Looking back on seven days of news and headlines across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit includes Samsung’s bid for the innovation crown, Google confirming Pixel 7 Pro details, the presence award-winning Honor 70 at IFA, reviews of the Nokia G60, the two new handsets from Poco, Asus readying the ROG 6D and the latest chipset from Qualcomm.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have been happening around Android over the past week (and you can find Apple’s weekly news digest here).
Move over iPhone, let the galaxy pass
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Has Samsung taken over the mantle of ‘One More Thing’ to keep Apple away from the evolving smartphone market? With the iPhone 14 launching this week, Apple’s iterative update leaves the iPhone similar to the latest models. Adnan Farooqui argues that Samsung now owns the crown of innovation:
“It showed the world once again that we can expand our perception of smartphones to embrace bold form factors that enable use cases never before possible on a smartphone. At least now, when there’s a Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung fans are excited to see all the ways the company is making foldable smartphones more usable, durable, and mainstream.
“There is still a certain level of excitement for an Unpacked event, but the same cannot be said for an Apple event. Even Apple fans know what to expect”
(SamMobile).
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4
Google confirms Pixel 7 Pro details
Google has released a number of new details about the upcoming Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, including the launch date (it will be October 6).
“In addition to colors, Google also revealed the chipset these phones will use. We already knew this would be the next generation of the Tensor chipset seen in the Pixel 6 lineup, but now we know the name – it’s the Google Tensor G2. Google promises that this chipset will bring “even more useful and personalized features to photos, videos, security and voice recognition”.
(Technical Radar).
Honor wins the IFA Awards
After an appearance on the IFA Keynote stage to showcase its new hardware and future plans, the Honor 70 mid-range smartphone won a number of “Best Of…” awards from those covering the conference:
“Honor won a total of 35 global media awards this year, of which Honor 70 won 21 awards in various categories. A lot of leading tech media around the world rated Honor 70 as “Best of IFA”. TechRadar, a leading global technology media, calls the honor 70 “one of the best Android phones of the year”. Forbes, one of the leading international business media outlets, also declared that Honor 70 is “a solid all-rounder”.
(To honour).
Nokia G60 5G reviewed
Announced last week, HMD GLoba’s Nokia G60 5G handset is now on sale. Available through its new Circular subscription service, which offers better value for money over the long term as well as responsible handset recycling, Tom Morgan-Freelander reviews the new mid-range handset to find a solid smartphone :
“Given that Nokia likes to keep its version of Android as simple as possible, it’s no surprise that it performs quite well. The phone wakes quickly from sleep, cycles through home screens with minimal fuss, and doesn’t leave you waiting for the keyboard to appear when tapping text boxes. There’s about a half-second of a wait when swapping between the main and ultra-wide cameras, and more demanding apps take a bit longer to open than on a more powerful mid-range phone, but it’s perfectly usable as a daily driver.
(Stuff).
Two new Poco handsets with a different purpose
Xiaomi has announced the next Poco-branded smartphones. Sold between 189 and 229 euros, the two handsets offer a different orientation; with the M5 focusing on a faster, more dynamic display, while the M5s relies on 4K video and imaging.
Xiaomi introduced the POCO M5, a smartphone that the company introduced alongside the POCO M5s. Incidentally, the POCO M5 resembles the POCO M4 5G, which has just arrived in Europe. As for the POCO M5, Xiaomi has equipped it with the MediaTek Helio G99, a 6 nm chipset with an octa-core processor and an ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. Additionally, Xiaomi complements the budget chipset with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 flash storage.
(Notepad check).
Republic of Ultrune Gamers Update
Asus is gearing up to refresh the ROG 6 line of gaming smartphones ahead of the holidays, with the ROG 6D and ROG 6D Ultra bringing faster screens, more co-op, and a bigger battery:
“…the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset will power both phones – a fact already teased by Asus. The phones will also share a 6.78-inch AMOLED display, with an expected refresh rate of 165Hz. a 65W charging stand.
(GSM and Asus Arena)
And finally…
Qualcomm has rolled out an update to the SnapDragon 6 Gen on-chip system. Formerly the SnapDragon 6xx series (much like the new 8 Gen chipsets are rebadged 8xx), the sixth generation is aimed at mid- to low-priced handsets. Qualcomm has also withheld some of the new technologies, presumably to keep prices low and help with component sourcing:
Notably, however, Qualcomm’s 2023 mid-range/low-end parts do not make the jump to Armv9 architecture. Unlike the 8 Gen 1 and 7 Gen 1, which incorporated Arm’s new Armv9 cores, Qualcomm’s cascaded development strategy means the 6 and 4 series will lag a bit further behind. For end users, that should matter little at this time, but for smartphone vendors and software developers, it means Qualcomm won’t complete the Armv9 transition for at least another generation.
(Anandtech).
Android Circuit rounds up news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!