New Year's resolutions smartphone manufacturers should make

Most Android users are aware of regular Android versions. The more latest versions are Android Oreo v8 and Android Pie v9. But we are seeing tweaks like Android Oreo (Go version), Android Oreo (Android One), Stock or Pure Android experience these days. Many may wonder what is the difference? Let us clarify it in this article.

Android Go

Android Go is designed primarily for low-budget entry-level Android smartphones. Users often face too much lag or have a very slow experience with phones in this category. Here we are talking about for example a 1 GB RAM phone with Mali 400 GPU and low spec MediaTek 6580 chipset. With such specs, you are going to have a pretty slow experience. If you have the Android Go version, apps like YouTube, Google Chrome, Google Maps and a few other popular ones will respond much faster. You also have apps like “Google Assistant Go”. Before this, Google assistant wasn’t available for 1 GB RAM phones. You also have so-called “Gboard” keyboard for autocorrect texts, voice typing etc. which also supports over 220 languages including Bangla or Bengali.

Another concern is the amount of ROM. Many of these entry-level phones have 8 GB ROM of which often just half of it is available as internal storage. So, users have difficulty to install more apps or save more multimedia files such as docs, pics, videos etc. In the go version, you will have double the available storage than regular as some optimizations have been done in the background and the built-in Google apps are 50% smaller in size.

Then we have the data manager to help you save data from your prepaid packages. Google Chrome comes with a built-in data saver which may help you to save up to 60% mobile data while browsing with Google Chrome. Another great feature is the built-in “find my device” feature. It means if your phone is stolen or lost, you can track it down via GPS (if the phone is turned on), remotely wipe or erase your files, set a passcode etc. There is also auto scanning to keep the phone virus or malware free.

Android One

Android One was first released in India for entry-level phones. But since then it has been developed further and now serving mostly mid-range phones. Android Go is now benefitting the low-budget gadgets. First of all, Google uses Android One to bring stock Android experience to smartphones from other brands such as Nokia 5.1 Plus, Xiaomi Mi A2, Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite, Infinix Note 5 and so on. You may find the latest Android One phones here. There are some optimizations in Android One including better battery performance. Background app activities will be prioritized and power-saving mode will work automatically when not in use. You are going to get the latest security updates for three years and the latest Android OS updates for two years which is another big deal. There are also many security features such as built-in “find my device”, Chrome “safe browsing protection” etc. You can also save unlimited amount in photos in Google Photos cloud platform. So, you won’t have much concern about internal storage.

Stock Android

Stock Android, Pure Android or Vanilla Android can be explained as the cleanest and most superior Android experience. If your phone is coming with stock Android, it means you get the OS as it is programmed directly by Google without any customization or modification from the manufacturer. You can delete any app you want as it is bloatware-free which means the manufacturer couldn’t install, fix and protect any apps by themselves. You are the one who chooses which apps to install in your phone from A to Z. You also don’t have any pre-installed skins or user interface (UI). Another big advantage is that you get the latest OS and security updates directly from Google which is the fastest. Any regular phone will get the update a few months later than you. Google Pixel phones are known for pure Android.

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