Jio Phone, New Jio Plans, and More to Expect from Reliance AGM 2017

Reliance AGM 2017, where the focus will be on the eagerly awaited Jio phone, is set to start in less than an hour. After telecom, Chairman Mukesh Ambani is expected to upend another industry - this time, it's mobile phones. In fact, the Jio mobile phone is what the company also needs to step of out of the slump in user base growth that it went into in April. However, the mobile handset will not be the only key consumer-centric announcement at the Reliance Jio AGM 2017. Wondering what else will Ambani may announce for the customers apart from the Jio 4G phone? Take a look:

Reliance Jio 4G feature phone price and specifications

The Jio 4G VoLTE feature phone is expected to be an ultra-affordable 4G VoLTE-enabled handset without a touchscreen. As a 4G VoLTE handset, it will work on Jio’s network, and will reportedly have features such as Internet tethering, video calling, and access to Jio content, for example movies, and TV shows.

Widely expected to be priced at Rs. 500 for the public, the handset will be subsidised, and feature a Firefox OS-based software (KAI OS) and an app marketplace (KaiOS Plus). The Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE feature phone is even said to have a digital voice assistant with support for Indian languages. It is also said to come with a cable that will let users connect it to the TV to watch content on the JioCinema and JioTV apps on the big screen.

Reliance Jio Feature Phone Manufacturing Talks in 'Final Stages', Says Intex

As for the hardware specifications, the Rs. 500 Jio mobile 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. Reports also say users will get 2000mAh battery, FM radio, and Bluetooth 4.1 + LE with the handset. Intex Technologies has told Gadgets 360 it is final stage of talks to manufacture the Jio phone, while other sources have confirmed that the company is busy pitching its software platform to app and game developers.

Live stream of Reliance Jio AGM, which starts at 11am

Jio plans to become more affordable?

While new Jio plans were launched earlier this month, the company may not be done with those just yet. New Jio plans after July may kick in if the rumours are to be believed. Reliance Jio is expected to launch new plans priced around Rs. 80-90; however, these may be available only for those who purchase the Jio phone, and not for existing users, but there’s no confirmation yet in this regard.

Jio broadband

Jio is also expected to launch a broadband service – named JioFiber – soon, which might just be announced at the Reliance AGM as well. The service is already under testing right now in six cities, though the company said it has plans to expand the trial to more cities. A flyer for the Jio broadband service says users will get 100GB data and 100Mbps speed with connection, and the service will be free for the first three months. However, they will have to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs. 4,500. With Jio broadband service, the company will be able to upend the world of broadband network, just like it did with mobile networks.

Other announcements
Since launching operations, Jio has been breaking records, whether it is becoming the fastest to 100 million users or becoming the world’s biggest data network. We can expect the operator to announce more such statistics at the Reliance AGM with focus on data in the last six months, since its services went paid.

We discussed the impact of Nokia and Jio on the feature phones market in India on our weekly technology podcast Orbital, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below.