At this point, it’s pretty clear that Reliance Jio plans to launch a feature phone soon. The company’s annual general meeting (AGM) is scheduled for Friday, a good day for the phone’s launch. The Lyf Jio feature phone is rumored to be internet ready, and the price will be between Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,500. At that price, it will appeal to feature phone buyers, a significant portion of the population in India. Intex and Reliance Jio manufacture the Jio feature phone and can subsidize it to keep it below Rs. 1,500.
That’s not all; Gadgets 360 has some exclusive details regarding the phone for you. Several developers have told Gadgets 360 that the Jio feature phone will run KaiOS based on a fork of Mozilla’s Firefox OS. This means you can see apps with HTML5. Sources have confirmed that the feature phone will have an app store and that Jio has approached developers looking for apps for the platform. Gadgets 360 understands that Jio is considering remotely enabling apps and services on a user’s Lyf Jio feature phone, which it reportedly aims to sell over 20 crore units.
We also have an in-depth analysis that should help you understand why Reliance Jio’s entry into the feature phone market makes a lot of sense. This is the piece you need to read if you want to know why the company is entering that market and what the feature phone market is like in India, which is much better than most smartphone users think.
Meanwhile, the Jio vs. other telco debate continued in the TRAI open house. The bigger theme was that Jio asked for interconnection charges to be abolished, while other telcos said it accounts for a significant portion of their revenues in rural areas.
Here’s everything else that has made the news in the world of technology today.
Xiaomi’s 3rd Mi Anniversary Sale BeginsXiaomi is celebrating its third anniversary since the company arrived in India by offering a bunch of cool discounts. The 3rd Mi Anniversary deals are spread across Xiaomi’s website, Flipkart and Amazon India. The values include smartphones and several other products from the company. There are also some cool card cashback offers in case you’re interested in that kind of discount, the highlight being several products up for grabs at Re. 1.
What is Xiaomi news complete without information about an upcoming smartphone? The upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5X is the latest smartphone that has been leaked. If we are to believe these leaks, the full specifications of the smartphone are available. These include a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Snapdragon 625 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, and a 3000 mAh battery.
Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra launched in IndiaThe Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra has been launched in India. If you are wondering how much it costs, the price is Rs. 29,990. It has a 6-inch full-HD display and is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek Helio P20 octa-core SoC with 4 GB of RAM. Sony offers several bundle deals, including the UCH12 fast charger worth Rs. 1,490 and a free three-month subscription to Sony LIV. The Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra is now available in stores across the country in black, white, and gold colors.
Nokia 8 Spotted on Official SiteNokia’s upcoming flagship smartphone may have been accidentally leaked. The smartphone, widely claimed to be called the Nokia 8, confirms this rumor that the phone has been spotted on the company’s official Chinese website. While it’s only a matter of time before HMD Global makes the phone official, rumors now indicate that the phone will be more expensive than the Indian equivalent of Rs. 43,000 and come with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC.
Android O details revealed in Reddit AMAThe Android O developer team invited questions about Reddit, which showed many things. Unfortunately, we still don’t know the name of Android O, so you can keep coming up with dessert names and hope you’re right. We learned that Android O won’t have much for tablets or wearables, meaning Google doesn’t want to focus on either platform for now.
Uber enables UPI payment option in India Uber enabled support for UPI on its platform and became the first global giant to show interest in India’s payment technology. In a statement to Gadgets 360, Uber said that supporting UPI on Android is the “first step” and that it sees UPI as “the future of Indian payments”. Uber users with an Android phone will now see an option to link their UPI account in the Uber app. IPhone users will have to make do with the existing payment options — debit, credit cards, and Paytm — as UPI integration is still not live on iOS.
OnePlus 5 emergency call issue resolved While OnePlus seemed optimistic about the launch of the OnePlus 5, the smartphone has been plagued with reports of bugs and hardware issues. The latest bug – where OnePlus 5 reportedly rebooted if someone called emergency numbers like 911 – has now been fixed via an OTA update, the company claims.
LinkedIn Lite Android App Launched in India LinkedIn has rolled out LinkedIn Lite Android App. This faster and lighter version aims to bring the LinkedIn experience to entry-level smartphone users. The app loads in under five seconds, even on 2G networks. The app is less than 1 MB and reduces data usage by 80 percent. The LinkedIn Lite app is now available on Google Play for all Android users in India and will be available in more than 60 markets later.
WhatsApp may soon get PIP mode for video calling. WhatsApp’s video calling functionality is now about to get a new picture-in-picture mode, as spotted in version 2.17.265 of the WhatsApp app running on the developer preview of Android O. It is currently unclear if WhatsApp users can move the PIP window on the screen or stay in a fixed position. Furthermore, whether the video chat will continue in PIP mode if users switch to other apps is unclear. We’ll have to wait for this WhatsApp feature to be widely rolled out to get more clarity.
Intex Aqua Lions 3, Honor Band 3 launched Indian smartphone manufacturer Intex has launched a new smartphone in India. This smartphone is called Intex Aqua Lions 3 and costs Rs. 6,499. The Aqua Lions 3 has SwiftKey keyboard app integration and runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. It has a 5-inch HD IPS display, a 4000 mAh battery, and a storage space of 16 GB that can be expanded via a microSD card of up to 128 GB.
In other news, Honor has launched an activity tracker in India called the Honor Band 3. The fitness wearable is priced at Rs. 2,799 and will be available exclusively through Amazon India. The Honor Band 3 is a water-resistant fitness wearable with continuous heart rate monitoring. Honor claims that the tracker is water resistant to 50 meters, and the battery lasts up to 30 days.
