Covers seven days of Android news and headlines, This week's Android review ditches Apple, Pixel 8 Pro camera details, Pixel Watch 2 leaks, Oppo A78 5G launch, Google Pixel software updates, and does not include any (2) certified release phones. And a big move from UK carriers.
The Android Circuit is here to remind you of the many things that have happened in the past week about Android (and you can find Apple's weekly news panel here).
Trump sells the Galaxy iPhone
Samsung has maintained its position as number one in the mobile phone market after Apple. Unlike the aforementioned iPhone maker, Samsung managed to increase its market share in the quarter:
Market data from TrendForce shows that Samsung led the smartphone market in the first quarter of 2023 with a share of 24.6%. Apple was the second largest OEM with a market share of 21.3% in the first quarter. Year-on-year growth of 27.5% and 11% decreased 9 on Respectively, they are followed by Oppo (10.7% market share), Xiaomi (10.6% market share) and Vivo (8.0%).
(SamMobile).
The Pixel 8 Pro's camera takes it a step further
It's worth noting that some of the hardware changes, including the addition of a time-of-flight sensor, will be limited to the Pixel 8 Pro, likely to save some space between the two phones:
The Pixel 8 Pro's camera has a number of advantages over the standard Pixel 8 camera, aside from the addition of a separate telephoto lens. There's a huge difference in camera performance between the Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 7, so it's likely the Pixel 8. 8 buyers note that they will say that choosing a smaller model means not only the lack of long-term zoom capabilities, but also the overall image and screen quality.
An in-depth look at the Android 14 source code of the latest developer build gives a glimpse of Google's next smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 2. Again, there appear to be two versions: one for Wi-Fi and one for Wi-Fi. and cellular:
As part of the update, we learned that the Pixel Watch 2 is being developed under the codename “Eos”, and our team also discovered the codename “Aurora” as in legends. We assume that the main difference between Eos and Aurora will be the availability of cellular connectivity.
(Google 9 to 5).
The new Oppo phone with a budget target
Oppo launched the A78 5G in the UK. At £219, it's at the bottom of the mid-range. The design feels a little dated, and Oppo packs a lot of extra software on top of the Android apps, but it offers good battery life and average performance for the price. Excerpts from the press release:
OPPO A78 5G has a 50MP main camera that allows users to take high-quality photos, a 2MP selfie lens, and an 8MP front camera for high-quality photos. The image resolution is up to 108MP, which provides an amazing level of clarity.
(Reverse).
Large scale update for Google Pixel
The current batch of Pixel devices have received the July software update. Besides the usual mix of bug fixes and security fixes, there are also a lot of new features. There's a lot going on, but what really caught my eye (or my ears) was the addition of "tags" to the recorded speech in the voice recorder:
Google has a great audio recording app, and starting next week they will be able to add speaker tags to recordings. This makes it easier to understand who is saying what in the recording. Also, users will be able to export the transcript recording to a file. Google Docs file splitting, speaker names and creating clips Video and search for speakers in the recordings.
(technical crisis).
None Phone (2) Configuration confirmed
“Promoting their phones (2) wasn’t a classic misleading, unfair game. Founder and CEO Carl Pei’s next smartphone guerrilla campaign encourages consumers to go where they want to go without much or nothing behind the shiny body.” The release date of her next flagship phone is being announced Now Nothing Phone (2) was released on July 11, a year after the original release of Nothing Phone (1).
(Gizmodo).
Finally...
While not primarily Android, there was a huge shake-up in the UK's telecoms landscape this week, as two major networks agreed to merge to become the country's main network. :
[Vodafone and Three] plan to merge their UK operations, give them around 27 million customers and make them the UK's largest mobile network. The deal has yet to be approved by regulators, who will consider whether to raise prices for customers. The merger between Vodafone and Three will lift Virgin Media's combined market share beyond O2."
(BBC News).
Android Circuit covers the Android world from Forbes every weekend. Don't forget to follow me for future updates, and of course check out my sister's column on the Apple episode! You can find last week's Android Circuit here, and let us know if you have any news or links you'd like to post on Android Circuit!
