Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Android Go: explained”.
If you’re used to spending six seven 800 dollars on a phone, then you’re used to seeing specs like octa core processors, four gigabytes of RAM 64 gigabytes of storage, just really top tier stuff. That’S gon na run great., But there are a lot of huge markets like India, where people can only afford much much cheaper phones. We’re talking 100 dollars or so. And in those markets Android doesn’t work so well. It can be sluggish and unresponsive..
Now Google is trying to fix that 100 dollar phone experience with something called Android Go technically Android Oreo ( Go Edition ), but that’s a mouthfull.. It’S a new stripped down version of Android. That’S supposed to make the operating system run better on phones without a lot of processing power and RAM.. Here’S how it works. First, even though Android Go, looks just like normal Android.
It’S been optimized to work for phones that have one gigabyte of RAM or less.. It’S actually the first time the Google Assistant has been able to run on hardware, this basic, which is an important addition.. Now I’ve been testing these phones for the past few days and they don’t run as smooth as a Pixel, but that’s not the point..
They still run pretty well and in the past phones. This cheap have had trouble just opening apps.. The real question, though, is how they’re gon na perform a year from now and right now, that’s just impossible to say.
The second big change. We can see much more clearly., Android and Android’s apps now take up way. Less space. The default install size is a little over three gigs, that’s as opposed to five or six gigabytes beforehand, which is a huge savings, especially considering theses. Phones likely had eight gigabytes of storage to begin with..
A lot of that storage savings comes from apps.. Google has replaced all of Android’s default apps with Go Edition. Apps such as Maps Go Gmail, Go Google Go. They’re, just like the normal version of the apps.
For the most part, but Google stripped away extraneous features that it thinks won’t be that useful in these markets., And in doing so they were able to bring the size of them way. Down.. If you do have Go Edition phone, it’s not like you’re limited from getting the normal versions of these apps either..
You can still go and download the full Gmail. If you want it, it’s just gon na take up more space.. These apps also help you save on mobile data..
One of the big ones is YouTube Go.. It lets you download videos for offline viewing and it will tell you exactly how much data you’re going to use when you go to stream a video.. That’S a huge help. If you’re in a country with a very limited and expensive data, plan. ( moves to brass hats, ) Here at Mobile World Congress, Google introduced the first six Android Go phones., It’s expecting a lot more in the future.. So far, my favorite is the Nokia One which has these colorful interchangeable back shells., It’s not the nicest phone in the world, but it has a decent screen and a nice design and compared to some of the other options.
That’S definitely a stand. Out.. Ultimately, performance still comes down to the hardware manufacturer and how much extra software they choose to bog down the phone with.
Android Go, isn’t a silver bullet for all the problems with low-end Android phones., Most Android Go phones will be in the 50 to 130 dollar range. They’Ll be sold everywhere, including in the U.S., but Google is really targeting markets where people are buying their first. Smart phones and even a 200 dollar phone is seen as a luxury..
Android Go needs to run well enough to convince people to not go and buy another feature phone.. If all of this sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’re thinking of Android One., That was a similar program. Google started a few years back to help manufacturers make good cheap, Android phones, but the program kinda died off and it’s since been revamped as a stock android program, which is cool, but not at all.
What the program started out. As. Google seems to have learned from that failure..
Instead of approaching things from the hardware side, it’s now going in through software. And after all, software is Google’s strong, suit. Android Go isn’t going to fix cheap, smart phones overnight or even this year., But it does seem to be moving Android in the right direction..
Now Google just has to convince consumers that Android Go is a good thing to have on their phone.. Hey thanks for watching this video in surprisingly frozen Barcelona., It’s been wonderful.. Please subscribe at YouTube.com/theverge visit.
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