Google introduced Android (Go Edition) a couple of years ago to bring affordable, high quality smartphones to more people around the world. The light weight version of Android requires much less resources to run and can thus be installed onto cheaper and more affordable smartphones.
Camera Go
As the OS and hardware are both lightweight apps also need to be to be able to run smoothly without hogging the scarce resources of the device. Google has already created a suite of Android Go-specific apps but the camera was always lacking.
Now thanks to their wizards (or was that imaging software engineers?) they have created a camera app specific for Android Go. The new app brings with it a professional-looking portrait mode and is built for “people using smartphones for the first time”. The interface is simple, clean and easy to use.
Camera Go is not just a photo filtering app but is integrated into the camera module of the device which Google say is a first for this class of devices. Given the limited storage on Android Go devices the new Camera Go app will track the photo and video storage used on your device, cleaning it up as you go so that there is always room for another shot.
The Camera Go app will debut on the Nokia 1.3 announced overnight and although we have been told it is coming to Australia there is no work on pricing or timeline just yet — “coming soon”. It will be arriving on other Android Go devices “soon”.
Everyone was impressed with the ability of Google to get some high quality imagery from the mid-range Pixel 3a with limited hardware. It will be interesting to see just how they’ve translated this knowledge into the Camera Go app on even more limited hardware.
