After a lot of speculation finally Sundar Pichai is in New Delhi to announce a whole lot of new services and devices for India. This include the big launch of the Android One smartphones which they introduced back at Google I/O in June, YouTube Offline and the availability of Play Newsstand in India.
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Partnering with Spice, Karbonn and Micromax they launched 3 devices, Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1 and Spice Dream UNO Mi-498 today. These devices will be available exclusively through online retailers Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon respectively. These three phones will also be available via Reliance Digital, Croma and The Mobile Store, offline. The phones will be available for purchase online starting September 15, 3:30pm IST.
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Under the Android One scheme Google essentially sets standards for phones hardware for the OEMs. Also phones running Android One will be just like GPE and Nexus devices receiving constant and regular updates directly from Google. Google will also have Wi-Fi-equipped mobile demo trucks called 'Showroom on wheels' in 600 locations across 20 cities to allow potential consumers to experience the Android One phones. Google has also appointed 30,000 Android One ambassadors who will spread the word about the phones. Google also partnered with Airtel and Reliance to provide plans to Android One customers. Airtel will offer 200MB free data per month for app downloads and updates via Play Store. 
In terms of specifications, all the three manufactures have adhered to the minimum requirements set by Google. The phones have a 4.5-inch display (845 x 480 pixels), dual SIM support and run a stock version of Android 4.4. Hardware specifications include a quad core Mediatek processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD card for expansion (up to 32GB supported) and dual cameras. This specification set ensures a fluid experience for the user, as opposed to many cheaper Android phones that are already.
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| Karbonn Sprkle V |
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| Micromax Canvas A1 |
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| Spice Dream Uno |
Also chipset manufacturer Qualcomm is the new hardware partner for the Android One Program which means that future devices will likely see Qualcomm processors in addition to the current Mediatek.
Sundar Pichai also announced the next set of partners for Android One handsets. This includes Acer, Alcatel, ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic and Xolo. This list includes HTC also which realises the benefits of tapping the low-end market instead of being one of the market leaders for the high-end smartphones. Also Google is expected to release Android One Indonesia, Philippines and other South Asian countries by 2014 with more to follow in 2015.
The phones are now available on all the 3 online sellers and will soon make their way to the offline stores.
Learn more: Android One
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