Android 13 (Go edition) has been released for low-end smartphones. It has some cool new features, but the memory and storage requirements have doubled.
Google released Android 13 (Go edition), the version of Android designed for budget phones. It brings Material You to the platform for the first time, with its theme engine, along with Google Discover and a faster way to deliver software updates.
Technical specifications have also increased – it will now work on phones with a minimum of 2 GB of RAM. Devices running Android 13 (Go edition) will be available in early 2023.
Features of Android 13 (Go edition)
The main new features of Android 13 (Go edition) focus on three areas.
Most important is the introduction of Material You for the first time. It brings a new look, new icons and color themes to match your wallpaper. Some other essentials from Android 13 have also been carried over, such as notification permissions and the ability to change the language in specific apps.
Google Discover is also making its debut, making it easier to find articles relevant to your interests. As usual, this will be on the left side of the main home screen.
But perhaps the biggest change is the introduction of support for Google Play system updates. This will allow Google to roll out features, bug fixes and other improvements without the need for a full operating system update, which requires storage and data, which are often limited on phones. low end.
Monthly updates are already a thing for devices running the full version of Android, and will now help Go-powered phones stay secure and up to date.
Inevitably, these changes come at a cost, as specification requirements have increased. Android 13 (Go edition) now requires a minimum of 2GB of RAM, down from 1GB, plus 16GB of storage, down from 8GB.
Android for budget phones
Go Edition was first introduced with Android 8 in 2017 to make the technology more accessible to the millions of people around the world who go online for the first time every year. It is currently used on over 250 million devices.
The operating system is accompanied by a series of Go apps, simplified versions of the standard Google apps that appear on every phone. And everyone can really benefit from it. If your phone is a little slow or low on memory, you can install and use the lightweight Android Go apps instead.