Google’s Android Go Edition software promised a streamlined software experience for low-end phones with little memory and storage and slow processors. Phones that ship with Android Oreo Go Edition can run apps including Google Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, and YouTube Go with stripped down user interfaces and lower data consumption.
But one thing Google never promised? That Go edition phones would run stock Android software.
So far most Go edition devices have done so. But a few leaked images from SamMobile allegedly show Samsung’s first Go edition phone show that it has the same kind of custom skin as Samsung’s other phones.
The phone is said to be the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core, and there are two things that are clear from the pictures:
- There are Go edition versions of some Google apps installed on the phone.
- The phone seems to have the Samsung Experience UI (formerly known as TouchWiz).
It’s possible these pictures are fake, or that they show a real device that isn’t necessarily going to ship with Android Oreo Go Edition. Someone might have just loaded the Go apps on it.
There’s no word on when the Galaxy J2 Core will launch, what markets it will be available in, or how much it will cost. Honestly, the only thing that’s particularly interesting about it is that it’s a reminder that Android Go doesn’t mean stock Android. For that you’ll want an Android One device or a Google Pixel.
So, they took the most promising feature of Android Go and got rid of it?
Huh.
Small typo in the article: “most Go edition devices have don so”
(“don” should be “done”)
I am hoping this is a fake. It makes no sense at all to add crap on top of an Android Go phone. The resources on these phones are amazingly small. 512 MB of RAM doesn’t leave much room for extras.
.
As for Android One, I am loving it!