Reliance has gotten everyone excited with its upcoming launch of the Jio 4G. The company has also announced a slew of its Lyf phones that start from Rs 2,999. Consumers are signing up for the 4G network which is available right now with 3 months of unlimited data and voice calls.
So, what could possibly be wrong with going for a sub-3K Lyf phone, you ask? Well, here’s the catch that one has to know before they end up buying the Lyf Flame phones mentioned below.
Android But Without Google Play
The Android version running on the Rs 2,999 phones are based on the AOSP (Android Open Source Project), which does not belong to Google. This means Reliance has opted for the AOSP for the Flame 3,4,5 and 6 phones that does not come equipped with Google Play Store.
In simple words, these phones will not be able to run Gmail, YouTube, Chrome and other Google products. You will have to stay content with Lyf Store which offers apps like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook etc.
Reliance tells us that the phones have not been provided with Google Play Store because they want to ensure that the 512MB RAM-powered 4G phones offer fast internet speed and calling quality.
Cheap & Not Affordable
The fact that Reliance has given Google Play Store a miss on these phones, and with only 512MB onboard RAM available, we’re not sure whether a first time buyer would feel excited using this phone. Ideally, the company should have let the user decide whether he wants to use Google Play store on these low-powered devices, or not.
Hopefully, Reliance can rectify this constraint with a software update. For now, it would be better if you looked at buying other Lyf phones instead of the Rs 2999 phones.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)