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Google has been testing Android 8.1 on Pixel and Nexus devices for a few weeks, and the final version will begin rolling out Wednesday (December 6th). This is a minor update for existing phones, merely in that location'south an entirely new version of Android launching along with the 8.1 update. The previously appear Android Go version will finally become a reality, offer improved operation and an optimized feature set for entry-level devices.

Smartphones are getting incredibly powerful, merely they're also expensive. At that place are many areas of the world where depression-cost phones are still mutual. These phones might exist the but computing devices people have, and so it'south important they work well without gobbling up mobile data. That's why Google is launching Android Become, which was announced at I/O this year. Android Become consists of a modified Os, new Google apps, and a refined version of the Play Store.

Device makers will be able to use the Become edition of Oreo on devices with 512MB to 1GB of organisation retention. Many of these phones have as little every bit 8GB of internal space, so the operating system with optimized apps takes up one-half as much infinite. Additionally, there's the Files Get app, which just left beta. This app scans your storage and helps clear out erstwhile and indistinguishable files to brand the virtually of what fiddling space is bachelor.

Android Become is designed to use less mobile data, too. Not everyone is lucky enough to have admission to an LTE network that offers unlimited data, so Android Go has data saver turned on by default. Many of the apps, like YouTube Go, Chrome, and Google Go (search) are designed to use less information. Google Get, in particular, uses 40 percentage less data than the regular Google app, and information technology emphasizes offline caching and other data-saving features.

This isn't a unlike version of Android so much as it's optimized . Android Go is still Oreo under the hood. Information technology has the Play Store, Play Protect, and the core Android experience we've come to expect. You tin install any Android apps y'all want on an Android Get device, but the Play Store client has been optimized to suggest apps that are known to work well on entry-level phones.

Phones running Android Go will probably begin showing upwards in the coming months. While Android Go is not specifically restricted to any regions, information technology'due south unlikely we'll see much of Android Become in the Usa.

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