Google launch Android 1, a budget smartphone for 6,399 rupees - $105
Google by introducing a budget smartphone is trying to hit 2 birds with one stone, first it would like to dominate the south and south east Asia mobile OS market (Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.), and at the same time tries another approach to partnering with mobile-phone maker by dictating the phone specifications for a common model, instead of simply providing a mobile OS.
Head of Android in India, Sundar Pichai, said the Android One that the phones would be sold for as low as 6,399 rupees ($105) if bought contract-free.
Our goal was to develop high quality smartphones at an affordable price, with access to connectivity, done at scale around the world,... We provide our OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] a menu, effectively....They can choose the CPU [central processing unit], the GPU [graphics processing unit], the storage, the type of battery, the type of camera....It really saves them a lot of effort in terms of identifying the right hardware [and] doing all the testing you need to do to get the software to run on this hardware....We tune it, we work out the bugs… we keep it secure, we update it and so on.
Android 1 are produced by 3 companies but have same specs:
a 4.5in (11.4cm) display
1GB of RAM (random-access memory)
a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front one
a quadcore processor sourced from Taiwanese company Mediatek
the ability to run the next version of Android, due for release soon
they are also tailored to suit the local markets by including a micro-SD slot, a replaceable battery, a built-in FM radio and the ability to support two Sim cards simultaneously.