Reliance Jio has paused bookings of the Jio Phone, with a message on its website saying that "millions" have already pre-booked a unit. The Jio Phone bookings went live at 5:30 pm on Thursday amidst heavy demand, which the Jio website and apps struggled to cope with for the first couple of hours. Things eventually settled down, and many were able to pre-book a Jio Phone by paying Rs. 500.
Now, however, Jio has paused the bookings, with no indication of when the phone will be up for pre-bookings again. "We will inform you when pre-booking [of Jio Phone] resumes," a message on the Reliance Jio website reads.
Jio Phone Bookings Begin Online and Offline: All Your Questions Answered
The Jio Phone is technically free to buy, but you will have to make a Rs. 1,500 refundable security deposit "to avoid potential misuse". The booking fee is Rs. 500, while the remaining Rs. 1,000 needs to be paid when the mobile is delivered.
Delivery dates for JioPhone will depend upon how early you book the device, as Reliance Jio is following the first-come, first-serve rule. The company had earlier said it aims to deliver 5 million units of the handset each week, but the demand expected to be high so there is no surety on when the deliveries would be made.
The 4G VoLTE feature phone has a 2.4-inch display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor under the hood, backed by 512MB of RAM. The operating system keeping the handset running is KAI OS, and the Jio Phone has 4GB of internal storage, with microSD support up to 128GB. You get Wi-Fi support, 2000mAh battery, and NFC for digital payments.
Jio Phone Features, Specifications Officially Confirmed
Unique features of Jio Phone include support for 22 Indian languages, a voice assistant to control certain functions, and the option to mirror content playing on the phone to the TV using a proprietary cable. The first Jio-branded phone will come preloaded with apps such as JioCinema, JioMusic, JioTV, and JioXpressNews, along with popular instant messaging and social networking apps.
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