Google will unveil the first Android One smartphones at a press conference in New Delhi. Sundar Pichai , Google’s senior vice president for Android, Chrome and Apps, will initiate the proceedings and will unveil his vision of bringing a great Android experience with timely software updates to $100 smartphones.
Pichai unveiled Android One at the company’s annual Google I/O developer event earlier this year. The promise is to bring the “pure” Android experience on affordable smartphones. Think about it as Google’s Nexus program but for mass market $100 smartphones.
The search giant announced the first Android One smartphones - the Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and Spice Dream Uno - will be available from their respective online retail partners in India from 3:30pm on Monday, with physical retail store availability in early October.
Micromax Canvas A1
Karbonn Sparkle V
Spice Dream Uno
The Karbonn Sparkle V will be available in Magnum Blue, Mild Grey, Wild Red and Pearl White colour variants exclusively via Snapdeal at Rs. 6,399, and the Spice Dream Uno will be available in Black and White colour variants exclusively via at Flipkart at Rs. 6,299. The Micromax Canvas A1 will be available in Black and White colour variants exclusively via Amazon, priced at Rs. 6,499.
Google says the Android One phones offer a high-quality experience, running the Android 4.4 KitKat. The company added these phones will be the first to receive the Android L release, and update that Google says will offer the new "material design, improved battery life, enhanced security features, and smarter notifications."
All 3 smartphones bear similar features hardware specifications, as well as "features particularly important to Indians" - dual SIM card slots, a FM radio tuner, and a microSD card slot for additional storage. Google apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Search, and Google Translate will come pre-loaded on the phones.
Apart from those listed above, common specifications of the Micromax Canvas A1, Karbon Sparkle V, and Spice Dream Uno include: a 4.5-inch (480x854 pixels) IPS FWVGA display; 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor; 1GB of RAM, 4GB of inbuilt storage; expandable storage support via microSD card (up to 32GB); a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash; a 2-megapixel front camera; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and a 1700mAh battery.
Google also announced that Airtel is offering a promotion to reduce data costs for those who buy Android One phones. With an Airtel SIM card, Android One users will get free over-the-air (OTA) updates, and 200MB per month worth of app downloads from Google Play for the first six months - all without counting toward their mobile data plan. Additionally, Google is touting the a data compression feature on Android One's Chrome browser.
The search giant also announced that in the coming weeks the YouTube app will get offline video playback in India, allowing users to store videos via Wi-Fi on their Android device, and watch them later without data connectivity.
Sundar Pichai, Google Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & Apps, announced an expanded set of hardware partners for the Android One initiative, including Acer, Alcatel Onetouch, Asus, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic, and Xolo, as well as chipmaker Qualcomm. The company also announced that Android One phones will launch in Indonesia, the Philippines, and additional countries in South Asia by the end of the year.
[ Source : Ndtv gadgets ]
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