MediaTek[1] at its Curtain-Raiser for 2018 event in New Delhi on Tuesday revealed its partnership with Reliance Jio[2] for developing an affordable smartphone running Android Oreo (Go edition)[3]. The new smartphone is expected to sit alongside the Jio Phone[4], which was launched[5] in the country in last July with an effective price of Rs. 1,500. Details about the price and availability of the new Android Go[6] smartphone are yet to be released.
At the event, MediaTek confirmed that it has MT6739, MT6739, and MT6580 are its latest SoCs to support the Android Go platform. The chipmaker had announced its collaboration with Google[7] for supporting Android Oreo (Go Edition) last month and stated that the first Android Oreo (Go edition) smartphones powered by MediaTek processors will be launched in global markets by the first quarter of this year. This may be the timeline for the launch of the Reliance Jio Android Go phone as well.
Google announced[8] Android Oreo (Go edition) in India last month. The new platform is the lightweight version of Android 8.1 and is primarily designed to make entry-level devices "fully-functioning" smartphones. MediaTek at its New Delhi event showcased that its MT6739 SoC enables features such as dual camera, face unlock, and dual 4G VoLTE even on the highly optimised Android Oreo (Go Edition). Also, the new processing chip is touted to offer performance-efficient results even with 512MB and 1GB RAM options. We can expect the Reliance Jio Android Go smartphone to be such a basic offering, with a budget price tag.
In addition to Reliance Jio's interest towards Android Oreo (Go edition), Micromax recently proclaimed[9] that...