Google just launched the new Android Go, a lightweight version of the regular Android O and up. Read more here.
At the recent Google I/O event earlier today, the search giant unleashed a plethora of new services and upgrades to their existing ones to hundreds of live audience and thousands of watchers from the livestreaming. One of the highlights of course was the official announcement of the upcoming Android flavor - Android O. Nope, no name has been given yet as we will know that later this year. And as you may have already imagined, Android O is the most sophisticated and feature packed mobile OS right now, at least on paper. This may also mean that for the new OS to fully work and be fully enjoyed by users, it will require a powerful smartphone specs. The more powerful a mobile device is, in terms of hardware specifications, the higher the price tag is going to be as well. And this is the reason why Google also unveiled the Android Go initiative alongside it.
Android Go is basically a more optimized or a lightweight version of the Android O that will cater to smartphones and tablets with lower specs such as 1GB RAM or 512MB RAM. This will also offer Data Saver Management Tools pre-installed in the device. All of it will result in lowering the cost of creating new smartphones and selling them to consumers as well as for users to have more freedom in saving data usage.
What's going to happen here is that Android Go will be running on Google-certified entry-level smartphone devices in the future giving more people access to the platform especially those who are on tight budget. In addition to the Android Go devices, Android Go-optimized apps will also be rolled out in the Google Play. Users will know which of those apps are more compatible their device's version when they visit Google Play.
The Android Go initiative is not just about the mobile OS being light and the devices having lower pricing, it is also about helping users to save more data. The new YouTube Go app is the perfect example of this project. With this version of YouTube, users have the option to preview a video without consuming any data and before playing the entire clip. And if they decide they would like to watch or download the video, they are shown how much data it will cost them. Plus users can also share the video to their friends offline. Learn more about it in the video below.
This is actually a great initiative of Google as there are still a large number of population in the world that are still looking for more affordable Android smartphones with specs and features that are not so outdated. Not everyone can buy handsets with $250 and up price stickers attached to them. If I remember it right, there are only a few budget-centric Android Nougat-powered smartphones that were released here in the Philippines, very low in number compared to the previous years of Android history locally. So I guess a lot of users and manufacturers alike will definitely appreciate this Android Go, hopefully a lot of developers will also create more popular apps optimized for this type of mobile OS and most of all a lot of smartphone and tablet manufacturers will also release Android Go-powered devices in the future.
So when can we expect the first Android Go smartphones to arrive? Sadly, Google confirmed at the developers conference event that nothing will be shipped yet this year. We can expect Android Go-powered devices and probably apps as well to start hitting markets around the globe beginning next year.
