Google found a gap in between the performance of the mid-range and premium segment devices and how the entry-level smartphones worked. This led to the development of a special edition of Android called the Android Go. The Android Go is an OS developed for entry-level devices to give them the features of Android, without being too hard on the resources. As a result, the Android Go phones usually come with 1GB RAM or less. Now in a new turn of events, Google has announced the launch of the Android 10 Go edition. We know that Android 10 has already started to boot on some of the higher-end devices, but now Google has also introduced the Go Edition of its latest operating system.
Android 10 Go Edition: Major Highlights
During the grand Google event a few months back, Google announced that the Android 10 would come with some very exciting features like the Dark Mode, new gesture-based navigation, among others. The good thing with the release of the new Go edition is that this despite being the tricked down version of the actual Android 10, the Android 10 Go edition will also come with these features including Dark Mode, and new gestures. Another major feature which the users of Android 10 Go will experience includes the Adiantum encryption. While on the regular phones with enough resources, the encryption requires the push from hardware, the special thing about Adiantum encryption is that it won’t require any special hardware and will depend only on the resources present on the phone. Using this, the device will be able to render security similar to how the other Android 10 devices are secured. Moreover, encryption technology has been said to bear no negative effect on the normal performance of the device.
The Apps on Android 10 Go Edition
The applications on the Android 10 Go edition, and on any Go edition of Android for that matter, are smaller in size as compared to their standard counterpart. The gallery app, the YouTube app, which come with the ‘Go’ suffix is specially optimised for the Go edition of the operating system. This frees up more space for the users to store their files, music and other stuff on their entry-level phones which usually come with limited storage. This has been demonstrated by Google as it noted that the Gallery app in this version of the OS is only 10MB in package, the YouTube Go app will allow the users to stream videos even with a slow internet connection and some of the apps take support with on-device Machine Learning.
When Will Android 10 Go Reach Smartphones?
Now next is the question of when the users of these phones will be able to update their phone to the Android 10 Go edition. For that, a little insight would be to note that the rollout of the Go edition of Android has not followed the usual Android chronology. Instead, the Android Oreo Go edition was released for the smartphones after the launch of the Android Go edition. Currently, some of the popular entry-level smartphones in the market, including the likes of Redmi Go still run on the Android Oreo Go edition.
However, with this being said, there is one manufacturer which has been known to ship very early updates to all of its devices, and it is HMD Global. Now, HMD Global also has a device in its portfolio which comes with the Android Go edition, and it is the Nokia 1 Plus. So, it is expected that HMD Global could be the first device manufacturer out there to update its Nokia 1 Plus to Android 10 Go edition. Most likely, the other manufacturers will ship the Android 10 Go Edition out of the box in their upcoming smartphones. Google has announced that the Android Go OS is available across 180 countries, and it can be booted over more than 1,600 devices. As for the latest edition of the Android Go based on Android 10, we can expect phones coming next year to boot this version of the OS.
