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Indian smartphone maker Micromax has announced its first Android Go device called Bharat Go. The phone follows the footsteps of the recently announced Nokia 1 and Lava Z50 that too are powered by Android Oreo (Go Edition), an initiative by Google to bring an improved software experience on entry-level devices. The Android Go smartphone from Micromax is rumored since January this year but its launch has since been delayed without the company stating any reason. The Bharat Go has finally been announced in the South Asian country at a price of Rs. 4,399 ($65). The smartphone maker has partnered with a local carrier Airtel to provide a cashback of Rs. 2,000 ($29) on the phone to bring down its effective price to Rs. 2,399 ($35).
As it was expected, the Bharat Go features a very basic set of internals, that helps bring the first-time smartphone buyers onboard by keeping the prices at their bare minimum. Over at the front, the handset features a conventional design while sporting a 16:9 display flanked by normal-sized bezels with the bottom one housing the three Android navigation keys. The display measures 4.5 inches and has an FWVGA resolution of 854 x 48 pixels. The internals of the phone include an entry-level quad-core MediaTek MT6737M processor and a Mali-T720 GPU together with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable flash memory. The dual-SIM phone supports 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS, and includes a battery of 2,000mAh. A 5-megapixel camera sits on both the front and back of the device paired with an LED flash. Being a part of the Android Go program, the phone comes running Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition) out of the box with a possible update to future OS releases.
Many major smartphone brands including Nokia, ASUS, Alcatel, and Lava have joined the bandwagon to announce their entry-level Android Go-based handsets in the market. Another Indian company Reliance Jio is rumored to be working on its Android Go phone expected to launch in the near future. Google’s Android Go program is targeted at emerging markets like India where the majority of users are still dependent on feature phones and need a cost-effective solution for switching to a smartphone without having to compromise on the user experience. The Android Oreo (Go Edition) comes pre-loaded with a number of Go apps for most of Google’s core services, like Maps Go, Google Go, Files Go, YouTube Go, etc., for a uniform experience across the device.