What are Android Go and Android One, and how do they differ from Android stock?

In the market there is some chaos with the Android versions available, and we do not just talk about the different versions of Android itself, which currently has Oreo heading the list of latest releases, but the different variants of the operating system itself. The classic Android now coexists with Android One, and recently also with Android Go. Versions, versions and more versions.

The operating system itself suffers, in addition, a lack of obvious publicity that makes many users think that the layers of the manufacturers are Android, and not personalizations of it. So let's try to shed some light on this lack of control and define exactly what each version of Android is currently in circulation. Spoiler: they are all the same Android. Or almost.

Android stock, the one that floods the market

This is the version of Android that has always existed, the one that was born independently and was bought by Google, and the one that has been developed to this day. A version that, unlike its sisters, allows the manufacturer to place personalizations above. What we know by layers, that many users mistakenly identify with Android itself.

Android is the operating system we have when we buy a Huawei phone, a Sony phone, an LG phone or a Samsung Galaxy. In the Xiaomi, although the layer of these is more a fork than a layer as such. That is, personalization is so aggressive that it can be considered a new operating system, but no. Android is the operating system that makes the entire mobile phone ecosystem under its umbrella accept, among other things, the applications of its common store: Google Play Store.

The classic Android is the easiest version to find. Currently going for its version Oreo, the 8.0, and allows customizations of all kinds

Some manufacturers choose to install it almost without customizations, or directly clean. We have examples of phones like this, such as bq or Motorola, devices whose system keeps a tremendous resemblance since it is an almost pure Android, just as Google designs it. Like the one mounted on the Google Pixel, although Google plays with advantage and customizes some parts only for its terminals, differentiating itself from the stock or AOSP version.

The normal Android version has hardly any limitations. It can be installed in all kinds of configurations, it can be customized in an extreme way or not and its maintenance is the responsibility of the manufacturer of the phone itself. Google provides the system and each constructor adapts it in its own way and at its speed. In this way of working part the big problem of Android, although it is not really big big: the fragmentation of versions. Although to smooth this, Project Trebble was born.

Android One, Android should always work

Android One is a Google program that has been running since 2014, so it is heading towards its fourth birthday. Android One was born as a program to facilitate the operating system could run more smoothly in devices with less power, and that was achieved thanks to its great premise: it is an almost pure system.

While the current version of Android allows manufacturers to personalize it as much as they want, Android One "forces" those who adhere to the program to not touch the operating system. The experience of Android One is very similar to that of Android stock thanks to that, although Google allows there to be some additions, such as custom camera applications and so on.

Android One, the program that Google promotes with some manufacturers and that offers pure Android with some personalized apps

In the market we already regularly find some phones with Android One. Like the Xiaomi Mi A1, the HTC U11 Life or the Motorola X4. Or even the bq Aquaris A4.5, one of the first to be in circulation. All of them with a version of Android so pure that it is almost indistinguishable from the stock version, but with the same basic problem as the classic Android: the updates.

The phones with Android One require less adjustments when updating since the customization is much smaller, but still depend on the different manufacturers. Google continues to provide the original code and each constructor adapts it. Even so, the update rate of Android One phones is quite higher than that of classic Android phones, and that is always appreciated.

Android Go, the last to arrive and the least demanding

Android Go is less than a year old and it becomes Google's real bet to offer its operating system for low-power phones. And when we say little, it is very little. The great feature of Android Go is that it has been designed to power incoming line phones and comes with limitations: nothing to install on phones with more than 1GB of RAM.

We could say that Android Go is the response of Google to the operating systems that are now used in the "feature phones" or mobile phones of a lifetime, as the case of the YunOS that comes on board the Nokia 3310. Thus, Google aspires to adhere these simpler phones to their ecosystem, and improve the user experience in them to encourage Android to continue expanding.

Android Go is exclusive for phones with 1GB of RAM or less, does not allow personalization and has apps specially designed with surname Go

The Nokia 1, for example, will be one of the first phones to incorporate Android Go, and may not have layers or customizations of any kind. Google wants to control the retail experience so Android Go will be completely pure until Google decides otherwise.

Android Go is not only Google's most optimized operating system for entry-line phones, it also has "own" applications, although we can use them away from your system. Google is developing its suite for phones with little hardware and will be placing the same last name. Youtube Go, for example, is already in circulation and bases its experience on a minimum consumption of resources and data, both mobile and via WiFi.

Android stock and One are updated from the manufacturer, Android Go directly from Google

In principle, Google will be responsible directly for the updates of phones with Android Go, without the manufacturer has to intervene at all. It will be, therefore, the closest thing to the experience of the Pixel, or the old Nexus, but far from the mark of the great G.

So, here we have the three operating systems that Google is currently running in the mobile ecosystem, at least until Fuchsia makes its appearance. Three systems virtually identical but with their differences, some of them as fundamental as those that separate Go from his two older brothers. But remember, they are all Android.

Grosso modo:

• Android stock: for everyone, customizable.
• Android One: for all, customize specific aspects such as the camera.
• Android Go: for phones with 1GB of RAM or less, not customizable