It’s a known fact that a large portion of our country uses phones that aren’t Android or iPhones. These phones offer a lot of functionality for a fraction of the prices. Seeing the demand for feature phones, Jio launched a very capable and affordable 4G-enabled phone in 2017, called the JioPhone. It quickly became the most popular feature phone, capturing the majority of the market share. Seeing the tremendous success of the JioPhone, Jio has now launched the next generation model called the JioPhone 2. It is long-touted as “India ka smartphone”. The phone is different in design than the JioPhone but there is more to it. Read on to know what makes the JioPhone 2 so interesting and why you ought to get one.
An all-new look and powerful hardware
The JioPhone 2 looks very different, when you first look at it. It has a QWERTY keypad and a 2.4-inch display. Both the phones have the same screen size, but the screen on the JioPhone 2 has a landscape orientation. The JioPhone 2 is designed to be different than feature phones. The phone runs a 1GHz dual-core processor and 512 MB of RAM. Like the older JioPhone, the new phone also supports 4GB of storage, which can be expanded up to 128 GB using a microSD card. That’s a lot of space!
A very capable QWERTY keypad
Compared to the older JioPhone which only had an alpha-numeric keypad, the JioPhone 2 features a QWERTY keypad. This means a drastic improvement in productivity; being able to type long messages and mails is no longer a problem. There are some people who can type nearly as fast on a QWERTY keypad as you can on a laptop. Typing URLs used to be difficult and that is no longer the case on the JioPhone 2. It also has a ring-shaped 4-way navigation button with a voice search button in the middle as well.
Dual-SIM support is here
Unlike the older model, the JioPhone 2 has dual-SIM support. The first SIM supports 4G VoLTE, whereas the second SIM supports 2G. This means your JioPhone 2 isn’t necessarily your secondary phone. You can have two networks connected on the same JioPhone 2.
High-speed internet and HD Voice calling
Like the older model, the JioPhone 2 also supports HD voice calling. One call and you can tell the sheer quality difference between traditional 2G networks and 4G-VoLTE. Calls on Jio’s VoLTE network take nearly no time to connect. You also get high-speed internet and coverage no matter where you are in India. This is what makes the JioPhone 2 on the Jio network so impressive.
Kai OS – it’s fast, light-weight and versatile
Both JioPhone and the JioPhone 2 run on Kai OS. The JioPhone 2 has a bunch of apps that come pre-installed, and using the JioStore, you can even install more. It even has Facebook so you can keep in touch with your friends and family. Kai OS is extremely efficient, so it can run a variety of apps, make calls, stream content, while using little power.
Voice search on the JioPhone 2
Voice search was meant to be a feature only for expensive smartphones. With the JioPhone 2, you can use its voice assistant to compose messages, play content from JioMusic and JioCinema, make calls and even ask general questions. It’s pretty cool to see all this functionality on a phone this small, and so affordable.
A variety of connectivity options
Connectivity options are pretty much the same. The JioPhone 2 supports Wi-Fi 802.11n so you can connect it to your home or work network if you want. There is Bluetooth 4.1 support so you can connect wireless earphones to it. GPS is also present. The JioPhone 2 also supports NFC for faster transferring of data. With the help of this feature, users would be able to make digital payments through JioMoney or bank accounts. This feature is commonly found on smartphones these days and is good to see JioPhone 2 supporting it.
Suite of Jio apps to use
The JioPhone 2 supports all the popular Jio apps such as MyJio, JioMusic, JioTV, JioCinema, JioXpressNews, JioVideoCall, JioGames etc. These offer everything from news to unlimited access to music, TV, movies and much more. Also, to download more apps you can browse through the JioStore app and install even more apps of your choice.
Regional language support
Similar to JioPhone, the new phone also supports 22 Indian languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. This means pretty much anyone can use the JioPhone 2, regardless of what language they speak or write.
Playing content to your TV
Another advantage of using the JioPhone 2 is that you can connect it to your TV to stream content using a JioMediaCable. This is an add-on accessory, which needs to be bought separately that lets you do this. This means your JioPhone 2 isn’t just your phone, but also your media streaming device for your TVs. The high-speed internet access on this device and support for all of the Jio apps makes it a worthwhile accessory.
Excellent battery life
The phone is backed by a 2,000 mAh battery. Jio claims it has about 6 hours of continuous talk time, which is a lot. While most other mobile operating systems use a lot of battery for features and apps we don’t use all the time, the JioPhone 2 is way more efficient on standby. Jio claims it can last a good 15 days!
If you are planning to buy a feature phone for yourself or a gift for someone close, the JioPhone 2 is worth every rupee. You will rarely find a device that offers 4G and VoLTE connectivity, a QWERTY keypad, voice search, apps and media streaming and more, for this low price. There is much more to the JioPhone 2 and if you want all the details, don’t forget to visit the JioPhone 2’s official page.
