Not way back, a low-profile program known as Android One appeared prefer it might be simply the one-two punch Android wanted.
Android One, like numerous Google initiatives, has had an extended and winding historical past with loads of twists and turns. When Android One first got here into the image in 2014, it was described as an effort to “make high-quality smartphones accessible to as many individuals as doable.” The main focus was squarely on bringing reasonably priced telephones with distinctive experiences to rising markets — locations like Pakistan and India, the place it might be “exhausting for individuals” to “get their fingers on a high-quality smartphone,” as Google put it on the time.
However that was simply the beginning of Google’s Android One ambitions. Three years later, in 2017, Google expanded this system with the launch of Android One telephones in locations like Japan, Taiwan, and ultimately the USA. The corporate modified its description of the trouble from that unique small-scale focus to the a lot broader imaginative and prescient of a “collaboration between Google and [its] companions to ship a software program expertise designed by Google,” with a assure of moderately well timed ongoing working system updates and an expertise that’d be free from all of the bloat and shenanigans baked into so many Android merchandise.
Sound acquainted? It ought to. It is mainly the similar idea we see with Google’s personal self-made Pixel telephones, solely scaled down a bit and with different producers concerned. Or, to zoom again even additional into Android nerdland, it is extremely much like what we used to see with Google’s Nexus telephones many moons in the past — the place Google would usher in different phone-makers to deal with the {hardware} however then preserve full management over the software program, assist, and total person expertise itself. (Within the Nexus situation, after all, the telephones have been branded as Google gadgets. However that surface-level distinction apart, the state of affairs is nearly eerily comparable.)
Over the previous few years, Android One has grown increasingly more mature, with a lineup of impressively first rate budget-level and even midrange gadgets made by the likes of Nokia, LG, Motorola, and a handful of different firms. These telephones have constantly been forward of the pack relating to the ever-important space of Android upgrades, with post-sales assist that places most different choices — together with those who value 4 to 5 instances as a lot — to disgrace.
Recently, although, one thing unusual has been taking place. The once-thriving Android One program appears to have quietly pale into an virtually forgotten footnote. The tempo of latest gadgets exhibiting up in this system’s digital cabinets has slowed right down to a trickle, and the telephones that are nonetheless alive and kickin’ inside the Android One partitions are failing to fulfill their one-time guarantees of quick and frequent software program updates.
So what on this planet is going on? I am a curious creature, and I discovered myself scratching my wooly man-noggin to little outcome (except for itch satiation) attempting to determine it out. So I made a decision to dig slightly deeper to see what I may discover. And, effectively…
The Android One oddness
Let’s begin with the primary entrance — the dearth of current Android One gadgets and the obvious lack of consideration Google is devoting to this system (a program for which it had beforehand promised to supply “main promotional {dollars},” in keeping with a 2017 report).
All you’ve got gotta do is take a look at Google’s official Android One web site to see the unavoidable indicators that one thing uncommon is afoot. Proper underneath the top-of-page headline promising telephones which can be “safe, up-to-date, and simple to make use of” is a graphic exhibiting the Nokia 5.3 — a telephone that was introduced an total yr in the past, final March, and remains to be working 2019’s Android 10 software program, almost seven months after Android 11’s launch. Yeaaaaaaaaah. I am no mathematician, however one thing certain does not appear so as to add up.
And the disconnect solely will get much more blatant from there: That major front-and-center graphic with the Nokia 5.3 truly describes the telephone as having “the newest Android 10 working system” — even supposing Android 10 hasn’t been “the newest” Android model since final September. Um, proper.
Google The opposite “newest telephones” featured on the web page are not any higher. One of many prime gadgets proven on the Android One touchdown web page, the Motorola One Motion, got here out on the finish of October — in 2019. It additionally has but to obtain the now-seven-month-old Android 11 replace, regardless of being a part of the Android One program.
