Google announces lightweight OS - Android Oreo (Go Edition) in India to capture the next billion

Google is onto its third edition of the Google for India event and there were several India first innovations that were specially designed for the rapidly growing new smartphone users in India. The new version of OS is called the ‘Go Edition’ and is mainly built for entry level phones. India is the fastest growing smartphone market and also one of the most important market for new version of OS for Google as India currently has more Android users than the US. So Google’s Go Edition is pretty much in line with target that Google has set for itself - the next billion users. The new smartphone experience is designed for entry-level devices with Android Oreo. Google is partnering with entry to mid level smartphone makers for the Go Edition. Oreo devices with 512MB to 1GB of RAM will get all the optimizations that come with Android Oreo (Go edition).

Google is also in talks with developers especially in India to develop apps to suit the Go Edition. The new devices will come packed with pre-downloaded 'Go Apps'. Go Edition will have a Go version of the Google Search too, where the algorithm with remain the same but the way the search results are displayed will be different from the flagship version. Google Assistant Go too will be built to be lighter and more relevant to the new users. Apart from that, Google has a long list of ‘light’ apps to go with the ‘Go’ like Google Maps Go, Youtube Go, Gmail Go etc. Google also officially launched Files Go, a new app by Google that helps free up space, find files faster and share files offline with people nearby. With Files Go users apparently saved 1GB of space in a month and the app it seems is 200 times faster than Bluetooth for sharing files. Files Go was built from scratch for Go edition devices.

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However the Go Edition is not an altogether different operating system than the primary version of Android. Google says it is making sure the lightweight version is similar in experience. The phones running Android Oreo (Go edition) will hit shelves in the coming months. While the 'Go Edition' is built for India, it is not limited to the India market. Go Edition will be available globally.