JioPhone Next: Hands-On, First Look

Reliance Jio yesterday announced the pricing and key details of the JioPhone Next. The smartphone is supposed to motivate the 2G users to shift to 4G services with a 4G smartphone. JioPhone Next comes in a neat little rectangular box and you can see the partnership branding with Google at the bottom. The smartphone looks like a regular Android device which is not an issue. It has a plastic body at the rear. The speaker is at the back on the bottom while the rear camera layout is at the top center. You can see the Jio branding right below the rear camera.

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At the front, the JioPhone Next has a thick black plastic portion at the top and the bottom. The side bezels in comparison are thinner. The selfie camera sensor is at the top left sitting comfortably in the plastic portion of the body. You will find the power button and the volume rockers on the right. The blue colour choice from Jio is interesting. It looks very striking and will certainly be identifiable in a mix of smartphones.

Just from the top, the Pragati OS doesn’t look too different from stock Android which is not surprising. A bunch of Jio and Google apps come pre-downloaded on the smartphone. The Google Assistant is very responsive, it will be worth looking at how it will understand complex commands though.

The JioPhone Next so far looks like a decent entry-level smartphone. From its price, yes, it is not the kind of affordable device that everyone was expecting, but it will be able to give some competition to the Chinese brands. At least, now Indians will have one strong option in the entry-level segment which is a made-in-India device.