tech2 News Staff

Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani surprised the country with the announcement of a free, 4G-ready feature phone for all Jio users.

There's little information on the handset itself, but whatever there is can be found here.

Another surprise at the event was the announcement that the phone will connect to any TV, including those ancient, boxy, CRT TVs. Once connected via an accessory, unimaginatively dubbed the "Jio Phone TV cable", you will be able to view all content from the Jio phone on your TV. The Jio suite of content apps are already available on the phone.

To access this content on your TV, however, you'll need to opt for the Rs 309 Dhan Dhana Dhan plan. As part of the plan, you'll receive an accessory that will let you connect your JioPhone to a TV, be it a modern LCD or an ancient CRT (cathode ray tube) set.

The exact mechanism hasn't been explained, but one can surmise that the phone will use something like MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) to output the data either over HDMI, S-Video or RCA, as applicable. Adapters of this nature are already available for MHL-compatible Android devices.

The JioPhone has a QVGA resolution, which translates to 320x240 pixels. An HDTV has a resolution of 1280x720. It's not yet clear if the video on the phone will transmit HD content to the TV. That said, a QVGA resolution is perfectly fine for most CRT TVs.

The JioPhone will be available to beta testers from 15 August and for pre-order from 24 August. The device will ship in September.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.