RELIANCE JIO TO LAUNCH INDIA's FIRST 5G SMARTPHONE, JioPhone NEXT -

Mumbai, 24 June 2021: Reliance Jio announced a new smartphone in partnership with Google. The new smartphone JioPhone Next was unveiled at the 44th Reliance Industries AGM. The phone is expected to be extremely affordable and will sit below current entry-level smartphones.

The new affordable smartphones will be available starting 10 September 2021. The launch price has been kept under wraps but is expected to be released ahead of the launch date.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani stated that the 5G network being developed by Reliance Jio has achieved data speeds of 1 Gbps. The telecom service provider recently received necessary regulatory approvals as well as trial spectrum for 5G field trials.

Ambani stated that – “As I speak to you, the entire 5G standalone network has been installed in our data centres across the nation and also at our trial sites in Navi Mumbai. We’re confident of being the first to launch a full-fledged 5G service”.

The JioPhone Next Features includes:

The new smartphone will be based on an optimized OS that is leveraged from Android and Play Store with features that are built specifically for JioPhone Next.

The new smartphone has been developed in order to expand the reach of the internet to new users in the country. The phone is expected to provide the user with a wide choice of regional languages of India. The phone will also get the latest Android features and security updates.

The new smartphone will be based on an optimized OS that is leveraged from Android and Play Store with features that are built specifically for JioPhone Next.

Users will also be able to translate the font on the screen to their preferred language. Additionally, the phone can even read back the font to the user.

Read Aloud and Translate Now are now OS-wide features that will work with any text on their phone screen, including web pages, apps, messages, and even photos. Using App Actions, people can utilize their Google Assistant to deliver a great experience with many of the Jio apps on this device. In addition to asking for the latest cricket scores or a weather update, users can also ask Google Assistant to play music on JioSaavn or check their balance on My Jio.

Camera: Google and Jio has optimized the phone’s Camera module for better photos and videos. The camera is expected to get an HDR mode that brings out wider color and dynamic range in photos. The phone will feature a single camera lens on the rear panel.

Google has also partnered with Snap to integrate Indian-specific Snapchat Lenses directly into the phone’s camera.

The device will get software updates over the air. It will get Google Play Protect built in for protection against malware. With the Google Play Store access, users will have access to millions of apps.

Earlier, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai joined the AGM virtually to announce that Reliance Jio will join forces with Google Cloud for a 5G collaboration. Under this collaboration, Reliance will move its core retail business to Google Cloud’s infrastructure, he added.

“It’ll help more than a billion Indians connect to faster and better internet, support businesses in their digital transformation and help Jio build new services in sector like health, education and more, laying a foundation for next phase of India’s digitisation,” Pichai said.

“As part of this collaboration, Reliance is also shift its retail core businesses to Google Cloud’s infrastructure. They’ll be able to take advantage of Google’s AI a and machine learning, e-commerce and demand forecasting offers. Harnessing the reliability and performance of Google Cloud will enable these businesses to scale up as needed to respond to customer demand,” the Google CEO added.