Google's Android One project continues to gather pace, with Mountain View's centrally focused Android distribution evolving into its second-generation as Turkish network General Mobile releases the snappily titled 'General Mobile Android One' handset.
Android Authority reports an impressive bump in specs from the first wave of Android One handsets that reached the BRIC markets last year, including a Snapdragon 410 processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 megapixel camera, and a five-inch HD screen.
More importantly, it comes with a guarantee to receive Android updates for the next two years.
This is Android One's key advantage to manufacturers, carriers, and consumers. In exchange for access to the platform and the reference designs, Google takes responsibility for testing and distributing Android updates to the Android One platform. The General Mobile handset will ship with Android 5.1.1. out of the box, the update promise is backed up by the speed that the Android One platform has received updated during previous Android updates.
(Read more: The importance of Android One for Google).
I'm glad to see the bump in specifications over the first wave of devices. Android One devices should be able to populate the low- and mid-range space without compromising the user experience. The first devices were limiting and provided little room for expansion and future versions of the operating system, but did come in at a much lower price in the more competitive BRIC markets. General Mobile's choice to go with a higher specification design does push the price up when it goes on sale this Friday to 699 Turkish Lira ($260) but it does mean the handset should remain relevant and able to cope with Android's updates over the upcoming twenty-four months.
With Android 'M' looking to be announced at the upcoming I/O Developers Conference, the update to the Android One platform may be reflecting the increased 'baseline' specifications for the Android platform.
Western markets are saturated with Android devices, so targeting countries with low penetration makes good business sense. Using Android One in these countries and returning direct control of the Android update process to Google will give Mountain View a greater percentage of device that it can update without interference - continuing to address one of Android's long-term issues.
