Africa – Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is targeting a new continent, Africa in ramping up its Android One program. Google has made partnership with OEM Infinix; which will make the first Android One smartphone for the region. The smartphone is launched in Nigeria; and Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Morocco are the other countries which will be getting the device over the next few weeks.
The first Android One smartphone was launched in India in September 2014. And then the smartphone was launched in three more Asian markets; Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka in December. OEMs making Android One device in, these regions include companies like Micromax, Spice and Karbonn. Now, with the Infinix Hot 2 devices, Google is targeting six countries of Africa having a combined population of 379 million people. And apparently, Google’s partner, Infinix is one of the hottest and fastest growing smartphone brands in Africa.
Key Specifications and Features of Android One enabled Infinix Hot 2
The Infinix Hot 2 sports a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720×1280 pixels. The smartphone is powered by quad-core MediaTek processor clocked at a frequency of 1.3 GHz. It sports 16 GB of internal storage. There’s also support for dual-SIM.
The smartphone comes in two RAM variants. The 1GB RAM variant is offered in black, white, red and blue colors; while the 2GB RAM variant is offered only in gold. It sports an 8MP rear snapper with LED flash and a 2MP selfie shooter. The smartphone is backed by a 2,200 mAh battery.
The Infinix Hot 2 runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS at launch; however Google guaranteed that it will be getting the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow flavor after its release. The smartphone is priced at NGN 17,500 ($87) and NGN 19,500 ($97) for the 1GB RAM and 2GB RAM variants respectively.
Google will also be extending YouTube offline in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt in the coming months. The feature allows users to store videos up to 48 hours within the YouTube app; thus they can watch it later when they have no connection or a slow connection to stream.
