After witnessing series of Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, Lava launched India's first Android Oreo (Go edition) powered Z50 smartphone in the country for an effective price of Rs 2,400. At this price, the smartphone has the potential to serve as an effective alternative to the JioPhone.
Lava unveiled the Z50 smartphone at the MWC event in February, where it disclosed all the details about the phone's features and key specifications. But the price of the handset in India remained a mystery.
The effective price of Rs 2,400 is valid under Airtel's "Mera Pehla Smartphone" programme, where the telco offers a cashback worth Rs 2,000 to lower its MOP cost of Rs 4,400. In order to get the cashback, customers must recharge their Airtel numbers with a minimum of Rs 3,500 in the first 18 months and another Rs 3,500 in the following 18 months.
Lava Z50 comes with 2-year warranty and a one-time free screen replacement within one year of purchase. Customers can purchase the Android Go-powered smartphone from Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and more than 100,000 retail stores across the country.
As for JioPhone, the smart feature phone is being offered essentially for free. But customers need to deposit Rs 1,500, which will be refunded once the active device is returned after three years. But Android Go-powered Lava Z50 offers a variety of features that JioPhone lacks, which is mainly due to the operating system.
Lava Z50 is powered by Android Oreo (Go edition), which allows 50 percent faster performance compared to other phones with similar specs, uses lesser RAM and storage. The handset comes pre-loaded with Google Go edition apps such as YouTube Go, Maps Go and Gmail Go.
As for JioPhone, it is powered by KaiOS and comes pre-loaded with Jio apps like JioCinema, JioMusic and others. There's no support for apps like WhatsApp, but there are indications it will be arriving soon.
Lava Z50 has a full-touch display measuring 4.5 inches and has a 2.5D Gorilla Glass on top. The handset features a 5MP rear and 5MP front cameras with LED and Bokeh effect mode. Under the hood, there's a MediaTek MT6737M processor, 2,000mAh battery 1GB RAM and 8GB expandable storage.
JioPhone, on the other hand, comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 2MP rear camera, and a VGA front shooter. There's a 2,000mAh battery under the hood, and it is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Spreadtrum processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage with microSD card support.
What is your choice going to be? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
