Ready for IFA 2015? Not so fast! While we’re just counting down days before some of the biggest reveals this half of the year, last week’s events still bear noting. For one, Samsung seems to have found itself in quite a pickle with what Internet has now christened as the “Pengate” design flaw. But on a more positive note, we’re already seeing the first volley of new device announcements, as manufacturers and companies get the formalities out the door, leaving the public free to gawk at and fondle their wares this coming days. Without further ado, Android Community’s Weekly Digest for August 24 to 30, 2015.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5’s Pengate
The Galaxy Note 5 isn’t a perfect smartphone, no doubt about that. It was already criticized by long-time fans for its switch to an unremovable battery and microSD-less design. But perhaps the biggest flaw was not something we expected. The new S Pen design allowed users to easily slip in the stylus backwards, pointy side pointing outwards. Sadly, this has fatal repercussions to the mechanism that makes the S Pen detection worse. Worst case scenario, the S Pen gets stuck inside its silo, requiring a trip to customer care and possibly days, even weeks, away from the smartphone.
Samsung’s response? “Read The Fine Manual“, so to speak. The manual, which everyone reads studiously upon opening a new product, does explicitly mention inserting the stylus in the right orientation. After all, no person in their sane mind would do otherwise, right? Sadly, by definition, accidents are things that don’t happen under normal circumstances. Suffice it to say, we’re far from hearing the end of this fiasco.
OnePlus 2 lives up to its name, sort of
Good thing, then, that Samsung is by far the only game in town. The OnePlus 2, which launched just a while back, might be a formidable contender. Again, it isn’t perfect for sure and there are a lot of features, or rather the absence of such, that has us dreaming of more. But for the price point, you would have in your hands possibly one of the best smartphones of the year.
Check out SlashGear’s in-depth review of the OnePlus 2 for more details.
It seems, however, that OnePlus will again be faced with problematic hardware. Last time, it was display and touchscreen issues. Now some users are reporting problems with the new fingerprint scanner home button. Hopefully it will just be a minor software issue, because hardware defects are much harder, not to mention expensive, to address. Then again, OnePlus might have time to fix that considering it’s not exactly shipping the smartphone in droves.
Sony’s Play
One manufacturer that still remains a mystery to this day is Sony. Divining what it ultimately plans for its mobile business is something that would probably confound even the oracle at Delphi. On the one hand, it doesn’t seem that zealous to bring honor back to its flagship smarpthone. But on the other hand, fans seem to believe that the Xperia Z5 will redeem the Japanese OEM. After all, if it becomes the first smartphone to have a 4K display, then it would have at least one bragging right. However, based on leaks of the Xperia Z5’s supposed design, Sony isn’t changing its tune.
And the only thing that Sony is willing to tease? A smartphone with a greater focus, which could very well just a new 23 megapixel camera sensor. Of course, Sony also needs to reclaim its throne on the smartphone camera market, so this one is needed as well. Hopefully, it won’t be the only good news next week.
Moto 360 deja vu
Smartphones, of course, aren’t the only things coming at IFA. We’re also expecting a new generation of smartwatches to come flooding in, perhaps helping to cement this still somewhat doubtful wearable market. One of those expected to debut is the Moto 360 2. That said, it might not be as warmly welcomed as its predecessor. While the first Moto 360 pioneered round-faced smartwatches, version 2 might look like a rehash. Not that you really have much to work with in terms of smartwatch design. You can really only iterate over a basic, winning design.
The good news? The Moto 360 2 might be as stylish and luxurious looking as these leaked photos seem to hint at. Otherwise, the once favorite of the Android Wear world might see itself losing some fans.
A flood of devices
Trying to avoid the maddening rush of device announcements that will be happening this week, some OEMs, even those that might not be at IFA 2015, have decided to unload their own wares early.
Taking the lead is OPPO, who annonced its latest flagship, the OPPO R7 Plus, with it’s large 6-inch 1080p screen, 3 GB RAM, and 4,100 mAh battery. Not far behind it is the OPPO R5s, the super slim mid-ranger that is already making its way to the US.
French manufacturer ARCHOS is not to be beaten. Announcing its usual fare of budget smartphones, it has revealed the mid-range Diamond S and the budget smarpthone Helium 50e. And somewhat unexpectedly, it quickly followed that up with the announcement of the totally new Diamond Tab tablet.
We still don’t know Lenovo’s gameplan for IFA, but rumors say that it will unveil a VIBE P1 there, a smartphone that is expected to boast a ginormous 5,000 mAh battery. If it does, it might be one of the last VIBE smartphones we’ll see from Lenovo, as the PC maker has hinted that it will eventually assimilate its Lenovo Mobile unit into Motorola.
Bits and Bytes
This week wasn’t just about smartphones, or smartwatches for that matter. We’ve also seen our share of apps and accessories making big splashes in the Android world. For one, there’s the launch of YouTube Gaming, Google’s answer to Twitch’s dominance in the gaming live streaming market. Then there’s Cortana, who is officially making its public beta debut, at least in the US. On the trinket side, we saw LG put out the interesting and yet strange contraption that is the Rolly Keyboard, a full-sized solid, rollable keyboard for smartphones and tablets. But if you’re still hungry for more smartphones, the ASUS ZenFone 2, the 4 GB model to be exact, might be worth giving a shot. More than performing generally well, it apparently also charges faster on average.
Wrap-up
That was definitely a doozy, but don’t look now, IFA 2015 is almost here! ASUS has already queued up what it will be announcing, and Sony is definitely one brand to watch out for. LG might have already lined up its ducks, but it might still have a surprise waiting. And never underestimate the growing power of Chinese brands like Huawei, who are taking Western markets by storm. So stick with us as we bring to you the latest news and whispers on what’s hot at the IFA 2015 floor.