Motorola, for its half, appears to have principally simply moved on from its Android One focus. Confusingly, it is continued to launch gadgets with that One branding as a part of their titles — like final yr’s Motorola One Fusion and Motorola One Hyper — however it’s seemingly reclaimed that branding as its personal, with none of the Android One associations or guarantees.
So what about Nokia — the corporate that went all in with Android One and that I as soon as labeled because the “unlikely new Android underdog“? I reached out to that firm’s media relations division a number of instances over the previous week to ask for an evidence on each its unprecedented failure to supply well timed updates to its present crop of Android One telephones and its sudden slowdown in new Android One system releases, and I’ve but to obtain any response.
What we can say is that first, Nokia’s had some public struggles over the previous months — with reviews final February that the corporate might be “exploring strategic choices,” together with a doable sale or merger. (These reviews have been later shot down, however the truth that such speak is even out there may be by no means an ideal signal.) Simply this previous Friday, the corporate’s chief product officer and one among its most distinguished public figures introduced his departure — which can or might not have any direct connection to no matter’s occurring with all of this, however once more, does not assist with the notion of a company that is adrift.
As for Google, I requested the corporate if there was something it may share about whether or not Android One was nonetheless thought-about an energetic effort — and in that case, what precisely was occurring with (a) the appreciable slowdown in new telephones popping out inside the Android One umbrella and (b) the obvious failure by virtually each present Android One device-maker to fulfill its well timed software program replace promise on this newest improve cycle. In response, an organization spokesperson despatched me the next assertion:
Android One is a residing program that continues to develop with profitable system launches. New telephones that meet the elevated software program necessities set by Google will be capable of be a part of this system sooner or later. And as earlier than, these gadgets include safety safety built-in into each layer, ongoing updates, and a easy interface freed from duplicate apps. Whereas now we have nothing to announce concerning the way forward for the Android One program right now, we’ll proceed to work with our companions to convey nice Android gadgets to market.
I pressed a bit additional and requested if there was something extra particular that might be mentioned to elucidate the state of affairs with all the still-pending Android One software program updates, some seven months after Android 11’s launch, in addition to with the current lull in new Android-One-associated system releases — however I have never acquired any further responses.
There may be, after all, one completely logical doable clarification to all of this — a story that ties all of the items collectively and definitely appears like a smart reply to why Android One has gone from entrance and middle to pale and forgotten. Rev up that lovely mammal mind of yours: It is time to discover an all-too-plausible-seeming idea.
The larger Android One image
Stick with me for a sec, ‘trigger there’s some essential context we have to assume by to set the stage for this sudsy soap-opera drama. Again when Android One first expanded from its preliminary “rising market” focus, y’see, my favourite author on this planet — a very good-looking and humble fella — made some astute observations about how this system might be the brilliantly conceived lacking piece to Google’s grand Android puzzle.
Go, go, gadget quoting machine:
Android can stay open and out there for producers to customise as they need — one thing that is been integral to the platform’s success because the begin. Clients can select from a wide range of types and kinds, as all the time, and every will provide its personal distinctive set of benefits. However now, phone-seekers who desire a Google-controlled vessel with all the advantages that method supplies may also have that as a completely realized, consumer-ready choice.
Google already supplied that very same risk with its personal self-made Pixel telephone, after all — however on the time, Google was promoting solely a single high-end (and high-priced, for that period) Pixel mannequin. That meant nearly all of telephone patrons have been by no means gonna get the Android expertise Google clearly noticed as being optimum — one which’s cohesive and simple to make use of, that places complementary Google companies entrance and middle, and that is still recent and compelling for an prolonged time period by means of dependable updates.
And that is the place Android One got here into play: By providing a “Pixel lite” kind of expertise at an reasonably priced value, Google may convey its imaginative and prescient for the way it wished Android to look to a a lot bigger base of individuals — even supposing it wasn’t able to make its personal lower-priced Pixel mannequin at that time.
