Android 11 Go edition released for "more devices"
Today Google's Android 11 software roll-out was expanded to devices that run Android Go. This means that devices that run Android Go, while not running the "full" Android experience, can now (potentially) get a slightly newer experience with new features. This Android 11 (Go edition) system is available for smartphones as of this morning.
New features
Android 11 (Go edition) has several features that were also delivered to higher-powered smartphones this week with Android 11. Optimizations in software make apps load faster, and a set of security features are now active by default.
One-time permissions are in play now. If you grant an app access to your microphone, location, camera, files, etc., you can grant said permission one SINGLE time, if you wish. Each time you re-enter the app, you can re-grant permissions, or refuse. There's also an auto-reset for permissions for apps that you've not used for an extended period of time.
Android 11 (Go edition) puts messaging apps in a dedicated space in your notifications pull-down menu. Android 11 (Go edition) also adds gesture-based navigation for some devices so you can "go to the home screen, navigate backward, and fluidly switch between apps using simple swipes."
Google also noted that with Android 11 (Go edition) they'd be moving forward with expanded availability of the operating system on more devices. Specifically, Google said that starting in October of 2020, Android (Go edition) "will be available on all devices with up to 2GB of memory."
Android (Go edition) on 2GB devices "also comes with up to 900MB of additional free storage space—enough to take up to 300 more selfies and download an entire movie," according to Sagar Kamdar, VP of Product Management for Android at Google.
Who gets Android 11 (Go edition)?
Google has not yet revealed which smartphones will get Android 11 Go edition, but it's safe to assume that most devices released in the last year will see said update. We'll let you know as soon as we know which devices, specifically, will get the update to Android 11 (Go edition) in the near future.
The September 10, 2020 update from Google suggested that Android 11 (Go edition) would be "coming to more devices" but did not specify models.