What is Android One and what does it mean for a normal Smart Phone buyer ?

From a consumer point of view, Android One is a new series of low cost Smart Phones which comes with an assurance of upgrades to latest version of Android whenever it is released by Google.

Issues associated with low cost smart phones

Android Smart Phones released by most of the mobile phone manufacturers are heavily customized and have ended up with bloatwares . Apart from customization, one of the other key issue is “Release it and forget it” attitude of device manufacturers. Most of manufactures never thing about upgrade of the Android version that comes along with the device. There is no point in blaming the manufactures as cost wise it won’t work out and the hardware capabilities may also won’t support the latest version of Android.

Android One – Google’s initiative to reclaim the Android space

Lately, Google have understood the reality and now it wants to consolidate this OS and device fragments and have started it’s initiative with low cost smart phones.  Since developing countries are the big markets of entry level smart phones, Google’s natural choice was India and now it’s been officially announced that Android One phones would be rolled out in India with partnership with Indian device manufactures ( !!! ? / Re-Sellers)  

Key Features

The below are the highlights of Android One (For India rollout)
1.    High End devices on budget ( 4+ inch screen with 1.3 Gz Processor and 1+ GB of RAM)
2.    Comes with Android 4.4.4 ( Latest version of KitKat)
3.    Guaranteed Upgrade of Android OS for at least next 2+ Years
4.    Packed with Google Apps ( No information on vendor specific apps are available)
5.    Vendor / Device  Manufacturer Specific Offers

In India , Google have entered into partnership with MicroMax, Karbon and Spice. The price range of Android One Smart Phone Starts at Rs 6000+ and is available in leading online stores like Amazon, Flipkart and Snap deal