Android One, for those of you who don’t know, is a standard that Google created in order to ensure that your smartphone offers an experience that’s as close to the stock Android experience as possible which means that its clean of many of the bloat and tweaks that OEMs put on their devices. It’s mainly geared towards consumers in developing nations and the next country on Google’s expansion list appears to be the Philippines.
Smartphones for the masses. Google announced today it is finally offering the much-anticipated Android One smartphones in the Philippines. This comes five months after the Android One program first launched in India. Two Android One phones will be available in the Philippines, made by homegrown phone brands Cherry Mobile and MyPhone. Caesar Sengupta, Google’s vice president for product management, says that the new phones – the Cherry One and MyPhone Uno – will be sold for below PHP5,000 (US$113). Both the Cherry One and MyPhone Uno run Android 5.0 “Lollipop”, the latest version of Google’s OS. Both models come with features tailored for Filipinos, such as dual SIM capability, FM radio tuner, micro-SD card slot, and front- and rear-facing cameras.