To cite my favourite humble author as soon as extra:
Google may have its cake and eat it, too: It may give customers an choice for a greater total person expertise — its personal imaginative and prescient for Android, solely now inside budget- to midrange-level parameters — whereas nonetheless permitting producers to do their very own factor as a substitute. And in contrast to on the high-end of the spectrum, the place each element counts and a finely tuned holistic expertise is a part of the package deal, letting third-party phone-makers retain some quantity of branding and management of those lower-cost gadgets is a compromise Google can afford to make.
So what’s modified since then? Ding, ding, ding! You bought it: Google began making its personal reasonably priced Android telephone with its ideally suited software program setup and self-controlled, super-speedy software program updates. That is exactly what the Pixel “a” line is all about, and with a value of 350 bucks, it brings the identical optimized expertise we first noticed within the high-end Pixel into a way more reasonably priced type. It is the “Pixel lite,” with none of the asterisks Android One includes as compared.
With Google promoting its personal utterly self-controlled Pixel telephone for 350 smackeroos, then, what cause does it have left to actually, really care about Android One in the way in which it as soon as did? All the cause Android One initially benefitted Google is made principally redundant and pointless by the Pixel “a” line’s existence. For essentially the most half, an Android One telephone is a watered-down, lesser model of a Pixel “a” system, and it is sometimes bought for fairly darn near the identical value (typically much more).
Whenever you mix that reality with the shifting Android panorama — what we talked a couple of minute in the past with Nokia mixed with LG’s doubtlessly deadly present struggles, one-time Android One companion HTC’s elevated irrelevance, and the dearth of any actual motivation for an already-successful-on-its-own phone-maker like Samsung to take part on this kind of effort — it kinda is sensible that Android One would begin to fizzle, does not it?
I imply, take into consideration: This system’s most distinguished gamers are all having their very own points, and Google concurrently now has its personal absolutely self-controlled product to serve this system’s unique function much more successfully. It additionally has the ultra-low-end-focused Android Go program to handle the super-affordable, sub-$200 area that the Pixel line does not (but) cowl. Actually, it is no surprise the Android One promise and all the pieces round it appear principally out of thoughts.
And what? That is admittedly studying between the strains, however when you look again at Google’s assertion on the topic, it appears virtually intentionally worded to keep away from saying something substantial about this system’s long-term destiny. Sure, it says that Android One is a “residing program that continues to develop” — however look carefully at that final line (the emphasis right here being mine):
Whereas now we have nothing to announce concerning the way forward for the Android One program right now, we’ll proceed to work with our companions to convey nice Android gadgets to market.
Nothing to announce about this system’s future right now? That certain is not the identical as saying “This program is not going wherever, bucko!” And persevering with to work with companions to convey nice Android gadgets to market? Notice the dearth of a point out of Android One, particularly, as a part of that proposition.
Once I wrote about Android One’s potential again in 2017, I famous how the trouble may fill the then-glaring void of an optimum Google expertise inside Android on the sub-flagship value vary. As I mentioned on the time:
Google might not wish to make investments the sources in creating its personal gadgets at each stage of the Android value spectrum. Making a complete line of merchandise can be expensive, for one, and it’d threat alienating and worsening third-party producers much more than it (most likely) already has. For now, not less than, this might be a intelligent solution to accomplish a good-enough-for-the-affordable-realm objective whereas getting simply concerned sufficient to keep up essential core requirements.
Effectively, guess what? Right here we’re, 4 years later — and Google has taken that bold leap into the reasonably priced Android telephone market. It has invested the sources in creating its personal gadgets at lower cost factors, and by most counts, the primary Pixel “a”-line telephones have bought fairly effectively, comparatively talking.
Google is probably not prepared to tug the plug on Android One but, however taking a look at all of the variables surrounding the state of this system, it is exhausting to not surprise if the clock is already ticking — and, in a technique or one other, if it is only a matter of time till the seconds run out.
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