JioPhone Next pre-booking to start next week: What to expect

Reliance Jio and Google-made affordable smartphone-- JioPhone Next-- is set to be available on September 10. A week ahead of the official launch, the JioPhone Next pre-bookings will start. The tentative date for the start of pre-bookings is said to be September 1. Having said that, there is no official word from the company yet.

Reliance Jio hasn’t revealed much about the device. Also, there is no official information about the price of the phone. However, media reports claim that the JioPhone Next may cost Rs 3,500 in India. It will be a sub-$50 smartphone and it is estimated to be Rs 3,499. Having said that, Reliance Jio may also look at further incentivising the device through carrier deals and financing options.

The JioPhone Next will most likely be powered by a low-end chipset from Qualcomm-- QM215 platform. It features a 64-bit CPU and dual ISP support. The JioPhone Next will come with a single lens camera at the back with 13MP sensor along with an 8MP camera on the front for selfies. The default camera app will be Google Camera Go.

The JioPhone Next will be powered by Google’s Android Go operating system based on Android 11. With Android Go, users will get basic Android phone experience. While they will get access to Google’s services, software updates, Google Assistant and ability to download apps from Google Play store, note that access to all apps will not be there. Due to hardware limitations, users may not be able to download popular games, streaming apps, etc. Having said that users will get access to all Go versions of popular Google apps. Low-end chipset, limited RAM and storage will prevent the JioPhone Next to be a full-fledged regular Android phone.