Google had announced Android Go back in May of this year at I/O. The lite version of the latest Android OS is finally ready for a public launch. But, it has been renamed to Android Oreo Go Edition and it is ready to bring the latest version of Android to low-spec’d smartphones.
Aimed at the budget segment, the Go Edition is not a new OS, but its a basic or a stripped-down version of the latest Android Oreo. Google is trying to achieve an optimum balance between features and performance, which can work on both, high-end flagships as well as low-spec’d phones which find it difficult to run sophisticated software smoothly.
Go Edition of Android Oreo can work on any entry-level smartphone having 1GB RAM or lesser. The Go Edition will get regular updates and security patches like the “standard” version, which will maintain a more or less same schedule as its standard counterpart.
Performance & Storage Improvements
With software optimization, the Go edition phones will see a lot of good changes. It will include the Go Versions of Google app, Google Assistant, Google Maps, Gmail, and other Google essentials like YouTube Go, which will come with special features like downloading videos over WiFi.
The “Go” versions will be smaller than the regular variants and will take up around half the amount of space that’s taken up by standard apps.
The Go Edition also will come with a number of other data saving features out of the box. Chrome will run on a Google server which reduce the sizes of data packets, which in turn will reduce the strain on the smartphones resources. Google has recently launched the Datally app, which keeps a track of all spent data.
Android Oreo Go Edition: The ‘Go’ Experience
Android presently has more than over two billion active devices around the world. The newly launched Go Edition is an attempt to provide the best Android experience, irrespective of specifications and hardware. The new Oreo Go Edition has been specially designed for smartphones with RAM between 512MB and 1GB.
The Go Edition will come with all sorts of benefits, which includes upto 30% faster start times and a seamless optimization of storage, by up to 2 times.
There will be optimized versions of Go apps like Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, Gboard, Chrome and Files Go (a new file management app for storage optimization). There is also a Go version of the Play Store, which will specially feature all the lightweight apps on board.
Android One vs. Android Go
When Google launched Android One, they were aiming to create a Google-optimised, low-cost Android system specifically for users in the developing nations. Although, later many Android One devices were made available in some developed countries as well.
Android Go is different from Android One. But, both intend to raise the quality of low-end devices, although from different directions.
Under Android One, Google partners directly with the mobile manufacturers to keep it up to date with the latest updates (like the Nexus ecosystem). Android One used to strictly for low-end devices, but later it released for budget, mid-range phones like Moto X4 and Xiaomi Mi A1.
Android Go, on the other hand is a full release of the latest Android, which will be made available from the Android Open Source Project for any manufacturer to use.
The first Go Edition phones will be launched in India. The software will be released globally today, alongside Android Oreo 8.1. The changes are relatively few, but crucial, when compared to its standard counterpart. There will also be a few additional features like recent previews and multi-users settings.
It will be a downsized version of full Android for most part. Google is not planning to limit its availability to any specific region, like it initially tried to do with Android One. The Go Edition will be available globally starting today, and compatible devices may start shipping by early 2018.
[…] very recently announced their much ambitious Android Oreo Go edition at the Google I/O 2017. The new Go edition is specially meant for the low cost devices which come with 512MB or 1GB of […]