what is android one

What is Android One?

Android One is a Google programme where it is partnering with phone companies to create "high-quality" but low-cost Android smartphone. The programme was announced in June by Pichai and India is the first country where the company is launching Android One phones.

According to Google, Android One programme is its attempt to create affordable smartphones so that billions of people who still use a feature phone can buy a smartphone. Of course, this is the stated aim. We suspect that Google has one more motive. With Android One it also wants to wrest back the control of the Android ecosystem from companies like Samsung, Sony and LG.

I get that. But how are Android One phones different from other Android phones? After all, other Android phones also use Google's Android.

True, other Android phones also use Google's Android. But barring the Nexus phones, most of these devices use AOSP version of Android, which is the barebones version of the OS. Different phone companies take AOSP and then put their own user interface and apps in it. They also remove and add features. The end result is not exactly the Android that Google wants you to have. It is the Android that Samsung, LG or HTC want you to get.

For high-end phones, these customisations work decently well. But in the low-end phones, which don't have powerful hardware, the performance suffers.

Android One is different. First of all, it has- despite its similarities with the regular version of Android - some extra customisation that makes it more suitable to low-end hardware. At least that is what Google says. Second, it doesn't have any third-party user interface or unnecessary features. It is the version of Android created by Google. This means when you buy an Android One phone, you get the Android experience that Google has designed for you and not Micromax or Spice.

With normal Android phones, the company selling the phone is responsible for choosing right hardware and software for the devices. For Android One phone, Google is in the driver's seat. It finalises the hardware and software.

More importantly, Google is also responsible for delivering software updates to Android One phones. This means you can expect Android One phones to get latest version of Android - next is Android L -- without much delay unlike normal low-end Android phones, which are rarely updated. Google is promising that every Android One phone will get updates for at least two years.



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