Smartphones25.06.2014

Android One: Cheap Google phones running stock Android

Android One, Sundar Pichai at Google I/O 2014

Google announced the Android One programme at its I/O event for developers in San Francisco, California, promising to support and make it easier for manufacturers to make cheap, but high-quality devices.

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome, and Apps at Google said that the goal of the programme is to “reach the next five billion users” who don’t currently have a smartphone.

He had revealed earlier in his presentation that Google recently measured the number of active Android users at over a billion users.

To make it easier for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to build a smartphone and spare them the effort of having to “reinvent the wheel”, Pichai said they are working on a set of hardware reference platforms.

“We identify the components which go into a next-generation smartphones,” Pichai said. “These are high quality, affordable smartphones. We qualify vendors so we provide a turn-key solution for OEMs to build a smartphone.”

In addition to the hardware reference platforms, there is also a software component to Android One. Pichai said that the Android One software experience includes three key things:

  1. Devices run stock Android, similar to Nexus devices;
  2. OEMs and network operators can auto-install applications from Google Play, but users retain full control; and
  3. Automatic updates straight from Google.

Pichai highlighted an example device from Micromax, which sports a 4.5-inch screen, dual SIM support, microSD card, and FM Radio for less than $100.

Other manufacturers on-board with Android One are Karbonn and Spice, Pichai said.

The first Android One devices will be available in India “this fall” (September – November 2014).

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