Micromax finally launches its first Android Go smartphone, Bharat Go, in India

Indian handset maker Micromax has finally launched its first Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone, Bharat Go, in India. Bharat is the company’s existing series of devices focused on lower-tier of the market and for first-time smartphone buyers.

The phone was earlier set to be launched in January but after a radio silence from Micromax all this while, it has just been announced five months later.

Aimed at developing markets such as India with low smartphone penetration, Android Go is a toned-down version of the latest Android Oreo operating system with the platform, first-party apps, and the Google Play Store optimized for low-end devices. The average app is 15% faster on an Android Go device and the pre-installed apps (Go edition ones) are also optimized and take up to 50% less storage space. These include Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, Gboard, Google Play, Chrome, and the new Files Go app by Google.

Bharat Go sports a 4.5-inch display and is powered by a quad-core MediaTek processor and 1GB DDR3 RAM, with 8GB of internal storage. There’s a 5MP front camera as well as a 5MP rear camera, and the phone packs in 2,000mAh battery.

Bharat Go is launched in partnership with the country’s leading telco Bharti Airtel to bring low-cost smartphones to the Indian market and enable more Indians to get online. While the price of Micromax Bharat Go is 4,399 rupees ($65), the partnership with Airtel means it comes with a cashback of 2,000 rupees as part of the company’s Mera Pehla Smartphone (My First Smartphone) initiative. Effectively then, the price of Bharat Go comes out to be 2,399 rupees ($35) only.