Soon, you could get your hands on a Jio-branded laptop as reports have now revealed that the brand could soon foray into the mobile-computing segment.?
Reported first by XDA Developers, the laptop could be called JioBook that is expected to run JioOS -- a skinned version of Android on hardware that¡¯s not that different from a mid-range smartphone -- Qualcomm¡¯s Snapdragon 665 chipset.?
Reports from 2018 had hinted that Jio could be working on a laptop with a SIM card slot after successfully unveiling its smartphone and feature phones. This is expected to be its next gamble to increase its average revenue per user.?
However, the laptop in 2018 was touted to be running on Windows 10 with built-in cellular functionality akin to the ones we see on iPads today. The laptop, however, was being developed in collaboration with smartphone chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
At the time, Miguel Nunes, Senior director of product management at Qualcomm technologies had said in a statement to ET, ¡°We have talked to Jio. They could take the device and bundle it with data and content.¡±
However, a recent report highlights that the Indian telecom behemoth has decided to join hands with China¡¯s Bluebank Communication Technology to develop this laptop. Bluebank is known to develop devices running on KaiOS -- which is also the OS found on the JioPone.?
As per the XDA report, the development of the ¡®JioBook began sometime in September 2020 and is expected to be showcased to the nation in the first half of 2021. The device, during its EVT (Engineering Validation Test), donned a keyboard with a Windows logo on it, however, the report states that this could be eliminated in the final product.?
Talking about the specs, the JioBook could feature a display sporting a resolution of 1366x768 pixels with up to 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB of eMMC5.1 storage. Moreover, DRAM and NAND chips are being sourced from Samsung, whereas the chipset is being sourced by Qualcomm.?
For I/O, the device could sport a mini HDMI port, Wi-Fi over 2.5GHz and 5GHz frequencies, Bluetooth as well as an accelerometer and a Qualcomm audio chip.