Gadget Helpline

Android One Hits Europe – General Mobile 4G Released in Turkey

—

by

Jay Curd
in , , , , , ,

After touching down in India and the Philippines, Google’s Android One will arrive in Turkey on the 15th of May, extending its reach into Europe with an LTE-enabled handset called General Mobile 4G.

Android One is a programme by Google which was introduced to allow mobile users in previously untapped markets to enjoy a scaled back version of its widely used Android operating system. The software on the Android One smartphones is based around the current Android 5.0 Lollipop but offering ease of use and updating directly from Google HQ. The handsets are also manufactured locally and to smaller budget making them affordable to most potential buyers.

The General Mobile 4G – a collaboration between Google and Turkish manufacturer General Mobile, will be a mid-range affair with ‘industrial design’ and costing the equivalent of around £165.

From translating the release information on the Turkey Google Official Blog we find this Android One smartphone has some fairly respectable specifications too. Including 5.0 inch HD 720p touchscreen display made with gorilla glass, 64-bit Snapdragon 410 processor clocked at 1.2GHz with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. The General Mobile also packs a 13-megapixel main camera with premium dual LED flash and has a 5-megapixel camera up front.

As mentioned in the product name to ability to connect to 4G data networks is a key feature. LTE is a relatively new thing for Turkey and the General Mobile 4G will be the first Android One mobile to offer connection to the fastest network standard.

Android One continues its journey from east to west but as of yet there are still no announcements to suggest a UK arrival but with at least half a dozen countries now covered we think it’s only a matter of time – particularly considering the ever growing entry-level smartphone market which is being quickly populated by the likes of the Sony Xperia and HTC.