Google announces its Android 13 Go Edition

Google just announced the low-end version of its smartphone operating system, Android. Back in August, Google announced the release of Android 13 in August 2022. Android 13 comes with a heavily customized software skin that can be smoothly run only on high-end smartphones. Because of this, Google has now announced the Android 13 Go Edition which is made while keeping low-end Android smartphones in mind.  Android Go editions are not new, but instead a five-year-old concept. The creation of the Go edition was done to support Android smartphones which have low-end SoC. As the Android versions progressed starting from Android 1.0, it started favoring the high-end chipsets more. This is mainly to showcase the capabilities of Android and to showcase the levels of customization. But for the people who are using low-end devices, the newer versions of Android have always been impossible to run smoothly. Because of this, many smartphone manufacturers who produce low-end smartphones, ship their phones with Android 10 or Android 11 out of the box. To workaround this dilemma and to support low-end devices with the latest security updates, Google has now announced the Go edition of their latest version of smartphone OS, Android 13. According to Google, Android 13 Go has all the basic functionalities of Android 13, along with the latest security features. Following this theme, Google has also titled their blog post regarding Android 13 Go as, Easier to update and tailored just for you. Google has introduced the following features in Go edition devices.  Google Play System Updates Along with the weak cheapest, the low-end devices also have limited storage space. Because of this, it is unconventional for these devices to download the OTA update and then install it. Hence, Google has introduced the Google Play System Updates feature which allows users to directly get the latest software updates on their low-end devices. With this feature, the users will not have to worry about the limited storage and will be able to simply update their devices. As the phones using Android 13 Go edition will be updated through Play Store, the users will not have to rely on OEMs for getting the latest updates.  Customized content for the users Google has implemented AI-based features in Android Go to deal with the limited processing power. Android 13 Go edition comes with a special feature called the Discover feature. Using the Discover feature, users can get articles, news, and media recommendations based on their usage.  Android 13 Material You theming For the first time, Google has brought the Material You theming to Android Go. The Android 13 Go edition lets the user customize their devices based on the color of the wallpaper applied. This will provide a sleek user interface, making the device feel more unique and updated.  Latest Android 13 features Along with the Material You theming, Google has also provided the latest features of Android 13 into the Go edition to provide low-end device users with the latest Android experience. Android 13 features such as notification management, preferred app language settings, and much more. According to Google, the initial devices with the Android 13 Go edition out of the box, will be released in 2023.