JioPhone with YouTube and Facebook apps, USB tethering spotted

Reliance Jio has finally started shipping the much-awaited JioPhone (unboxing and first impressions) to early buyers. Apart from VoLTE, the phone comes with quite a few interesting features for the asking price like a voice assistant, a fully-functional web browser, and Jio apps like JioCinema and JioMusic. However, the current-gen JioPhone is still missing a few features like a dedicated app for Facebook and YouTube, and a USB tethering connectivity option. But it seems that the company is working towards bringing these features to the JioPhone.

Ahead of the official release, these features have been spotted on a new JioPhone unit. The phone seems to be running a new version of Kai OS, which the 4G-enabled feature phone is based on. This particular JioPhone model in question has dedicated apps for Facebook and YouTube. The device has USB tethering option to connect laptops to the internet, but it appears the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality is still not on board. This model also has an option to uninstall applications.

Jio is expected to release a software update to the current JioPhone on the market soon, which will bring a new app store. This will allow the users to install Facebook, YouTube and more apps on their device. However, at the moment it’s not clear if the USB tethering feature will be making to the current JioPhone or not.

Reliance Jio is also working towards bringing the popular messaging app WhatsApp to the JioPhone. There’s no word on when Jio is planning to release all the new features that have been spotted in the JioPhone model.

In related news, Jio has just disclosed terms and conditions regarding the refund of the JioPhone after three years. The phone is essentially free since the security deposit of Rs 1,500 is refundable after a period of three years. However, if one chooses to return the device before three years, you will not get the full refund. More details about this are available in our earlier post.  

With inputs from Ivan Mehta