Android One Phones from Micromax, Spice and Karbonn Launched for Rs. 6399

Android One, the initiative announced by Google recently, is finally turned to reality by the creator of Android OS, and this initiative is done by the collaboration with three Indian smartphone brands initially – Micromax, Karbonn and Spice. Google’s aim with Android One project is to give the users an experience of the pure Android with latest ROM, regular and automatic updates.

One of the important things taken care of, is the local language support in the Android One devices. According to Sundar Pichai, Senior VP, the devices include support for six additional languages except Hindi. The three initial partners are going to sell their first Android One devices on different stores.

• Micromax – Amazon.in (Micromax Canvas A1)
• Spice – Flipkart (Spice Android One Dream UNO Mi-498)
• Karbonn – Snapdeal (Karbonn Sparkle V)

Interestingly, the Android One phones from these three brands have similar specifications and no different pricing. It’s the 4.5-inch screens, quad-core processor, MicroSD card slot, latest Android version in each of the three devices. But what’s the advantage and how is this project different from the current Android smartphone scene? According to Google, the users will get 200MB of free data usage per month for Android updates, for the first six months and that would be with Airtel SIM. In fact, Bharti Airtel and Reliance are the two carriers to have joined into this project.

The plan was to bring out devices under the $100 mark, but the actual pricing set for these Android One handsets, is Rs. 6399 which does break the barrier but does not make much difference, because there is a scarcity of some good smartphones in this particular price range, although the recent players have brought in some excellent phones, only to be seen out-of-the-stock and available through flash sales. Google has to answer a few questions here, as the strategy looks quite different from what it was when the Android One project was announced. Why choose only online retailers when this was initially to reach the population in both urban and rural areas?

Now, the main question here is whether Android One is going to make a real big impact, especially after the consumers got their eye recently on the popular Chinese brands, which entered the Indian market?

The Android One project is going to expand by the end of 2014, and apart from India, Indonesia, Phillippines and other South Asian countries will be seeing the Android One devices. And apart from Micromax, Spice and Karbonn, the other brands like Alcatel, Panasonic, Asus, Acer, Xolo and HTC will join in to make Android One phones.