Android One Coming to Budget Smartphones Next Week, Android L Update in October

Google has finally launched its first set of Android One smartphones in India, calling it a "larger initiative to bring high-quality smartphones to as many people as possible."

The three smartphones launched were the Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and Spice Dream Uno. They will be available for purchase in India starting from 3:30pm on Monday via online retailers. However, the smartphones will not be available in physical stores until early October.

Specs

Google has worked with partners to offer features that are considered important by Indians. They include dual SIM card slots, a FM radio tuner, and a microSD card slot for additional storage.

  • All three phones include the following specs:
  • 4.5-inch (480x854 pixels) IPS FWVGA display
  • 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 4GB of inbuilt storage
  • expandable storage support via microSD card up to 32GB
  • 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
  • a 2-megapixel front camera
  • Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G
  • 1700mAh battery

Apart from this, Google has ensured that apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Search, and Google Translate will come pre-loaded on the phones.

Price

All three smartphones are priced at Rs. 6,399.

Where To Buy

The Karbonn Sparkle V has been listed on SnapDeal and will be exclusive to that retailer. It comes in three colors: Magnum Blue, Mild Grey, Wild Red and Pearl White variants.

The Micromax Canvas A1 will be available in Black and White colour variants exclusively at Amazon.

The Spice Dream Uno will be available in Black and White colour variants exclusively at Flipkart.

Data Benefits

If that was not enough, the company also said that Airtel is offering a promotion to reduce data costs for Android One phone users. By using an Airtel SIM card, Android One users will be treated to free over-the-air (OTA) updates, apart from 200MB per month worth of app downloads from Google Play for the inital six months. The best part is that all this will not add toward their mobile data plan.

Offline Data YouTube App

Google also said that its YouTube app will get offline video playback in India in the coming weeks, allowing users to store videos on their smartphones.

Google