Taking a look back at seven days of news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit focuses heavily on the news from Mobile World Congress and includes details of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the modular LG G5, the battery friendly Sony Xperia, and Acer's mid range Zest and Jade 2 handsets. There's also a look at Google's update to Gmail on Android, and the circadian lighting app F.Lux arriving (in a fashion) on Android.
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).
Samsung's Critical Flagships Arrives
Android Circuit this week is going to be dominated by the news coming out of Mobile World Congress. Starting with Samsung, two of the most anticipated phones of the year were revealed. The Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge share a common hardware platform, with international versions powered by the SnapDragon 820 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. There's also the welcome return of waterproofing and expansion:
Both new phones are IP68 rated which means they are “totally dust tight” and can survive prolonged submersion in water depths of up to 1.5 metres for an hour. That should be more than enough to save them if dropped in a sink or even taken into the shower...
Also making a welcome return is expandable storage. Samsung has crowbarred a microSD slot into the sim card tray which supports capacities up to 200GB. Its loss last year was a deal breaker for some and combined with Android Marshmallow’s ability to treat expanded storage like native storage, it is a potentially huge differentiator (and money saver) on Apple’s iPhone range which charges a $100 premium for each storage tier.
Kelly looks at the similarities and the differences between the two handsets here on Forbes.
Bad Ideas And Going Old School With Extra Storage
It's not all plain sailing for the Galaxy S7 though. Although two heavily in-demand features have returned, what the South Korean designers give with one hand, they take away with the other. The microSD expansion on the smartphones will not use Android Marshmallows' ability to join internal and external storage into one memory block. And that one internal memory block? The only option will be 32GB. Samsung has no current plans to ship anything other than a 32GB model in North America:
Yes in an era where 64GB and 128GB phone models are not only commonplace but expected from handset makers (including from Samsung’s biggest rival Apple ), Samsung has decided 32GB is enough for all US users. And, of course, it would be if Samsung had fully implemented Android Marshmallow’s support for expandable storage.
As such, not only are these two nasty surprises but they are problems which compound one another.
Has Samsung shot itself in the foot?
Can VR Save A Smartphone?
Samsung also made a heavy play for the accessory market with the launch of the Gear 360 camera - which allows users to take 360 degree pictures and video, and works alongside Samsung's existing Gear VR headset. It also took the opportunity to push Virtual Reality as the next big area where Samsung will innovate. To help with that, it has paired up with Facebook, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on hand to bolster the case:
For Samsung this was a bold message about its desire to push forward into newer markets, and away from its staple of churning out the ubiquitous slabs of metal we call smartphones. Though it didn’t announce a new version of the Gear VR, its virtual reality headset, it did unveil the Gear 360, a camera for shooting virtual reality videos.
Facebook's strong message may have overpowered the association with Samsung in the coverage, which means Samsung had to work harder for the rest of the week.
Redesigning The Smartphone For Modularity
A few hours before Samsung's reveal, LG announced the LG G5 smartphone. Built around the idea of modularity, you can switch out a hardware block for different functions. It also has the SnapDragon 820 SoC and is backed up by 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and microSD card support. But it's the modules that make the difference. Forbes' Jay McGregor is at MWC and reports on the device.
The headline news, the showstopper: LG is the first to commercialise a modular smartphone. It’s not quite on Google's Project Ara’s level, but the slide out bottom is impressive. From here you can swap out the battery, or add in another accessory like the Bang & Oulfsen sound up-scaling amp or another giant battery that doubles as a camera add-on.
Think about the future possibilities of third party modules that could transform this device in the coming months. LG told me that it’s hoping other exhibitors at the Mobile World Congress will be inspired by the modular design and work with LG to produce more third-party modules. Sound, battery and camera are obvious ones, but here’s hoping we’ll see some more innovative ideas come to fruition.
McGregor goes through the highlights of the LG G5.
Sony Goes For Battery Life
The biggest limitation on a modern smartphone is the battery life. Any breakthrough in technology is welcomed. Sony's new Xperia handsets, announced at MWC, will feature a new approach to charging a battery developed by Qnovo. Better charing leads to more cycles from a battery and better retention of capacity. Anthony Leather looks over the new technology:
I spoke to Qnovo back in 2014, where the company’s research, which could be applied to any device with a lithium-based rechargeable battery, was already fully established. Topping the list of its achievements was the ability to gain 6 hours of battery life from a single 15-minute charge, compared to just two hours for the same device, but lacking the technology. Similarly, in just 5 minutes, a Qnovo-enabled device could gain two hours of battery life.
The Xperia X devices are the first commercial devices to use Qnovo's technology. More details can be found here.
Acer's Mid-Range Movers
Eschewing a monster flagship approach, Taiwanese manufacturer Acer debuted two mid-range handsets at MWC in The Zest and the Jade 2. The Acer Liquid Zest ships with a five-inch 720p IPS screen, a quad-core MediaTek CPU, and is available in 3G or 4G variants. Expect this to be a popular handset in Pay As You Go market.
The second handset does have higher specs (including a SnapDragon 808 SoC). Android Central got its hands on the new Marshmallow powered Liquid Jade 2 device, spotting the balance between build cost, presentation, and functionality:
The hardware itself is a bit underwhelming considering how high-end the phone is marketed as and the level of the internals. The plastic all around looks quite nice with a brushed coating and a bright red strip around the outside, but it feels rather thin and flimsy when you run your hands around it. But depending on the price, you may be able to look past the slightly less-than-wonderful hardware experience to get good software and specs in a solid package.
Outside of the confines of Mobile World Congress, there are two software updates in the world of Android that are worth highlighting.
Improving Your Gmail Appearance
The first comes from Google and an update to the Gmail application in Android. The email client will now allow you to add some rich formatting to your outgoing messages. Chris Welch reports for The Verge:
Today, a new update for the app will add support for rich text formatting — bold, italics, underlined / colored text, etc. — so you'll have extra tools at your disposal to get a point across, add emphasis to your text, or craft the signature you've always wanted right inside the app. And separately, calendar invites "from both Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange" will now display a one-tap option to respond and view your schedule for the requested time slot.
The update is now available through a regular app update in the Google Play Store.
Are You Feeling Sleepy?
Also available for Android (albeit on a rooted device) is the public release of F.lux. Released earlier this year as a limited beta, F.lux will alter the colour of your screen to help settle your brain into a night-time routine by shifting from a blue hue to orange as midnight approaches. Jacob Kleinman writes up the experience for Techno Buffalo:
F.lux finally launched on Android earlier this month with an initial beta test. The company, which began back in 2009, already offers its sleep-saving service for Mac, PC, Linux and jailbroken iOS devices, but until recently it wasn’t available for Google’s massively popular mobile operating system.
To try out the beta you’ll need a rooted Android phone. Then sign up for a F.lux forum account and request to join the test group. Once you’re approved you can install the app using an official list of instructions provided by the company.
It's a complicated procedure (for the moment) but you can find out more information at F.Lux's Forum.
And Finally...
Yahoo's photo gallery team has been hard at work at MWC to round-up the key Smartphones announced in Barcelona, taking in the Galaxy S7, the new Lenovo Vibe, the HTC Desire, and more. There's even a sighting of Windows 10 from HP, although I do think it was a smart move by Microsoft to leave the Surface Phone back at Redmond and only debut the mid-range Lumia 650.
You can browse the online gallery here.
Android Circuit rounds up the 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!
