Back on June 25th at Google’s I/O event, Sundar Pichai announced a new initiative for Google called Android One. This is Google’s attempt at giving people around the world a chance to buy lower cost smart phones, while providing them with better devices, based on inexpensive hardware designs created by Google.
The idea is to bring the latest Android version to the low-end segment. Android One phones are expected to retail for under $100 as announced by Google during I/O. Pichai said that the first release of these phones would be in partnership with Micromax, Karbonn Mobile, Intex, Celkon and Spice Mobile, some of India’s most popular smartphone manufacturers.
Today official ‘Block the date’ notifications from Google India were sent out for an event to be held on September 15th and most are expecting this to be the launch of the Android One program. Very little detail has been given as to the specifications of said phones, but Google did say that the Micromax smartphone would have a 4.5-inch display, dual-SIM support, an SD card slot, and an FM radio. We do know that Google will control the software, so the devices are expected to be running stock Android.
If successful, it is expected that Google will be expanding the program to other countries where affordability is more of an issue than in most western countries. Google has long had a goal of putting smartphones into the hands of 5 billion people around the word, so this could really be the start of something big, as the saying goes.
Sources: NDTV Gadgets/Android Headlines
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