Image Courtesy: Financial Express
Jio Platforms, an Indian tech powerhouse, has worked with Google on a new cheap smartphone named the JioPhone Next, according to Jio’s parent firm Reliance. According to TechCrunch, the Next is intended to assist the approximately 300 million Indians who are now on 2G networks in upgrading to 4G. It will be published on September 10th in India, followed by other markets at a later date.
Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani stated that the JioPhone Next will be a “ultra-affordable 4G smartphone,” in RIL AGM although he did not divulge the device’s precise cost or complete specifications. However, the firm has stated that it will have voice assistant support, translation tools, and an augmented reality camera. According to Google, the phone runs an optimised version of Android OS designed specifically for the device, though XDA Developers has noticed that it appears to be using the Go-version of the Google Camera app, indicating that it shares some similarities with Google’s low-powered Android Go operating system.
Further, When Google invested $4.5 million in Jio Platforms last year, the two companies announced their collaboration on an inexpensive smartphone. Today, Google said that its collaboration with the firm is increasing thanks to a new agreement in which Jio Platforms parent company Reliance would use Google’s Cloud platform, putting its main retail operation onto Google’s infrastructure.
The JioPhone Next is a multi-year effort by Google to offer Android and its services on lower-powered, more inexpensive devices. It launched its Android One project in 2014, and three years later, in 2017, it released Android Go. It has also invested in KaiOS, a feature phone operating system, in order to make its services available on even more basic handsets. As more of the developing world goes online, Google is making a concerted effort to guarantee that it is there to meet them.
