Google launches android one

Google launches Android One smartphone program

The first news of this year’s Google I/O is a new initiative that the company calls Android One. The smartphone program strives to provide a unified feature set tailored-made for the market the phone is launching in.

The first smartphone to be part of the Android One comes from Micromax, one of the most popular smartphone brands in India. Its Android One smartphone packs features that are most important for users there. Those are FM Radio, Dual SIM support, microSD card and a low price.

The Micromax smartphone from Android One will cost under $100 — cheaper than the Motorola Moto E. The new smartphone also packs a 4.5″ display, but Sundar Pichai didn’t specify neither its resolution, nor further specifications.

The Android One program guarantees that the phones that come out of it will run on the most recent Android release, as Google will push updates to those phones similar to the way it handles GPE devices.

Sundar Pichai shared that besides Micromax, phone makers Spice and Karbonn are also taking part in Android One.

Reader comments

it was a promise by google that it would be running android l soon after nexus devices but its feb 2015 but no clue, is it going to come. its very bad of google.

I purchased the phone «Dream UNO» on 23rd of Sep 2014. I have used it for one month and I am really surprised after seeing performance of this phone. Here I am mentioning few likes and dislikes of above said phone Likes: 1) The pho.

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Google launches Android One in India with three new smartphones

15 September, 2014

After announcing it first back at I/O 2014, Google today finally launched the first Android One devices in India.

The first three phones to be launched are the Karbon Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and Spice Dream UNO. The Dream UNO is the cheapest at INR6,299 ($103), while the Sparkle V costs INR6,399 ($105) and the Canvas A1 costs INR6,499 ($106).

All three phones are being sold exclusively through three different online stores. The Karbonn Sparkle V will be sold on Snapdeal, the Micromax Canvas V1 through Amazon, and the Spice Dream UNO through Flipkart.

In terms of specifications, all three phones are based on Google’s reference design, and as such are pretty much identical. All three have a 4.5-inch, 854×480 resolution IPS display, MediaTek MT6582 SoC with 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU and Mali 400 MP2 GPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage space with microSD card slot, 5 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, FM radio, dual SIM support, and replaceable 1,700mAh battery. The only differences will be in the design and minor software enhancements.

The best thing about these phones is that they all run stock version of Android, 4.4.4 KitKat in this case. The phones will get OS updates directly from Google for two years since launch. These phones will also be first in line with the Nexus devices to get Android L, or any future release.

Google also has done partnership with Airtel, India’s biggest mobile carrier. Users on Airtel will be able to download Android updates for free (that is, without being charged for data downloads) for the first six months. Airtel users will also be able to download up to 200MB worth of apps from the Google Play Store every month, which won’t be counted towards their mobile data.

Another interesting feature is that Android One users will be able to download and watch YouTube videos offline, something not yet available on any Android device. They will also get one year free subscription to content on Google Play Newsstand. Apart from this, the individual online stores selling these phones also have additional offers available, including financing options, discounts on accessories, and free memory card.

India is just the first country to receive Android One. Google will be bringing Android One devices to other countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines and South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) by the end of the year, with more countries to follow in 2015.

There will also be other Androd OEMs, who will be joining Micromax, Karbonn, and Spice later. These include Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic, Xolo, and Qualcomm.

Android One is a great initiative by Google to bring smartphones to the masses. But with devices like Xiamomi Redmi 1s and Moto E (which are similarly priced and offer better specs) already on the market, not to mention the lack of availability of these phones outside the aforementioned online retailers, we would have to wait and see how successful it is.

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Download the Android One Launcher from the Xiaomi Mi A1 with Google Feed Enabled

Mid-2017В saw Android developer Amir Zaidi (who goes by AmirZ on Reddit) release aВ rootless port of the Google Pixel Launcher, which added the Google Now panel to the home screen of unrooted devices. It was the first of its kind to do so, and it brought with it a new wave of third-party launchers such asВ Lawnchair and new versions of Nova Launcher with Google Now integration. This week,В AmirZ extracted the Android One Launcher — the Android home screen pre-installed on Android One devices — from the Xiaomi Mi A1 with a working Google Now feed, and shared details of how he managed to do so.

There isn’t a lot to distinguish the Android One Launcher from the stock Google Pixel Launcher. The former has a few UI changes, including a slightly different-looking application dock, a redesigned app drawer, and the Google Search bar in a new location. But the differences are mostly aesthetic.

As for howВ AmirZ made the change, the method was extremely simple and basically the same as how XDA Senior Member paphonb got the Google Pixel Launcher with the Google Now panel to work all devices. Because the Android One Launcher retains the same package name as the original version, it can receive information from the Google application, which allows it to access and display the Google Now panel. The problem is that it doesn’t work on any device — not without the launcher built as a debuggable application by the Android system. So AmirZ’s modded version does a few things, including allowing the application to have its logs managed by Android itself. This is defined in the AndroidManifest.xml file, which houses a number of the application’s parameters:

Once the change was made, AmirZsimply re-signed the application with a new key (as he cannot get Google’s original Android One Launcher key) and re-packaged it.

You can download the modified launcher down below, but you will need to make sure that you do not have the Google Pixel Launcher or the Android One Launcher already installed on your device.

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Google launches Android One smartphone program Comments

it was a promise by google that it would be running android l soon after nexus devices but its feb 2015 but no clue, is it going to come. its very bad of google.

I purchased the phone «Dream UNO» on 23rd of Sep 2014.
I have used it for one month and I am really surprised after seeing performance of this phone. Here I am mentioning few likes and dislikes of above said phone

Likes:
1) The phone is snappy/fast in operation. Performance exceptionally well (Some times you may wonder whether this has processor of Mediatek or Qualcomm processors). Seems like Google has tweeted/optimized software in this phone.
2) The touch response is good.
3) The GPS reception is very good. (Normally in other mediatek chipset the GPS locking time did take little more time than than in this one).
4) Slim and handy.

