Jio Phone Review: A “Smart” Feature Phone without WhatsApp

Jio Phone

Reliance Jio recently launched a new phone primarily to support the Jio cellular service and making the India digital. Jio Phone is a feature phone with 4G VoLTE connectivity support so a person who cannot afford a smartphone can also use all the features of Reliance Jio service. The price of the Jio Phone is Rs. 1,500 which people will get back once they return the phone after three years of use. Well, the booking for the Jio Phone has already been closed, but soon the phone will come back into the stock. Let’s see how this feature phone can give all the features of Reliance Jio service to every Indian.

Unboxing and Specifications

The box in which the Jio Phone came in, reminded me of the old days when we get excited when we see a packed feature phone box. The box first has the Jio Phone itself on one side; the bo also got the wall charger (no loose data cable) and some documents. The battery was already fitted inside the phone right out of the box.

Jio Phone

The Jio Phone got a 22.4 inch TFT screen with QVGA (320 X 240) resolution. The phone runs on a dual-core processor and 512 MB RAM. The internal storage is 4GB which is expandable up to 128GB. The phone comes pre-installed with KaiOS, made by Firefox OS especially for feature phones, recently running on selected devices.

The phone has a rear camera 2MP with video recording feature; the phone is also equipped with a front-facing 0.3MP VGA camera. For connectivity, the phone has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 with BLE, GPS, and NFC for payments. For a better battery backup, Jio Phone has a big 2000mAh Li-ion removable battery.

Design

Jio Phone looks precisely like a feature phone which we used to see in people’s hands back in 2006. There is a display, Jio branding logo, the primary microphone, and the alphanumeric keypad. The back of the phone has the camera, the loudspeaker, and the LYF branding. The top side of the phone has the torch LED, bottom side has the 3.5 mm audio port, and the right side has the micro USB port for charging and a little notch to remove the back cover.

Removing the back cover reveals the NFC module stuck under the rear cover. It also reveals the battery and under the battery are the SIM and microSD card slot. The phone is all made out of plastic, and the keys are made of some rubber material. Overall the phone is sturdy and a bit heavy all because of the large 2000 mAh battery.

KaiOS

Jio Phone comes with the KaiOS 2.0 pre-installed with plenty of features but will limitations. The interface looks like a smart operating system using navigation keys and alphanumeric keypad. There are more features than you actually need in a feature phone; shortcuts, voice control, alert center, brightness control and many more.

Jio Phone

Jio Phone is filled with all the apps which come pre-installed from Jio like JioTV, JioCinema, JioMusic, JioGames, and JioShare. Except for these apps, there is no way to install more apps like Facebook or WhatsApp; there is no app store either. Overall the interface is simple and clear for an average usage, but settings menu is a bit off for an average person who is not that much into tech.

Performance and Features

Well, there is nothing much in this smart feature phone to actually “Perform, ” but the phone is quite simple. It has features which we usually see on a smartphone with an intelligent OS, but because it is a feature phone, it is straightforward to use. The battery backup is not very good, but it will provide you a full day backup with full charged battery.

Jio Phone

Talking about features, Jio Phone got Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot which supports up to 128GB, NFC for JioPay and 2000 mAh battery. Every function works just fine, and the working is also similar to the features we see on an Android smartphone. Except for the Wi-Fi, it works similarly too, but it lacks the Hotspot feature, you cannot share the Jio 4G LTE internet with other devices using Wi-Fi hotspot.

Pros

  • Got Wi-Fi connectivity for internet
  • Large battery with long battery backup

Cons

  • No extra apps to install

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Verdict

Reliance Jio Phone is not just a feature phone; it can do stuff which a feature phone can’t do. And one of that feature is free Live TV via JioTV app and using a media cable; the TV can be projected to a more prominent screen (media cable sold separately). Overall the Jio Phone is a perfect feature phone and does most of the things which you need in today’s life. But again, you can only use it with the bundled SIM that comes inside the box. Also, Jio is expected to launch a new version of Jio Phone with Android OS later in 2018.

About the author

amit rahi

Amit Rahi

He is a tech worm who always keeps an eye on the latest tech news. He is a master at Android and Windows “how to” articles. He knows every single bit of Android OS. You will always find him playing PC games, reading tech news, flashing custom ROMs to Android phones and blogging most of the time. At PC-Tablet, he is responsible to update the readers with latest tips, tricks, & hacks to take the most out of their gadgets.