Google Announces 17 New Devices Recommended for Enterprise Use
Jun. 13, 2018After announcing itsAndroid Enterprise Recommendedprogram earlier this year, Google has nowadded several new smartphones and tabletsto the list of certified devices. This list primarily includes devices which match specific hardware and software requirements and have been deemed fit for enterprise-grade security by Google.
Google isnow adding 17 new devices across different price bracketsfrom eight different manufacturers including two new ones – Sharp and Sonim. The list also gets Android tablets for the first time, both of which are from Huawei. Additionally, Google has added newly released devices from its existing partners.
The newly added devices are:
The number of certified devices has now jumped to 39 with atotal of nine partner OEMs. Google took the opportunity to boast two of its biggest customers in the Android Enterprise Recommended program. These are banking firm HSBC and analytics company SAS. It is interesting to see that Samsung, which has itsown fleetof enterprise and “active” smartphones, is missing from the list.
Google has laid outminimum specifications and mandated monthly security updatesfor the devices which are part of the program. Along with this, Google also provides tools for bulk enrollment so that enterprises can pre-load these smartphones with specific apps so that users don’t have to waste time signing in with their IDs on the smartphone.
Currently, the minimum Android version supported by the program is Nougat 7.0 and Google says that this will beupdated with every Android release. This also means that partner manufacturers have to ensure timely incremental feature updates, apart from routinely security patches for the listed Android devices.
