Android One to revolutionise the smartphone demand

 With the aim to capture some of the potential of rising desire of smartphones as well as their high growth potential, the search giant Google along with homegrown domestic phone makers Micromax, Karbonn and Spice has presented the Android One range of affordable phones to India. The Android One phones offer a high-quality experience, running the latest version of Android (4.4 KitKat). They will be some of the first phones to get the new Android L release - an update that will offer Google’s new material design, improved battery life, enhanced security features, and smarter notifications. In terms of hardware, the phones feature front- and rear-facing cameras, 1G of memory, fast quad-core MediaTek processor, long battery life as well as features particularly important to Indians, including dual SIM slots, a FM radio tuner, and a microSD card slot for additional storage.

Through Google Play, Android One phones have access to over one million apps that allow people to message friends, make video calls, socialize, check news and weather, and play games. Google apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Search, and Google Translate will come pre-loaded on the phones.

Sundar Pichai, Google Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & Apps, said, "With Android One, we not only want to help people get online, we want to make sure that when they get there, they can tap into the wealth of information and knowledge the web holds for everyone."

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.

Market watchers believe that the latest launch will help Google to further strengthen its position in smartphone assembly line, an area which Google was trying to expand for a long time. The launch of Google’s Nexus series of smartphones and the acquisition of Motorola back in May 2012, were also in-line with Google’s latest initiative.

With Android One, Google is offering the standard hardware specifications for all the device makers, which reduces the chance to make any changes to the devices and sets a low standard. Moreover, it also helps reducing the chances of bugs and errors arising during trouble shooting or at the time of hardware/software compatibility.