFi tethering would definitely be blocked. This can be a good device for using as replacement to landline and set top box assuming one does not watch more than around 4 hours of TV a day (duration was mentioned in AGM, IIRC.). If this can use home broadband, set top boxes can be done away with.
 
That streaming thing on TV will be such a failure. You won't be able to use wifi to stream jio content and its 4g cannot even stream 360p constantly.
 
TheGreatOne said:
That streaming thing on TV will be such a failure. You won't be able to use wifi to stream jio content and its 4g cannot even stream 360p constantly.
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It is supposed to be a phone for Tier 2/3 cities. CRT TV's have very big pixels. DVD quality would be more than enough for TV. DVD's were 360p I think.
 
I think output could be 720p. I am guessing this because, during AGM, first it was said that for large screen TVs. Later there was mentioned of CRT. So may be 20"+ screen is referred as large screen TVs. Just my $0.02
 
JioPhone at 'effective zero price' aims to save licence fee: COAI

COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said the Jio's announcement is a bundled offer and the plan to sell it at an "effective zero price" is a "clever marketing position" as the move will help the company save licence fee and other government levies.

"Previously, when you bundled handset along with services the 14 or 11 per cent that an operator paid as licence fee got imposed on handsets. So as an operator one can't compete with a handset seller because handset seller is not required to pay this extra levy of 11-14 per cent," Mathews said.
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He knows how to escape from taxes and to nullify taxes he will bring a new laws. Good Lord!
 
swatkats said:
JioPhone at 'effective zero price' aims to save licence fee: COAI



He knows how to escape from taxes and to nullify taxes he will bring a new laws. Good Lord!
Click to expand...
The comment does not make too much sense.
The "effectively zero price" is a marketing gimmick as due to inflation, today's Rs.1500 will not be equivalent to Rs.1500 that will be refunded 3 years later.
And license fee and spectrum fee are charged on operator revenue which in this case means the Rs.153x12 that it will be getting from users.

Also recently CAG has concluded that AVoId and other operators have fudged their balance sheets using discounts(e.g Rs.100 corporate discount for Postpaid bills). So these operators have cost the govt around 4k crore loss. If this withstands legal challenge then the Rs.1500 security fee may also come under revenue.
 
Honestly I feel a monthly minimum guarantee of 150 rupees for a 1500 phone is too much . I have WiFi at home and only use my mobile data plan for what's app text messages and emails on mobile at work , I may be alone here as I find the 150 rs monthly fee steep for my kind of minimum usage .
 
For cities where you can have decent broadband connections, this will sound steep. But for tier 2/3 and possibly villages, this can be single device for entire home for calling and internet. I think target audience is same.
 
For someone with feature phone, they spend around ₹ 100 already. A couple of 10s more won't matter to them, if that gives a real upgrade.
 
vyral_143 said:
WiFi tethering would definitely be blocked. This can be a good device for using as replacement to landline and set top box assuming one does not watch more than around 4 hours of TV a day (duration was mentioned in AGM, IIRC.). If this can use home broadband, set top boxes can be done away with.
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Rather than WiFI tethering, the phone will be SIM locked.[DOUBLEPOST=1500823138][/DOUBLEPOST]Just saw the entire video, where the ambanis and kiran were showcasing it. My gut feel is that the demo is a fake. The phone could have the capabilities, but something feels off about the presentation and body language. Looks like the Intel DX11 IvyBridge demo.
 
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Does the 3-4 hours of tv per day refer to the 1GB daily allowance or something else?
 
Hehe, going by the response on this forum itself, i don't think anyone is interested in spending 1500 bucks on a fake-free phone which will just call and sms. No whatsapp is the killer i think for most people. and you have to pay extra for anything like tv cable and probably pack too, so it makes more sense just to get a cheap smartphone.
 
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