JioPhone may soon receive Google Assistant, Google Maps and more

Reliance Jio's feature phone, widely known as the JioPhone will soon receive Google services. The list includes Google Assistant, Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Search. As we know the feature phone runs on KaiOS, an operating developed by the US-based company named KaiOS Technologies.

KaiOS Technologies specifically develops apps for KaiOS users in partnership with Google. The firm has already received a $22 million Series A investment from the search giant Google "to help bring the internet to the next generation of users."

"This funding will help us fast-track development and global deployment of KaiOS-enabled smart feature phones, allowing us to connect the vast population that still cannot access the internet, especially in emerging markets," said Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies.

KaiOS is a web-based platform which uses open standards like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. The company made its debut in India with JioPhone in July 2017. It gained a 15% of the mobile OS market, and also beats Apple iOS as the second widely used in India,DeviceAtlas Mobile Web Intelligence Report claims.

"Following the success of the JioPhones, we are excited to work with KaiOS to further improve access to information for feature phone users around the world," said Anjali Joshi, vice president, Product Management, Next Billion Users.

Earlier, it was reported that the JioPhone will soon get instant messaging app WhatsApp. According to WaBetaInfo, "Important references about the development of a new native KaiOS app had been found in the latest WhatsApp beta for Windows Phone 2.18.38, indicating the presence of a new platform that can be connected to WhatsApp servers."

In February this year, the JioPhone received support for Facebook. The Facebook app on the feature phone takes less space and fits on the small screen. Moreover, it also supports push notification and video playback.

JioPhones specifications

JioPhone was launched in July 2017 in India. In terms of specs, it comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT screen and powered by a dual-core processor. It sports 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal memory, which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD. It supports 4G VoLTE connectivity and comes with pre-installed apps like JioTV, JioMusic and JioCinema. The feature phone also supports voice commands and 24 Indian languages.

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