Samsung announces its first Android Go phone

Samsung has announced the Galaxy J2 Core, the company’s first phone to run Android Go. As previously leaked, that doesn’t mean stock Android in this case — Go is a stripped-down version of the operating system with lighter versions of Google apps and optimizations for lower-end devices, but there’s still a layer of Samsung UI on top. The J2 Core is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, not the upcoming Android 9 Pie version of Go.

Here’s the list of specs for Samsung’s Galaxy J2 Core:

• 960 x 540 LCD
• an Exynos 7570 processor
• 2,600mAh battery
• 8-megapixel f/2.2 rear-facing camera
• 5-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera
• 1GB of RAM
• 8GB of storage

You’re not going to be playing Fortnite on this Galaxy, then, but Android Go should help make the most of the limited storage, memory, and battery capacity.

The Galaxy J2 Core is coming to India and Malaysia first and will go on sale from today, though pricing information isn’t immediately available. Samsung’s regular Galaxy J2 sells for a little over $100, but it has better specs than the Core, so a price below 7,000 rupees / $100 wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect.