As many of you might have heard in the previous few days, Google has launched Androidland in collaboration with Spice. Two stores have been launched as of now with plans for more in the future.The two that are launched are in Bengaluru and Noida.
Luckily, I had the opportunity to go to the Noida store. Therefore, I would like to give you an exact account of how the store is and what is in store for you in comparison to any other store.
The first thing that comes to your view is the design of the entrance. It is the trademark Android face. Also, a vivid green Android bot will greet you at the door.
The store is specifically designed for Android and that shows. There are various splits in the store with one area specifically designed to be focused on apps. The collection of smartphones on the offer is definitely very high.
One thing that was special about the smartphones was that the collection itself had a large variety from almost every brand present in our country. Be it Samsung, Sony, HTC, Lenovo, Lava or Spice, all the phones were well represented.
As the pictures show, the idea was to show the best phone in all ranges that Android has on offer. Another good thing was the price. Unlike the showrooms, the price of the phones was equal to what is present in Flipkart. However, the price was not placed with the phones so I had to keep asking the price of each device. Hopefully this will be rectified soon.
The Androidland store also had accessories for the phones that can be bought there. These range from flip covers to Bluetooth hands free to extra memory. I think that this might be the first division of store that would go profitable. Even now when the store is in its infancy, I saw many people buying the accessories for their phones.
The tablet section of the store was something that disappointed me a lot. There were only four tablets with very little option. This might change in the future but as of now, Androidland is not the place for someone who is thinking of buying a new tablet.
The most prominent feature of the store that we would not find anywhere else was the focus on apps. As the idea is to make people more Android aware (and people need that I tell you- more on this later) it was heartening to see a section dedicated in helping people get apps for what they want.
Cute Indian names have been given like Chatty Chandni and Business Bhaskar to particular cards. These cards adhere to a particular field like entertainment or business or games and various apps with their QR codes are present for a person new to Android to download instantly. Free WiFi is also present in the store.
Besides this, the staff was really friendly and while they did not know as much as me (mostly because I have recently been hunting for a new phone and a tablet), they would be excellent help to anyone who is new to Android.
There was an interesting observation as well. During my time in the shop, I heard more than once people asking whether the store sold an Apple or a Blackberry phone. I talked to one of the staff members and she told that this is not the first time and is quite frequent.
While it might seem funny at first that people enter ‘Androidland’ and ask such a question but it shows that how important this step will be in educating people regarding Android.
All in all, the store is a great initiative and should give Android an even bigger boost in the market.
