The long-rumoured[1] Rs. 500 Jio feature phone[2] is in the news once again, as images, specifications, and new features have leaked online. The handset is expected to go official on July 21, when the Reliance Industries Annual General Meeting will be held. With a 4G VoLTE-enabled Jio feature phone, Reliance Jio[3] would be able to tap the feature phone market, which has been out of its reach because of the lack of low-end handsets supporting the 4G VoLTE network in India. Among the notable features of the handset are the custom OS, and support for Internet tethering.
Jio feature phone specifications, features
According to a report by TechPP[4], the Jio feature phone will be sold under the Lyf brand; the company already sells smartphones under the Lyf name. As rumoured previously, the feature phone is said to have a 2.4-inch colour display, 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage, up to 128GB microSD card support, dual SIM functionality (Nano SIM + Standard SIM), 2-megapixel rear camera, and VGA front camera. There’s also a 2000mAh battery, FM radio, Bluetooth 4.1 + LE, and video calling.
On the software side, the Jio feature phone is said to come with 'KAI OS', a customised version of the HTML5-based Firefox OS. It will reportedly have an app store named 'KaiOS Plus'. It will also have an integrated voice assistant with support for Indian languages. In addition, a report by Telecom Talk[5] claims there will be provision for Wi-Fi tethering too, meaning a user will be able to connect multiple devices using the handset’s Internet connection; the TechPP report, on the other hand, says the handset will have app-specific USB tethering.
The leaked images only show the...