Google has announced through a post on the official blog of Android that the Go variant based on version 13 has raised the requirements at the hardware level, which have become 2GB of RAM and 16GB for data storage.
For those who are lost, Android Go is the variant of Google’s mobile operating system aimed at modest devices those who would have a hard time throwing away the standard version. It is marketed mainly in developing countries, where the acquisition of a low-middle-range device like the one we usually spend in the “rich” West is a luxury that is not available to everyone.
The increase in resource consumption is a trend that has always been in the software industry due to the constant increase in power experienced by the hardware. That the software monopolizes more resources is not in itself a bad thing if it does so in exchange for a good response, new features that are useful and even a better use of the hardware, something that was seen at the time when Chromium was compared years ago with the Gecko “original” used by Firefox, before the arrival of Quantum.
However, looking at Android Go’s approach, the increased hardware requirements are possibly bad news on all fronts, because having to use a more powerful device usually means spending more money. While the RAM level increase has been announced through the official Android blog, the storage one was said by Jason Bayton, Android Enterprise Expert and Google Product Expert.
The increase in hardware requirements will translate, as Google explains, into some improvements compared to Android 12, with special mention to a faster start of applications, greater autonomy, easier application sharing and greater control of privacy. Some of these improvements were announced at the time for the standard version of Android 13, and the Go variant is nothing more than a reduced version to improve system performance on modest devices.
Consequently, any device that does not have the minimum of 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage will not be able to update to Android Go 13. We will see how the matter ends up working once everything has been deployed and consolidated.
