Lava Z50 becomes India's first Android Go smartphone
Indian phone maker Lava International has launched the first Android Go smartphone in the country called the Z50. This comes right after big brands like Nokia, ZTE and Alcatel have unveiled their respective Android Go smartphones for global markets at the ongoing Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. The Z50 will be available in over 1,00,000 retail outlets after March 15 for Rs. 5,000.
Android Go is an optimized OS for low-end phones
The Android Go operating system (OS) by Google is an optimized version of the latest Android Oreo OS which is specially designed for low-configuration smartphones. It runs the Lite version of several Google apps, which load faster, use less data and take up less space.
The Z50 will run the Lite version of Google apps
This means that instead of Google Assistant, Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube, the Lava Z50 comes preloaded with Assistant Go, Maps Go, Gmail Go and YouTube Go, respectively. The device also has a data saver mode integrated into the OS itself, and its Google Play Store is designed to highlight apps that will run smoothly on Android Go.
Specifications of the Lava Z50 smartphone
The budget smartphone features a 4.5-inch display that has a resolution of 854x480p. It has 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage that can be increased via a microSD card. The Lava Z50 is powered by the entry-level MediaTek MT6737m processor.
Some Android Go phones will cost less than Rs. 3,500
While the Z50 costs Rs. 5,000, Google had earlier said that certain Android Go smartphones will not be priced over $50 (or approximately Rs. 3,247). Those Android Go devices will probably have a bigger and more substantial impact on the market since for Rs. 5,000, Indian users already have much better options like Amazon's 10Or D or Xiaomi's Redmi 5A smartphones.
