Taking a look back at seven days of news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit includes more reviews of the Galaxy Note 7, why the phablet is in short supply, Android 7.0′s release, some handsets that will not get Nougat, Microsoft’s cuckoo software strategy, Android beating iOS in crash comparison, Samsung’s refurbished smartphone plans, and Google Duo clocking up the downloads.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week (and you can find the weekly Apple news digest here).
Galaxy Note 7 Gathers More Reviews
More considered reviews of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 hardware are rolling in after last week’s batch of hot takes broke the ice. Samuel Gibbs has spent time with the phablet for The Guardian, and has found it to be a stylish device with premium design cues and cutting edge hardware. He highlights the stylus as a key differentiator:
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is, without doubt, the best phablet going. It’s powerful, full of useful features and little in the way of gimmicks, and provides productivity tools others simply don’t.
The S Pen is something you may not use all the time, but comes in really handy at least once a day for me, and when not in use safely docks out the way, not detracting from the aesthetic or function of the phone.
Meanwhile Forbes’ Ben Sin questions the cost of the Note 7. It’s all well and good having a premium look, but is that worth paying almost double when compared to the competition?
The Note 7 to me is sort of like that. Yes, I love that it is the slimmest/sleekest 5.7-incher ever. And features like waterproofing gives it a unique selling point other phones don’t have. But still, at $850 (HK$6,590), it’s more than twice as much as the OnePlus 3 ($400/HK$3,090). Is the Note 7 a better phone? Probably, but is it twice as good? No way. Not by a long shot.
Galaxy Note 7 In Short Supply
Samsung’s plans to roll out the Galaxy Note 7 as quickly as possible are having to be trimmed back, reports Bogdan Petrovan for Android Authority. There is heavy demand for the phablet, and the supply chain is having trouble supplying enough parts to the production line:
High demand can create problems however. Samsung has already adjusted its Note 7 launch plans and now the company revealed that it can’t manufacture new units as fast as existing ones fly off the shelves.
In a statement today, Samsung said it’s facing “supply constraints globally” due to pre-orders volumes that “far exceeded” estimates. Samsung used a similar language last year when the curved Galaxy S6 Edge sold much better than the Korean giant had anticipated.
While there will be a number of fans who want the phablet immediately, the Note 7 is expected to have a strong retail presence for a number of months.
Reviewing Android 7.0
The latest version of Android has left the development cycle and is rolling out to a number of devices. Google’s Nexus and Pixel devices are some of the first public devices to receive the update, and Samuel Gibbs has explored the new version of Android:
It is faster, more polished and a subtly-better experience all-round. Apps install more quickly, the OS can be smaller in size and updates to Android can be installed on the fly, without having to wait for 10 minutes while it reboots, if you have a new device. The new Vulcan API graphics system is also baked in for better gaming performance and Nougat will support Google’s Daydream virtual reality system, eventually.
Nougat is not, however, a major visual overhaul of Android. Those that have used Marshmallow on any of Google’s Nexus smartphones or devices with little in the way of modification to Android, such as the OnePlus 3, will instantly recognise it.
Read more at The Guardian.
Sony Xperia Z3 (image: Ewan Spence)
No Android 7.0 for Xperia Z3
Anyone looking to get Android 7.0 on their smartphone is, as always, looking to the grace and favour of the manufacturer to process the update, sign-off on the software, and have its carrier partners provide the update. Fans of the Sony Xperia Z3 handset, which was released on September 4th 2014 will no doubt be overjoyed to hear that the critically acclaimed Japanese handset will not be receiving the updated software.
This is a rather cruel twist after the Z3 served as Sony’s test device for the Android N dev preview. So the phone’s good enough to test stuff on but apparently not important enough to update to the fully cooked Nougat software. The same fate is befalling the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, which was launched alongside the Z3 and Z3 Compact smartphones. Just a sad day all around.
[Source:-Forbes]
