After initially touching down in a handful of East Asian countries including India, Bangladesh and Indonesia the Android One will arrive in the Philippines in the next fortnight.
In one of Google’s biggest product launches, the Android One programme offers a selection of affordable handsets which are manufactured in and tailored to regions of the world with lesser developed mobile communication and data networking. The products are made in accordance to a set of Google guidelines and specifications which is the basis of Android One.Also See: Google’s Android One Means Affordable Smartphones for India
Each of the handsets comes running Android 5.1 Lollipop but with none of the frills and modifications often thrown in by premium handset manufacturers, allowing first time smartphone owners to enjoy a fairly basic but functional Android experience at a budget-friendly price.
The pair soon to be launched in the Philippines are the MyPhone Uno and Cherry One. Both of these Android One handsets will feature 4.5 inch FWVGA IPS LCD display, Mediatek MT6582 quad-core processor (clocked up to 1.3GHz) with 1GB of RAM and internal storage of 4GB for the MyPhone Uno and 8GB for the Cherry One each are expandable through a MicroSD card port. The handsets come with a 5 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front facing camera and support use of Dual SIM cards.
Also See: Android One Gets Lollipop 5.1 Early
As seen in the specs smartphones following the Android One standard have a fairly cookie cutter format at the moment but Google has said the range will become more diverse as the programme expands.
Android One has even begun to reach the UK in the form of the Sparkle V by Indian manufacturer Karbonn Mobiles which was released during the Black Friday sales last November and comes from the same mould as the MyPhone Uno and Cherry One. The current price here for the Sparkle V is around £130 so this should give an idea of the price of the new handsets when released soon in the Philippines, however there is no release announced yet for the UK.