Google Releases Android Oreo Go for Low-end Phones

  Way back in May this year, at Google I/O, the tech giant has promised a new version of Android which is custom-designed meant for low-end Android devices. This new Android version is called “Android Go (Oreo edition)” is being made available for developers and device manufacturers but it does not mean that it’s available to users yet. But according to Google, that would presumably happen in short order. The basis behind this new Android Go is pretty much simple – it is a build of latest Android version which obviously is Android Oreo. This build is designed to run better on Android devices which only has either 512MB or 1GB of RAM. Like most flagships, by comparison, the Pixel 2 has 4GB of RAM while Apple’s latest flagship, iPhone X has 3GB and the Galaxy Note has an enormous 6GB of RAM. It is definitely a challenge making the very same operating system work on both flagships and the cheapest of cheap Android devices but apparently Google was able to overcome it. The Android Go edition is not meant to be some sort of “fork” of the Android Oreo so much as a variant that a device manufacturer can simply set by ticking off some configuration flag. Setting up those configurations does a couple of things. For one, it sets the device up to use the Android Go versions of a handful of Google apps including apps like the main Google app, Google Assistant, Google Maps, Gmail, etc. Some of the Go versions of these apps like YouTube Go have special features for downloading contents over Wi-Fi. And in some cases, the Go versions are fundamentally smaller compared to their regular variants. The slimmer OS and smaller apps can have as much as halve of the amount of storage that has taken up by default on a brand new device. Moreover, in the Go edition of Android Oreo, there are also some “performance and storage improvements”. So you’ll probably want that for every Android device. However, in this case, that’s not necessarily true as optimizing an app to take up less storage would also mean that it will take a little longer to open. You will also have to optimize for that on devices where storage is at a premium. But on most high-end devices, you would rather get those seconds back. Google is also piling on a bunch of features that are data-saving which are turned on out of the box which is why in Google Chrome everything will run through a Google server which reduces a file’s size before it reaches a user’s device. Aside from that a new app called Datally also helps users keep track of their mobile data. And by the way, Android Go is very much distinct and different from Android One – just to be clear and specific. Although both are designed to raise low-end devices’ quality, it comes from different directions – one is a system where Google partners with the manufacturer directly to decide what goes on the device and keep it updated which is kind of the same with the Nexus ecosystem – while the other one is used be strictly a low-end play but lately it was found to be creeping up the price scale together with the release of the new Moto X4. By comparison, Android Go Oreo edition is a full release of Android from the Android Open Source Project which can be used by any manufacturer but it’s also important to note that if not most, not much of what makes the Go edition special comes from Google’s very own apps which is why it is seems blurry how much impact this new Android Go will have in areas where Google apps are not accessible, specifically in China. According to Google in the near future, Android releases won’t take so long compared to what it was before. As of now, the Android Go edition of Oreo is available for device manufacturers to use which means that we’ll probably see it on new devices any time now. And based on some sources, the first phones to get this new edition of Android Oreo will be in India as Google noted that it has more users there compared to the US. The tech giant also mentioned that this release will come together with the Android 8.1 which would be available tomorrow but it will depend on your time zone.