Google splits Android in half – Budget phones get Android Go
Anyone walking around Silicon Valley will soon understand how it is possible that employees of large companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook end up in a bubble. Nice weather, electronics stores with mostly expensive phones on their shelves, wide roads and broad internet connections are things you get used to quickly, so it’s hard to imagine how software works elsewhere in the world. For the past few years, companies have therefore been trying to get their employees out of that bubble. For example, Facebook has set up ‘2g tuesdays’, working days on which everyone works via an internet connection with the speed of 2g, which for many people in the world is the fastest internet they have.
Google never took that into account with Android. The mobile operating system can adapt to all kinds of hardware and therefore runs on anything and everything, but the presence of a solid internet connection and large data bundles is always assumed. Until now, because from 2018 Google will split its operating system into two parts. Phones with 1.5GB of ram or more get the regular edition of Android. For budget phones comes Android Go, an operating system that is designed from head to toe for slow internet connections, tight data bundles and limited hardware.
Go
At developer conference I/O it turned out not yet possible to try Android Go; the operating system is simply not ready yet. However, YouTube Go was released some time ago, an app with functions for slower connections. For example, users can see in advance how much data a video will cost, and they can download it in advance and share it offline via a p2p connection with people nearby.
With Android Go, other Google services are also getting a similar makeover. The interface will be simpler, the updates will be smaller and many more functions will be available offline. In addition, control over data use is central. That is why the settings menu, in consultation with providers, will give you the option to immediately purchase additional data.
In the Play Store there will be a section with apps that are optimized for minimal use of data, memory and space on the device. For example, it will contain Facebook Lite, the light version of the Facebook app that was recently released in the Benelux. Chrome has Data Saver enabled by default, a feature where Google requests and compresses the pages and then sends the compressed version to the user. Gboard is also getting Go adjustments. It is not yet known whether the interface will deviate further from ‘standard’ Android.
Google has not shown how, for example, the home screens will work and what the main menu looks like. It is obvious that some functions that require a lot of memory or data will not be used. In a session Friday morning , some Google developers showed part of the interface. For example, the menu with recent apps has been made simpler with windows below each other and the number of recent apps has been limited to four.
In addition, the Play Store will be adjusted to, for example, postpone updates until users can use cheaper mobile data in the evening and at night.
There is also the option to show a toggle in the quick settings with how much data the users still have left. There is also a toggle that displays a percentage of the amount of storage the phone has left.
Android Go initially needs 512MB of RAM and is intended for phones with a memory of up to 1GB. Later, it is likely that other phones with more memory will be able to use Go.
Android O beta
It was perhaps Google I/O’s biggest teaser, in a session titled “What’s New in Android O?” the developers who gave the presentation hinted that at the end they would reveal something that many Android fans have been waiting for, the final name of Android O. In the meantime, they discussed all the features, but almost nothing is new.
The most important thing is limiting background processes on apps. If users send apps to the background, for example by pressing the home button, the app is given another ten minutes to perform background tasks. After that, Android closes all background processes automatically. If apps still want to do something, they have to rely on the JobScheduler, a way in Android to bundle tasks from various apps and wake up the phone once in a while.
In addition, apps in the background are no longer allowed to use GPS. Instead, they simply get the last known location and they have to make do with that. In addition, Google makes app scanning more visible with Google Play Protect. Users can now also choose to scan all their apps for malware at once in the Play Store. If Google finds anything, it may remove the app in question.
The biggest novelty is in the notification bar. The toggles look slightly different and the settings shortcut has been moved from the top to the bottom. With that he leaves the location where he has been for six years. App icons will also have the option to show notifications. A dot indicates that there is a notification and a long press on it gives the option to read it. An icon in the notification bar is already an invitation to click, but a dot on an icon will be something many people want to get rid of quickly. It will also be possible to discard the notification from the window that appears with a long press on the icon. The feature doesn’t yet work on the Pixel with the Android O beta we flashed.
Also new is picture-in-picture for apps, for those who want to run a Netflix series in the background. It also works with YouTube, but you need a Red subscription for that, which you cannot purchase in the Netherlands. In addition, there is a new way of selecting text, in which the software automatically tries to recognize addresses, URLs and personal names and select them in one go. That also doesn’t work on our Pixel yet, nor does autofill, a way to automatically fill in usernames and passwords in apps based on Chrome’s already existing database of usernames and passwords.
Conclusion
It is the first time that Google splits Android into a variant for cheap phones and one for more expensive models. It’s a striking move that says a lot about how the search giant thinks about smartphones and how they should work. It seems like a step for developing countries, but there is more to it. It makes Android more usable on many more phones. Such phones do not offer an optimal user experience, but that could at least get a little better with Android Go.
For fans of Nexus phones and Pixels, this may not be big news, but for those who don’t want to spend a lot on smartphones and mobile plans, Android Go, when it is available from the first half of 2018, could make a big difference.