Will the Reliance JioBharat V2 4G feature phone drive India's digital economy?

The primary goal of this phone is to get it into the hands of more than 250 million people in India, that are still stuck on 2G feature phones (Image: Reliance Jio)

You might have already heard the news. Reliance's entry-level feature phone just got cheaper with the announcement of the JioBharat V2.

The 4G-enabled feature phone has been priced at Rs 999, making it a great deal along with Jio's network plans for the device but does it hold enough power to be truly game changing?

Jio Bharat V2 specifications

Compared to the Jio Phone 2, which was launched in 2018, the JioBharat V2 has a smaller display with a 1.77-inch QVGA TFT screen, in place of the slightly larger 2.4-inch QVGA TFT display on the Phone 2.

While bigger displays are nicer, the aim of the JioBharat V2 is to be affordable enough for the Indians still stuck on 2G feature phones, which have a similar screen.

Also read | Reliance Jio launches internet-enabled 'Jio Bharat' phone at Rs 999

While we don't know what processor is being used in the Bharat V2, the JioPhone 2 used Qualcomm's 4G chipset for feature phones. It was a dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz accompanied by 512MB of RAM.

Given the low price of the Bharat V2, expect something a little weaker in terms of performance. As with the Jio Phone 2, the Bharat V2 will support SD cards up to 128GB.

By far the biggest loss in terms of functionality is the smaller battery, which clocks in at 1,000mAh, compared to the 2,000mAh from Phone 2.

So far, the only apps Reliance Jio has confirmed for Bharat V2 are Jio Pay, the company's UPI payment app, JioCinema for access to movies, videos and sports, and JioSaavn, the music streaming service. For Jio Phone 2, Jio offered support for Google Assistant, MyJio, JioSaavn, JioTV, JioCinema, JioPay and more.

It's worth noting that WhatsApp was made available a few months after launch and Google's YouTube app also found itself way on to the phone a week after that.

Also gone is the front facing camera, which is honestly not that big of a loss considering the Phone 2 had 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Meanwhile, the rear camera is now 0.3-megapixel in place of the 2-megapixel rear camera on the Phone 2.

You also miss out on a full QWERTY keypad but given the cheaper price, that makes sense.

Also read | Reliance Jio announces Jio Bharat V2 phone platform, beta trials start on July 7

Overall, the Bharat V2 makes some compromises but is also a lot cheaper than the Jio Phone 2, which is being sold for Rs 2,999.

Priced at Rs 999, this is one of the cheapest internet-connect 4G feature phones you can buy. The primary goal of this phone is to get it into the hands of more than 250 million people in India, that are still stuck on 2G feature phones, and at that price, the Bharat V2 is a tempting offer.

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