Alcatel has announced that its Alcatel 1 Android Oreo Go smartphone is now available at Bell, Virgin Mobile, Lucky Mobile, Telus and Koodo stores across Canada.
According to a July 27th, 2018 media release, the phone will launch at PC Mobile and SaskTel later this year.
The Alcatel 1 features 5-inch, 480 x 960 pixels, 18:9 display, and comes with 8GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM.
The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6739 quad-core processor, and features a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, as well as a 5-megapixel selfie camera.
The Alcatel 1 also has a 2,000mAh battery that allegedly provides 350 hours of standby time and 12 hours of 3G talk time.
While these speaks are no doubt unimpressive, the device’s chief selling point is its incredibly low cost.
At carriers like Lucky Mobile, the Alcatel 1 costs $90 outright. Lucky Mobile parent company Bell, however, sells the phone for $109.99 outright.
Android Go
The phone runs a custom version of special version of Android 8.0 Oreo, dubbed ‘Android Oreo Go edition.’
The operating features an almost complete suite of default Android and Google applications, with the caveat being that each app is a trimmed down ‘Go’ version.
For instance, rather than providing users with access to Gmail, Go edition phones like the Alcatel 1 ship with Gmail Go.
The same is true for Google Maps and even Google Assistant.
Not only does each app provide limited functionality, each app also takes up less storage space overall.
The goal with Android Go is to provide an almost complete Android experience on smartphones that run with 1GB of RAM or less.
It’s also important to distinguish between Android Go, which is a trimmed version of Android designed to run on slower devices, and Android One, which are a line of low-cost, budget to mid-range phones sold in Google’s emerging markets.
Android One smartphones, like the HTC U11 Life outside of Canada, are designed to offer users the complete Android experience, but at a more affordable cost.
Source: Alcatel
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