This $80 phone features Android Go and 8 GB storage

Google introduced its Android Oreo GO edition for entry-level smartphones back in December last year. And now ZTE, a Chinese telecom giant is the first company to use this platform to bring a smartphone running Android Go in the US. The “smartphone”, yes, it’s smart, dubbed Tempo Go is now available to buy online for $79.99 and it packs 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, a handsome offering in such low-end phone.

It must be noted that Android Go is designed for phones with limited hardware. It occupies less space, and it runs better than normal Android on phones with small amounts of RAM. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll run great, but it should improve the experience you’d get from buying such an inexpensive phone.

ZTE Tempo Go’s 5-inch display pushes an 854 x 480 resolution. It is powered by a Snapdragon 210 chipset. The phone packs a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD slot to expand the internal storage.

Google has previously claimed that Android Go devices will offer 2x the amount of available storage on devices with 8GB of internal memory when compared to a regular build of Oreo. So let’s see how this phone will prove the claim of Google.

There will be 9 pre-installed apps in Tempo Go including Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go, Gboard, Google Play, Chrome, and the new Files Go app.

Tempo Go features a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP shooter for selfies. The smartphone also packs a reasonable battery capacity of 2020mAH.

Previously, in Pakistan Google in collaboration with QMobile launched a smartphone named QMobile A1 but that smartphone was based on Android One, the platform’s design, development, marketing, and support is managed by Google.

Other companies like Alcatel have also announced to launch the Android Go devices but these devices have not seen the light of the day up until now.