In order to give more people access to smartphones, tech giant Google announced last year that it will be starting the Android One program. Under this project, the company would be developing an affordable smartphone with mid-range specs to be used worldwide. The project took hold first in Asian countries, with India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia the first ones to receive the Android One smartphone.
It seems that Google will take on its promise to bring the Android One worldwide, as the company is expanding the project for the first time in Europe.
Google formally announced, through its Turkish blog site, the entrance of Android One in the European market. Turkey is the first country to receive the budget smartphone.
Partnering with Turkish carrier General Mobile, Google released the Android One as General Mobile 4G. This entry-level smartphone, with its affordable price, comes with fairly decent specs.
The smartphone has a 5.0-inch IPS display capable of presenting 720p resolution. Under the hood, the General Mobile 4G runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset, partnered with 2 GB of RAM. This is a deviation to the standard Android One handsets being powered by a generic MediaTek processor. In addition, the smartphone's display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, and connectivity-wise, supports the LTE network.
The Turkey launch is just the first step toward Android One being released across Europe.
"Since we launched Android One last fall, we've been continually working to bring high-quality smartphones to as many people as possible around the world," Caesar Sengupta, vice president for product management of the Android One project said. "So far we've launched in six countries (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and today, we're taking the next big step by launching in Turkey — our first European country — with partner General Mobile."
