Android Go Steps Up To Android 10, Brings Adiantum Encryption

For all the performance and efficiency that iOS brings to iPhones year after year, there is one thing Apple can't do that Android has been doing for years. It can't scale devices or even the platform down to budget, entry-level phones, especially ones that cost less than $80. For that class of phones, Google has created the Android Go experience and it is now proving that it's committed to that direction by upgrading the lightweight configuration. Not only has it upgraded the Edition to Android 10 but also brought Google's promise of encryption for all.

Android 10 (no nickname this time) itself brings its own set of improvements in performance and efficiency but Google has added even more on top for Android Go phones. These devices, after all, only have 1.5 GB of RAM or even less, making juggling multiple apps a bit more difficult. In Android 10 Go Edition, Google is promising a 10% increase in the speed of launching apps and a faster experience when switching between them.

The highlight of this release is the introduction of Adiantum encryption Google revealed early this year. This particular implementation isn't dependent on special hardware that these cheaper phones don't have. Adiantum offers a software-based alternative but without the performance hit usually associated with that kind of encryption.

Android Go phones also come with a suite of special "Go" apps that are designed to be less resource-intensive as their regular Android counterparts. The good news is that most if not all of these Go apps are also available for all Android users so everyone benefits from having data and space-saving apps.

Google boasts that Android Go edition has already been installed more than 1,600 phone models from Xiaomi to Samsung to regional brands many might not have heard of. That makes up, the company says, 80% of the entry-level phones in the market today and that number could increase with an even better experience promised by this Android 10 upgrade.