Google has launched the first set of Android One smartphone in India as a part of larger initiative to bring high-quality smartphones to as many people as possible. The first set of smartphone include include Micromax, Spice And Karbonn as manufacturer and the Android One smartphones are – Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1 and Spice Dream UNO Mi-498. All the smartphone available from their respective retail partners in India from today and the all the smartphone will be available in retail store in early October.
At the launch, Sundar Pichai, Google Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & Apps, said,
“If we look at how people are getting online and accessing information today, increasingly it’s through a smartphone. While 1.75 billion people around the world already have a smartphone, the vast majority of the world’s population—over five billion more—do not. By working closely with phone and silicon chip makers to share reference designs and select components, we’re making it easier for our partners to build phones that are not just great to use, but also affordable. 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.”
The Karbonn Sparkle V will be available in Magnum Blue, Mild Grey, Wild Red and Pearl White colour variants and it is exclusively available via Snapdeal at a price tag of Rs 6,399. The Spice Dream UNO available in Black and White colour variants and it is exclusively available via Flipkart at a price tag of Rs. 6,299. The Micromax Canvas A1 available in Black & White colour variants and it is exclusively available via Amazon at a price tag of Rs. 6,499.
The first set of Android One smartphone based on Android One reference hardware, comes with Stock Android KitKat software, upgradeable to future updates and will get software updates directly from Google. The first set of Android One smartphone will get updates for two years and they are the some of the first phones to get the new Android L update. All the smartphones have different design but have same specifications.
Google also announced that, it has support for Indian languages. All these smartphones get 200MB of 3G data per month for six months from Airtel for app downloads and 100MB per month for six months for Android software updates. In addition to this, Google is touting data compression feature on Android One’s Chrome browser.
Google has also partnered with other OEMs such as Acer, Alcatel, ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic, Xolo and chipmaker Qualcomm for Android One smartphones. In 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. Google also unveiled that Android One phones will launch in Indonesia, the Philippines and additional countries in South Asia by the end of the year.
