Update (Dec 5): Google has now officially released the Files Go app in the Play Store. The company unveiled the app at a press event in New Delhi, where it revealed that Files Go will come pre-installed on the devices with Android Oreo (Go Edition). All other users will be able to download it from the Play Store.
“In tests over the last month, the average user saved 1GB of space. Files Go was built from scratch for Go edition devices, and today the official version launched on the Google Play Store,” Google said in a statement.
In addition to the Files Go app, Google also launched the new Google Go app today. It is light version of the company’s search app.
Here is quick look at the key features of Files Go
- Free up more space in many more ways than before.
- Recommendations for removing apps you no longer use
- Recognize and help you remove the spam & duplicate images.
- Find your important documents without cumbersome and manual effort.
- Share your files offline
- Easily clean cache to clear up space
- Backup files to Google Drive
- Encrypted file sharing
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Earlier (Nov 7): Google seems to be testing a proper file manager app for Android. The company already includes a bare-bones file manager in the operating system, but that is hardly useful, which is why most manufacturers include their file managers in the Android devices. Anyway, better late than never.
Spotted on Google Play, the new Files Go application seems to have been designed for entry-level devices, which have limited storage space, but should work great on high-end devices as well. According to the description on the Play Store page, which has since been taken down (update: available again), Files Go is meant to be lightweight and is only 10MB. It packs Google’s smarts to help the consumers use their phone’s storage efficiently.
In addition to the usual file manager features, the Files Go also packs a ShareIt or Mi Drop like file transfer function, which uses an ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection to transfer content between devices.
There is no word on when Files Go might be officially released. Google notes that the version found on Play Store was an early dev build, so it might take a while for the final version to appear.
