Why am I waiting for smartphones on Android One
The other day, Google held in India a presentation of the new Android One platform, which, however, is more correct to call not a platform, but a concept. Consequently, there will be (and already are) devices that correspond to it. In my opinion, the main reason for creating Android One is an attempt to restore order in the segment of entry-level smartphones. Because now there is going on a complete mess or, I would venture to use this word from the 90s, chaos.
Sundar Pichai talks about the features of Android One
I'll start from afar. Local brands are beginning to play an increasing role in the smartphone market. This is evidenced, for example, by the report of the analytical firm Juniper Research: they say, there are Apple and Samsung, which at the expense of their megapopular flagships still feel at ease and in terms of market share and in terms of money, while others seem to be serious global corporations (Sony , HTC, LG, Acer, ASUS, etc.), which suffer because of local brands that offer the same, but only markedly cheaper. In practice, however, everything is a little different: local brands offer the same thing - and even better! - according to specifications “on paper”, but in practice the level of devices they have is lower than that of Sony or HTC. But the buyer, especially the ignorant buyer, the majority of whom - he buys numbers: cores, gigahertz, inches, megapixels, millimeters, and so on. Buys - and then faces a number of problems that translate into tons of hatred towards Android in general. And the next time he did not buy a new budget Android-smartphone to buy, but a two-year iPhone. Is Google interested in this development? It is clear that no.
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What problems do I have in mind? Again, not without a preface. This or that device may have a very average hardware, but if you have a well-written firmware, it will be quite comfortable for them to use it. This is evidenced, for example, by the following fact: I dealt with two devices on the MediaTek MT6589, the same amount of RAM and the same screen resolution; on one, the Asphalt 8 triadish worked fine at maximum settings, and on the other even the Android interface was stupid. Because comrades from the first company optimized software, and the latter scored on it. The second option is found in local brands, alas, more often. Because the release of updates involves a thorough and scrupulous interaction with the Chinese factory, which produced the device of a local Russian brand. Meanwhile, bringing it to the market and forgetting about it is much easier than “cutting” updates for it. And, by the way, the organization of updates by air (OTA Update) requires a certain additional payment to the Chinese for the creation of infrastructure - server rental and so on. If you do not bother with all this, then the purchase price of a smartphone can be reduced and, as a result, earn more. Well, and image losses from a buggy brake smartphone - who thinks about this? Russian (and not only) businessmen care a little. Yes, some people are already on the right path and OTA Update support adds - for example, there is a corresponding option in all the Highscreen models I've seen, but there are a minority of brands with this approach.
Therefore, 90% of low-cost smartphones remain with the same versions of Android, with which they were sold. But this, as they say, is the little things in life: if any serious glitch is found in such a device (say, the launch of the Camera application, I have come across this), then they will not fix it. Because writing an update costs money that no one wants to spend. So the user will suffer with this glitch for a year or more, until he gets bored. And he will not replace his Android Android background on ... well, at least on the same used iPhone.
Against this background, Android One offers marvelous prospects: the devices of local brands (for now, only Indian brands, which, like Russian, are purchasing devices in China), will be updated directly from Google. At the same time, of course, chipset manufacturers will take an active part in the process - at first, this is only MediaTek, and then Qualcomm. In fact, the devices on Android One are such cheap Nexus from not-so-well-known companies. "Nexus" - with all the consequences, such as mandatory updates for a couple of years and instant updates with fresh versions of the OS.
I don’t know how and when Google will bring the Android One concept to the Russian market. But I want to believe that in the foreseeable future this will happen, and domestic brands will start to demonstrate a higher level of stability of their devices than today. With the design, the most advanced local brands have already figured out - it is better than it was a year ago, these smartphones almost learned to take a passable photograph too, Gorilla Glass, oleophobic coatings and Sharp / LG / Samsung screens are already found in them. It remains to deal with the software, with which, it turns out, everything is much more complicated than with iron. Well, perhaps, the doctor did come, and his name is Android One. The main thing is that the doctor quickly "catapulted" to Russia.
Sundar Pichai talks about the features of Android One
I'll start from afar. Local brands are beginning to play an increasing role in the smartphone market. This is evidenced, for example, by the report of the analytical firm Juniper Research: they say, there are Apple and Samsung, which at the expense of their megapopular flagships still feel at ease and in terms of market share and in terms of money, while others seem to be serious global corporations (Sony , HTC, LG, Acer, ASUS, etc.), which suffer because of local brands that offer the same, but only markedly cheaper. In practice, however, everything is a little different: local brands offer the same thing - and even better! - according to specifications “on paper”, but in practice the level of devices they have is lower than that of Sony or HTC. But the buyer, especially the ignorant buyer, the majority of whom - he buys numbers: cores, gigahertz, inches, megapixels, millimeters, and so on. Buys - and then faces a number of problems that translate into tons of hatred towards Android in general. And the next time he did not buy a new budget Android-smartphone to buy, but a two-year iPhone. Is Google interested in this development? It is clear that no.
')
What problems do I have in mind? Again, not without a preface. This or that device may have a very average hardware, but if you have a well-written firmware, it will be quite comfortable for them to use it. This is evidenced, for example, by the following fact: I dealt with two devices on the MediaTek MT6589, the same amount of RAM and the same screen resolution; on one, the Asphalt 8 triadish worked fine at maximum settings, and on the other even the Android interface was stupid. Because comrades from the first company optimized software, and the latter scored on it. The second option is found in local brands, alas, more often. Because the release of updates involves a thorough and scrupulous interaction with the Chinese factory, which produced the device of a local Russian brand. Meanwhile, bringing it to the market and forgetting about it is much easier than “cutting” updates for it. And, by the way, the organization of updates by air (OTA Update) requires a certain additional payment to the Chinese for the creation of infrastructure - server rental and so on. If you do not bother with all this, then the purchase price of a smartphone can be reduced and, as a result, earn more. Well, and image losses from a buggy brake smartphone - who thinks about this? Russian (and not only) businessmen care a little. Yes, some people are already on the right path and OTA Update support adds - for example, there is a corresponding option in all the Highscreen models I've seen, but there are a minority of brands with this approach.
Therefore, 90% of low-cost smartphones remain with the same versions of Android, with which they were sold. But this, as they say, is the little things in life: if any serious glitch is found in such a device (say, the launch of the Camera application, I have come across this), then they will not fix it. Because writing an update costs money that no one wants to spend. So the user will suffer with this glitch for a year or more, until he gets bored. And he will not replace his Android Android background on ... well, at least on the same used iPhone.
Against this background, Android One offers marvelous prospects: the devices of local brands (for now, only Indian brands, which, like Russian, are purchasing devices in China), will be updated directly from Google. At the same time, of course, chipset manufacturers will take an active part in the process - at first, this is only MediaTek, and then Qualcomm. In fact, the devices on Android One are such cheap Nexus from not-so-well-known companies. "Nexus" - with all the consequences, such as mandatory updates for a couple of years and instant updates with fresh versions of the OS.
I don’t know how and when Google will bring the Android One concept to the Russian market. But I want to believe that in the foreseeable future this will happen, and domestic brands will start to demonstrate a higher level of stability of their devices than today. With the design, the most advanced local brands have already figured out - it is better than it was a year ago, these smartphones almost learned to take a passable photograph too, Gorilla Glass, oleophobic coatings and Sharp / LG / Samsung screens are already found in them. It remains to deal with the software, with which, it turns out, everything is much more complicated than with iron. Well, perhaps, the doctor did come, and his name is Android One. The main thing is that the doctor quickly "catapulted" to Russia.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/237169/
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