Google Debuts Oreo Go for Lower-End Smartphone

Google’s lighter version of Android Oreo is finally here.

Created for Smartphones with 512MB to 1GB of memory, Android Oreo (Go edition) offers a faster, more seamless experience for owners of lower-end phones. It will launch as a part of the Android 8.1 release tomorrow.

“We enhanced Android Oreo (Go edition) for speed and reliability on entry-level devices, which means the average app is now 15 percent faster on devices running Android Oreo (Go edition),” Android director of product management  Sagar Kamdar said. “There are many of these kinds of optimizations—and they really add up. If all entry level Android devices launched apps 15 percent faster, that would save the world a cumulative one million hours of time—every day.”

Oreo Go has been optimized and Google’s preinstalled apps revamped to use 50 percent less storage space on entry-level Smartphones. Android Oreo Go devices will come with Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, Gboard, Google Play and Chrome. Files Go, meanwhile, is a storage-saving app that “helps you clean up space and stay organized.”

“Whether it’s recommendations for removing spam, duplicate images or unused apps from your phone, Files Go is the perfect complement to the storage-maximizing features of Android Oreo (Go edition),” Kamdar said.

Handsets running Oreo Go also come with Google’s data saver features, which are turned on by default. Data Saver in Chrome, for instance, saves most users more than 600MB of data per year. Users can also customize which apps have permission to use background data with Oreo Go’s built-in data saver feature.

With Oreo Go launching as part of Android 8.1, Google’s OEM partners will soon be able to incorporate into their entry-level mobile phones. The devices should be available for sale in the coming months.