Reliance JioPhone: Everything you need to know about the ‘free’ feature phone

Reliance has introduced a new feature for the Indian market, called the JioPhone at a price of Rs 0. It will be available starting August 15 for testing in beta. However, there is a catch. Consumers will have to pay Rs 1500, as a security deposit, which will be fully refundable after three years. Pre-booking for the JioPhone begins August 24. The company is targeting to have 5 million JioPhones a week. 

In terms of specifications, the device features a 2.4-inch QVGA display along with an SD card slot. It also includes FM Radio. The company will also be adding NFC support to the JioPhone. The phone also comes with a distress button which would send a message to near and dear ones in case the phone user is in distress and presses the button. The phone can also link their Jan Dhan accounts and other modes of secure payments.

Reliance Communications chief Mukesh Ambani said, "Reliance has grown from a small startup to one of the largest, most admired companies. Turnover has grown from 70 crores in 1977 to 3.3 lakh crores today, an increase of 4,700 times. Our total assets have increased from 33 crores to over 700,000 crores and a multiple of over 20,000 times."