Reliance Jio has expanded its business rapidly since its launch in 2016. With the introduction of 4G Volte, the company has recently released another application called the Jio Browser which is currently available in Play Store. It is important to note that for using the Jio Browser app, a Jio Connection is not necessary. In other words, it is not exclusive to Jio Network and can be accessed by every Android users.
The Jio Browser can be downloaded by users who are using devices with Android Lollipop 5.0 or higher versions. Due to the low data usage of the browser, it provides blazing fast performance.
After opening the browser, you can find the news articles section on the homepage which is labelled as ‘Latest Updates’. Other sections can be added to it by clicking on the ‘+’ icon at the right side of the browser.
As stated by Reliance Industries Limited, the application has been developed keeping the Indian users in mind. The browser has been designed in a minimalistic way and has a size of around 4.8MB. It has been developed in way so that it runs smoothly on low end devices. The main feature of the browser which differentiates it from other browsers currently present in the market is the support for 8 indian languages. It has a download manager and a built in incognito mode for private browsing sessions. The application also includes a sharing feature which can be utilized by consumers to share videos and images with social media friends.
The Jio Browser currently supports Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Gujarati and Bengali languages. The default language is set in English. If you change the language preference of the browser, the browser changes the interface elements as well as the content provided such as the news stories in the preferred languages. The browser can be also used to navigate through Facebook and Google in the preferred language which is chosen by the user from the default English language. If you do not want to change the language from the default English language, the browser allows you to customize the home page as per your preference and navigate through other sites as usual.
For the convenience of the users, the developers have added a feature which helps the users to manage their downloads in a proper manner. It also includes a section where the history of the visited pages can be accessed. To improve the browser, the developers have also added a direct email link and a feedback section where comments can be posted. A quick access page is available in the browser which allows the user to jump to the most visited websites from the homepage. The interface is fluid and provides a seamless user experience. The users can get news updates directly on the homepage which includes articles on technology, sports, entertainment and politics. It is capable of taking voice commands from users.
The Jio Browser uses the video and news content provided by PublicVibe (a Hyderabadi news content startup) which is similar to what UC Browser does. The in-built video section usually fetches videos from several other websites and posts it under a single tab. A ‘Like section’ is provided in the browser which has several links of websites such as Instagram, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. This allows the user to natively use the accounts of the websites on the browser. The browser allows the user to customize the ‘Local news’ category as per their preference to get relevant local news update.
The app allows the user to share links with their contacts in a convenient way with the inbuilt share feature. It features a dedicated video section for checking updates on news articles. A ‘Local’ tab is present in the browser which shows news articles in the preferred language.
The browser also allows the user to choose the text display size from the settings menu.
The browser also has a tab where all the favourite sites can be saved. Some of the sites that are automatically listed are Flipkart, Amazon, BookMyShow and MyJio. A search bar and a bookmark option is present on the homepage of the browser for user convenience. The Jio Browser also has an inbuilt Google Voice Search which can be accessed by clicking on the microphone option.
Currently, the Jio Browser has over 10,00,000 downloads and has over 1500 reviews from Android users. It has a rating of 4.4 in Play Store but some users are not pleased with the user interface of the browser. The application is currently unavailable for Iphone users.