Dislikes:
1) Rear Camera clarity/ Resolution/ Exposure is less.

seee.moto e doesnt have front camera. google not announced yet about update about moto e camera is fixed focused. so why to go with moto e guys

Useless phone. No GPU and bad resolution. Pay 500 bucks more and you get much much better moto e ( best phone in this class with GPU and qualcomm processors).

ashu, 28 Sep 2014 Sir, do you think it is competent to nexus? No, according to hardware it cant be compared, but according to reliability and update guarantee it can be compared to the nexus.

Sir, do you think it is competent to nexus?

beerBear, 13 Aug 2014 @all for all those of you ranting about sundar pichai being an Indian AND supporting fellow I. more Looking forward to own one soon, i have been using iphone since 2007 but its time to change to a new bright future.

this one is good phone as per prize

abhi, 21 Sep 2014 android one is the better than the chines xiaomi smartphone u know ? the chines product No war. more lenovo is also a chines product

the xiaomi mi3 is has a best quality hardware compared to those cheap mediatek processors

android one is the better than the chines xiaomi smartphone u know ? the chines product No warranty or guarantee

Anonymous, 18 Sep 2014 Asus zenfone 4 and xiomi redmi 1 is batter dan android one I don’t think so as latest update and better hardware make it best then those

Asus zenfone 4 and xiomi redmi 1 is batter dan android one

I’ll any day go for Google instead of stupid Xiomi !!

these three companies won’t be able to beat xiaomi, due the the small screen size, less battery power, and high price range, as compare to redme 1s.

sharon, 09 Aug 2014 will u plz tell me the micromax android one phone launching date.i’m waiting 4 that Sep 15 amezon.in

isn’t xiomi redmi 1s at 5999 already a $ 100 device with hd screen, 8 mp camera, 1 gb ram and 1.3 ghz chip ?

• chuck dalinger utV
• 19 Aug 2014

Should have been minimum with MT6572 from Mediatek, with 1-1.5 GB RAM, and 5 inch screen with ppi above 200, Micromax & Xolo, they’re better bets for Android One.

@all
for all those of you ranting about sundar pichai being an Indian AND supporting fellow Indian companies:

— name a single country which has:
a. open policy

b. growing market as big as asian economies

c. has so called OEM(s) in place trying to sell their mobile devices

d. to me it’s a tie b/w China and India; India being slightly on the brighter side AS it’s not a mil. controlled economy/govt

— if you have seen Google I/O 2014 keynote then you would precisely understand THAT Google:

a. they will qualify quality components and OEMs who will strictly follow guidelines set under Android One initiative.

b. micromax/spice/karbonn won’t go and sell their «own» design by default! They have to follow the design/components/software guidelines set by Google hence the initiative from Google!

so much mis informed.. :/ I pity on those all ranting about Google/sundar/Indian OEMs

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Google launches Android One, bringing India $105 smartphones

Program to expand to more countries by the end of the year.

Ron Amadeo — Sep 15, 2014 4:30 pm UTC

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Today, Google is launching «Android One» in India, an effort to get high-quality, cheap smartphones into the hands of people in developing countries. Google provides a reference design to OEMs, which then build devices to Google’s spec. The devices run stock Android, and Google provides all the updates—you can think of it as a non-flagship version of the Nexus program.

Google has high hopes for Android One, as its blog says it hopes to reach «the next 5 billion» people with the program. Google says only 1.75 billion people have a smartphone, leaving over five billion potential Android users out there.

Most of those five billion people don’t have any Internet access at all. These smartphone statistics line up pretty well with stats for the world’s disconnected: only one-third of the world is online. A big part of getting online is having a device that can download and render the Internet, and smartphones are the smallest, cheapest Internet browsers we have. Google isn’t doing anything to ensure that its Android One phones come with Internet service, but it no doubt hopes getting devices into the hands of users will drive demand for cheap Internet access.

The initial set of Android One devices are from Indian OEMs Karbonn, Micromax, and Spice. Given that they’re all built from Google’s reference platform and run stock Android, the phones are pretty similar. The big deal is the price, which starts at Rs 6,299, or about $103.

The three devices each have an exclusivity deal with a major online India retailer. The Micromax Canvas A1 is on Amazon, the Karbonn Android One Sparkle V Blue is on Snapdeal.com, and the Spice Android One Dream UNO Mi-498 is on FlipKart. The prices for the three devices are all give or take a few dollars, and they all seem to share a 4.5-inch 854×480 IPS LCD, a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 SoC, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a 5MP rear camera with flash, 2MP front camera, 1700 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a microSD slot, dual SIM cards, and an FM radio. Best of all, they all run the latest version of Android, KitKat, without any skins.

Further Reading

As one of the most populous countries in the world (and Android head Sundar Pichai’s country of origin), India was a natural choice for the launch of Android one, but Google has big expansion plans ahead. The company will be moving on to Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal by the end of the year, and it will be adding more hardware partners to the program. Google specifically mentioned Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, Asus, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic, Xolo and Qualcomm as future partners.

$100 for a smartphone might seem like a dirt cheap price to some, but keep in mind that the average yearly income per person in India is only about $1,500. No one in the USA spends a fifteenth of their yearly income on a smartphone. We’re still a long way away from something that would be considered «cheap» in India. Cheaper alternatives exist, but Google is trying to strike a balance between «cheap» and «good» with Android One.

If the company ever really hopes to reach five billion people, though, smartphones will need to get a whole lot cheaper.

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