HMD Global’s Chief Product Officer’s tweet is being considered as an indication that WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube will be made available on the Nokia 8110 4G feature phone.
Last year, Reliance Jio took everyone off-guard when it launched the JioPhone in the Indian market. Not only that, it also revolutionised the tariff structure to gain maximum reachability. The only contender standing against it was Nokia which is already working to revive old phones with new features. On Thursday, Reliance Jio launched the JioPhone 2 at the Reliance Industries (RIL) 41st Annual General Meeting (AGM). The company also announced WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube support for the existing and new JioPhone. Nokia seems to have taken note of the announcement and has teased the support for the social media apps on its famous Banana phone, the Nokia 8110 4G. One should note that the Nokia 8110 4G is not yet available in India.
Soon after the Jio announcements, KaiOS Technologies, the maker KaiOS, tweeted, “The next #JioPhone chapter arrives as our partner @RelianceJio announces @youtube, @facebook, and @whatsapp, as well as the #JioPhone2 with QWERTY keyboard, powered by @kaiostech.” To this tweet, Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer of HMD Global, replied, “Oh look, #Whatsapp on #KaiOS! Looking forward to going [banana]’s!”
His tweet is being considered as an indication that the three apps will make their way to the Nokia 8110 4G. Given the trust that Nokia has in its phone in the Indian market, the move to rival Reliance Jio in the feature phone space makes sense for the company.
The Nokia 8110 4G was launched globally at MWC this year. Given its curved body, form factor and yellow colour, it is commonly compared to a Banana. It features a 2.45-inch QVGA display, is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 205 Dual Core 1.1 GHz SoC, and is paired with 512MB ROM and 4GB RAM. In the camera department, the feature phone has a 2MP rear camera.
Similarly, the JioPhone 2 features a 2.4-inch QVGA display and supports dual SIMs. It is equipped with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage, along with microSD card support of up to 128GB. The phone sports a 2MP rear camera and a VGA front-facing sensor. The handset comes with a QWERTY keypad with a four-way navigation key and is backed by a 2,000mAh battery. Users have an option to exchange their existing feature phone for a JioPhone by paying a sum of Rs 501. This offer can be availed from July 21.
According to Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Jio has increased its subscriber base from 124 million at the end of last year to 215 million in 22 months. At the event, he also claimed that Jio has a larger reach than even 2G players.
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Sourabh Kulesh
A journalist at heart; has knowledge of a wide gamut of topics related to enterprise and consumer tech. View Full Profile
