Android Go Features and Specs
A light version of Android O is underway and it is called Android Go. It promises to operate smoothly on the most inexpensive, entry-level devices.
It will make those devices with lower-performing processors, especially the ones with less than 1 GB of random access memory, work even better. This means users will soon be saying goodbye to lags in browsing, taking pictures, watching videos, and even gaming.
Since it was announced, people have been curious about whether or not Android Go is a new version of Android. As reported by Gadgets 360, Sameer Samat, vice president of product management for Android and Google Play who introduced Android Go last week during the Google I/O 2017 keynote, explained that "Android Go is not a new version of Android, it's not a different Android, it's a project name inside Google."
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"We call it Android Go — it's an internal name — but the OS that these partners will be shipping will be Android O -- there's no separate OS called Android Go," he added.
As Google will be focusing on devices with extremely low specs, Play Store will also be highlighting applications that can run on these, which are expected to be not more than 10 MB in size.
For example, the regular YouTube app will have a light, optimized version called YouTube Go. According to TechCrunch, it will sport a new feature that enables users to preview a video before loading it. Once the user decides to watch a video, the desired quality can be selected before the video is played to prevent it from consuming too much data. YouTube Go will even allow sharing between multiple Android Go devices with the use of peer-to-peer transfers.
As for what these devices are going to look like, according to CNET, it might take inspiration from the newly announced Moto C, which sports a low-resolution five-inch screen, 8 GB of storage, and low-quality cameras.
The first Android Go devices, which will run on Android O, are set to arrive in 2018.
