Android One Goes Live in India!

Android One is a Google initiative set to bring an AOSP-like experience to some emerging markets like India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. It was officially announced at Google I/O back in June, but we had to wait couple of months to see this project in action. But we have good news for you, folks: Android One is a reality and is waiting for you!

Devices labeled as Android One will be produced by three major OEMs in India: Spice Mobile, Karbonn, and Micromax. The recently unveiled smartphones will ship with a quad-core 1.3 GHz Mediatek CPUs, two cameras (5 MP rear and 2 MP front) and a solid 1 GB of RAM. Google added some stuff that has since been deprecated in the Nexus line. Users will find three slots: one for microSD card and two for SIM cards. As a cherry on top, there is also a removable battery (we almost forgot that such technology still exists) that can be easily replaced.

Smartphones will be running a slightly modified version of Android with some regional enhancements like FM Radio. It’s similar to what we’ve seen in the Moto G/E lines. Google promised to bring updates to the upcoming Android L when it becomes available. This is quite an exciting news, as most of low-end devices are stuck on older versions of Android without a chance of upgrading. Well, not only low-end devices…

In India, these phones will come with support for seven languages—including English and Hindi—with multi-lingual support for many apps. Google has also announced an agreement with a mobile carrier, Airtel. Every user of this carrier will be getting free 200 MB to download their favorite applications from the Google Play Store. Google will also provide a modified version of YouTube allowing users to download movies and watch them later without using up their data allotment. The Android L update will (obviously) be available for free as well.

After India, Android One phones are set to make their way to other Asian countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal before the end of the year. Google also announced an agreement with some major OEMs like HTC, Asus, Acer, Panasonic, Lenovo, and Qualcomm. All these companies are joining the program.

The first Android One devices will go on sale in India today via the country’s three top retailers: Amazon, Snapdeal, and Flipkart. If you live in India, you can get them for 6,399 rupees ($105). Surely most of these devices will be added to the XDA India program as well. Are you getting one of these devices? Give us a note in the comment section below.

[via Google, The Verge and The Next Web]

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source: xdadevelopers