Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes updates from CES, Samsung’s AI details, Oppo Find X7 Ultra, Honor Magic6 Lite, OnePlus 12 Leak, ASUS ROG Phone 8, TCL’s paper tablet, and a big update for Gboard.
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).
Honor’s Magic Is In The Price
Honor has launched the Magic6 Lite, the lower-priced phone in the current Magic6 range. It’s the classic mid-range handset with slightly dulled specs to offer consumers a much cheaper phone. The biggest impact on the price will likely be using last year’s mid-range Snapdragon. It’s more than enough for day-to-day use, but it will struggle with demanding apps and games:
“The said efficient chipset is more than a year old and also not the most powerful midrange chip. The Honor Magic 6 Lite uses a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, which is an octa-core affair with four A78 cores at 2.2GHz and four A55 clocked at 1.8GHz. The base memory configuration starts at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage, and there’s no microSD card extension.
(Phone Arena).
Magic6 Lite
Samsung Teases Galaxy S24 AI Software At CES
While the next Galaxy S handsets were not on show at this week’s CES in Las Vegas, one of the key building blocks will dominate the “Galaxy Unpacked” launch event… Artificial intelligence. It’s Ai for All presentation brought AI to fridges, photo frames and laptops:
“At CES 2024, Samsung unveiled its strategy of ‘AI for ALL’, which is mainly to promote how artificial intelligence (AI) technology can enable people to enjoy devices and content more intuitively than ever. Throughout the press conference [it] showcased different products and services that will help Samsung achieve these aims.”
(Sammobile).
Oppo’s Up Periscope Moment
Oppo launched The Find X7 Ultra this week, a flagship smartphone which leans heavily into many of the top specs demanded in 2024, but makes a huge play for the cameraphone crowd thanks to it four lens system that features two cutting edge telephoto lenses:
“Oppo’s latest flagship, the Find X7 Ultra, is the first smartphone to include two periscope cameras, the company announced today as it launched the device in China. One offers a 3x zoom and uses a 1/1.56-inch sensor that Oppo says is “the biggest telephoto sensor in any smartphone.” Large sensors typically make for better low-light photographs, which can be an issue for some phones’ secondary cameras. The second periscope lens offers a 6x optical zoom with a 1/2.51-inch sensor.”
(The Verge).
OnePlus 12R Leaked Images
Also looking to conquer the mid-range with “flagship-level” specifications is the OnePlus 12R. Ahead of a OnePlus event later this month, images of the OnePlus 12R have leaked, and it looks remarkable like a flagship-level styled OnePlus device in China:
“Reliable source Roland Quandt shared official-looking renders for the OnePlus 12R featuring the exact same look as the OnePlus Ace 3 down to the black and blue color options. OnePlus 12R recently gained certification from the FCC which also confirmed its design characteristics.”
(GSM Arena).
A New Market For Gaming
What happens when a gaming smartphone looks to the wider market to be accepted? You get Asus’ ROG Phone 8. The garish designs, the intense focus on cooling to the exclusion of all other choices, the design of the speakers… all that is tempered to reach consumers:
“I’m intrigued to see how this change of strategy has played out during 2024. As a gaming smartphone, the mission for the ASUS ROG Phones was clear, and the compromises that any smartphone has to make were all focused on one area. By looking for wider audiences, some of those compromises will impact the handset’s gaming prowess.”
(Forbes).
A Tablet Of Paper
TCL’s launch of two new Android-powered tablets may have been one of the quieter launches coming out of Las Vegas, but CES is sometimes about showcasing something new that can be supplied to other manufacturers. In the case of TCL, the tablets are the first to carry its new paper-like display:
“TCL has improved its popular display technology with the release of TCL NxtPaper 3.0. This technology provides a full-color, paper-like experience while retaining the benefits of traditional LCD screens. The latest version has Circularly Polarized Light (CPL) screens, which mimic natural light’s “emission/reflection/refraction” path. This feature creates a visual experience similar to reading books under natural light, resulting in extra eye comfort and a more paper-like screen.”
And Finally…
Google has updated Gboard for large-screened Android devices, primarily tablets. There’s a new way to access a formatting and suggestion bar through a small toggle at the bottom of the screen:
“It provides a suggestion strip like the virtual counterpart, which previously was only accessible if you had the full software keyboard open. That’s flanked by a button to shrink the toolbar down to a vertical pill on the left/right edge (though you can also drag it into place), and quick access to the emoji picker, which opens in a floating phone-sized UI.
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!
