Several images depicting what’s said to be General Mobile’s upcoming Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone leaked online earlier today, having been obtained by Android Authority. The phone maker will reportedly advertise the product as the GM 8 Go and launch it with Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition). While the handset is targeted at the entry-level segment of the market, it boasts a relatively modern-looking design centered around an elongated display panel featuring an aspect ratio of 18:9, i.e. 2:1. The budget-friendly nature of the device is still reflected on its regular-sized bezels and its largely plastic build. Its screen is said to be a 5.03-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 1,440 by 720 pixels amounting to approximately 320 pixels per inch.
The GM 8 Go is said to be powered by the MediaTek 6739 chip which the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based tech giant announced last September, advertising it as being specifically designed for low-end devices with 4G LTE capabilities. The 64-bit silicon has four ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at a maximum operating frequency of 1.5GHz, in addition to featuring the IMG GE8100 graphics chip running at up to 570MHz, according to MediaTek’s official product specifications. The HD+ resolution of the newly leaked device is also the maximum one supported by the MediaTek 6739. The GM 8 Go should offer 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal flash memory, though it’s presently unclear whether a microSD card or dual-SIM support will be part of the package. The top bezel of the handset accommodates a 5-megapixel camera, whereas its rear plate features a 13-megapixel sensor and an LED flash, according to the newly emerged report.
The smartphone will supposedly ship with a 3,500mAh battery and a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack and a micro-USB port. The product is effectively a revised version of the GM 8, a handset General Mobile launched last year as part of Google’s Android One program. Whereas that initiative is meant to promote the advantages of a stock Android experience, Android Go intends to raise the quality bar in the entry-level segment of the market, with the platform essentially being a reworked version of Google’s mobile OS specifically designed for devices with no more than 1GB of RAM. The ecosystem also comes with its own Google apps that should run much more efficiently on low-end hardware than their full-fledged counterparts do. Google already confirmed the first Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones will be officially announced next week at MWC 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. All such products should be released in India and a number of other developing countries this spring, with their creators specifically targeting first-time smartphone owners looking to make a switch from feature phones.