Google’s Android One gives smartphone power to the people

MANILA, Philippines — Google calling its initiative program "Android One" may sound cliché at first but if one would sit down and listen to the program’s goal then it would be a pleasant surprise to know how  "One" would change the developing world in terms of providing a decent smartphone for the common man.

Android One's Vice President of Product Management Caesar Sengupta remarked how 1.75 billion people have smartphones while most of the remaining 5 billion still make do with simple voice calls. Technologies to make video calls, search the Web for the nearest hospital and get weather updates have unfortunately not reached them.

Through the initiative program, Google has launched two smartphones priced at just under P5,000 for the Filipino market—the Cherry Mobile One and the MyPhone UNO.

Now most people are already familiar with these phone brands, but with Android's OS running the hardware, it's a whole new experience to behold. This also means that Android One users would be able to access thousands of apps in the Google store without having to worry much about data costs. Why? Because Google is currently working to reduce data flow between phone and the Internet.

"We have designed and brought to the market these high quality smartphones at highly affordable prices. We cannot wait to see what Filipinos do with them," Sengupta said.

Check out what happened and who attended during the Google Android One event via these photos!