Android devices to fit your business

The challenge

There’s no one-size fits all. IT organizations today are faced with an increasingly diverse array of use cases and requirements and are typically tasked with finding a device or devices to meet these needs.

Whether it’s needing different form factors for different uses, or having to choose devices based on regional availability
or price, it’s clear that a single device type can’t meet the needs of every scenario.

The Android difference

Android offers the world’s broadest mobility hardware ecosystem. They work with over 400 OEMs around the world who develop Android devices. This breadth of choice means you can find the right solution tailored for your business. Only Android provides a platform that can work for all form factors, providing an intuitive and consistent user and management experience.

Price points

Android’s diverse hardware catalog includes devices at a variety of price points. Android manufacturers are constantly striving to make best-in-class hardware with premium features, sensors, and specifications.

Additionally, manufacturers provide a range of mid-tier and low-cost devices to provide more options for emerging markets and customers with strict budgets.

Android Oreo (Go Edition) provides a powerful experience for entry-level smartphones. It’s the best of Android, built with new and reimagined apps, so even the most affordable Android smartphones provide a high-quality experience. This provides enterprises with additional options for low-cost managed devices.

Use cases

Android’s hardware ecosystem includes a range of devices to fit any job. From affordable smartphones for communication to ruggedized tablets for the most demanding of environments, there’s an Android device built just for you. Android is at home in every kind of business. Android devices are being used in restaurants and hotels, financial services, government, retail, and more. Let’s look at a few examples of different Android form factors:

Premium devices are great for knowledge workers that require additional features and more powerful hardware. Or as customer-facing devices where a superior quality look and feel is needed.

Ruggedized devices are designed to operate in harsh environments and conditions, where drops, strong vibration, extreme temperatures, and wet or dusty conditions may be common. These can be great options for factory, field, and task workers.

Purpose-built devices are great for enterprises with unique requirements that can not be met by the typical consumer device. Android manufacturers offer a number of these types of devices such as devices with built-in barcode scanners for inventory purposes. Or Android-based point-of-sale systems for retail.

Feature-rich

The flexibility of Android allows OEMs to address a wide range of scenarios and use cases. This has not only benefited the consumer market with features like external storage and extended or removable batteries. But has also benefited enterprises with offerings such as drop-proof devices, devices with built-in triggers for barcode and RFID readers, and even sealed and disinfectant-ready devices. Android is built to support a range of use cases and requirements. The following are some examples of features available on Android devices:

Biometrics – With features such as fingerprint, iris, and facial recognition OEMs are creating easier and more secure ways for users to authenticate to their devices and apps.

Sensors (Gyroscope, accelerometer, NFC, heart rate, etc) – Android OEMs have built sensors into their devices that allow users to perform a number of different actions. Whether it’s for detecting location and speed, exchanging contact information through NFC bump, or reading a patient’s heart rate, today’s Android devices are jam-packed with sensors that enable many interesting features.

Android zero-touch enrollment allows IT to deploy corporate-owned devices in bulk without having to manually set up each device. Management can be enforced out of the box with the managing app automatically installed on setup. Users just open the box and start using the device with management, apps, and configurations all set.

Choosing devices

Android Enterprise Recommended makes it simple for businesses to confidently select, deploy and manage Android devices that have been verified by Google.

In order to pass verification these devices must meet certain elevated enterprise requirements such as support for zero-touch enrollment and must receive security patches every 90 days for three years. Enterprises can select from the curated list of verified devices that meet these requirements from partners trained and supported by Google. With such a large ecosystem finding the right device can seem like a daunting task. To help, Google provides a few resources for customers to select the best devices that meet their enterprise requirements.

Android Device Catalog allows you to browse and filter devices based on requirements such as RAM, display size, OS version, etc.

Android device collections allow you to browse devices optimized for field use, ruggedized devices, and Android Enterprise Recommended devices.

The Solutions Directory allows you to find Android partners and solution providers around the world. Browse in-depth profile pages for Android Enterprise Recommended devices and find carriers and EMM vendors that support zero-touch enrollment and meet your management requirements.