The tech sector loves to talk about how the next billion smartphone users will come online. Google has backed one option, the feature phone-based KaiOS, as well as putting work into a modified version of its platform, Android Go edition. The company has been able to claim success with Go as over 80% of entry-level Android phone purchases in the last 18 months. Now, Google has given Android 10 its own Go edition, hoping to capitalize on recent performance improvements, feature additions, and size savings to its apps.

The biggest and, yet, most understated changes have made way for 10% faster app loads and much quicker app switching than with Android 9 (Go edition). Also, as Android 10 now requires all devices to have encryption, the latest Go edition will take advantage of Google's new Adiantum method — it takes fewer resources and less time than typical AES processes on low-end hardware while still keeping files secure.

With the Go versions of Google's apps, each of them has been updated on a frequent basis and will shine better on Android 10: Google Go now has an AI text narration feature and Google Lens, Gallery Go cuts down the app's size to just 10MB, and third-party apps — Facebook Messenger, Spotify, Twitter, and Uber to name a few — have started to make considerations for Go as well. All of this goes towards freeing up twice the amount of user-accessible storage than there would otherwise be on an 8GB disk.

Android 10 Go edition, intended for use on devices with 1.5GB of RAM or less, is expected out this season.

Source: Google