Jio working on an affordable JioBook laptop with JioOS based on Android, 4G connectivity and more - Android

Reliance Jio doesn't want to stay as just a telco operator, as a result of which, the company is now working on an affordable low-cost laptop exclusively made for the Indian region. The new laptop is said to be based on a customised Android build that could be dubbed as JioOS.

The new report comes from XDA-Developers as the publication gathered this information from internal documents that said development of the JioBook started in early September last year and is expected to continue through the first half of 2021. 

The signs towards this development date back to 2018 when Miguel Nunes, Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, told The Economic Times that Qualcomm had held talks with Reliance Jio to launch laptops with cellular connectivity.  

Jio is partnering with Chinese manufacturer Bluebank Communication Technology for building the JioBook, XDA Developers reported. The company already develops JioPhone models at its factory and the laptop being manufactured there won't be a surprise. 

Read More: Jio partners with 'Fireworks' to bring short-video stories to its KaiOS 

The device is expected to reach the Product Validation Test stage by mid-April and XDA Developers was even able to get its hands on a purported image of how the final product would look like. 

JioBook Specifications (Rumored) 

If the rumours are to be considered true, then the JioBook will sport a display with a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels resolution and will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, along with Snapdragon X12 4G modem for 4G LTE connectivity. 

The laptop has been tested in many variants and one of the models spotted has 2GB of LPDDR4x RAM as well as 32GB of eMMC storage. Another model features 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage.

The JioBook will offer a slew of connectivity options that could include a mini HDMI connector, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It is also said to have a three-axis accelerometer and a Qualcomm audio chip.

Jio is said to equip the laptop with JioOS, a forked version of the Android build that will feature its apps such as JioStore, JioMeet, and JioPages pre-installed on the JioBook. Additionally, it reportedly includes Microsoft apps such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Edge, and Office.

The laptop is expected to debut sometime later this year, but there is nothing confirmed about the design or the pricing of the machine.