Android Circuit: Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Victory, Coca-Cola Phone Reviewed, Surprising Pixel Fold Leak

Forbes Innovation Consumer Tech Android Circuit: Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Victory, Coca-Cola Phone Reviewed, Surprising Pixel Fold Leak Ewan Spence Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Storyteller exploring digital worlds, mobile, music and podcasting Following Mar 10, 2023, 06:35pm EST | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra victory, Pixel Fold on the New York Subway, the rise of the smartwatch, Nokia’s repairable phone, Realme’s Coca Cola phone, the industry welcoming Android’s passkey program, and Nothing’s next processor choice. 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 ).

Throwing Your Phone To The Floor In a multi-part head-to-head from YouTuber PhoneBuff, both Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max have been dropped repeatedly to the floor. Which will survive to claim the ‘robust phone’ thumbs up? The test had four rounds of drop tests. In the first round, both phones were dropped flat on their backs.

The iPhone’s rear glass shattered completely, and a dent appeared on its rear camera lens. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s back cracked slightly near two of its corners. ” ( PhoneBuff via SamMobile ).

BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 2: The Galaxy S23+ by its bigger, top range, sibling, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, . . .

[+] two of the new S23 series of smartphones by the Samsung, being compared during the Mobile World Congress 2023 on March 2, 2023, in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images MORE FOR YOU $100M Magic: Why Bruno Mars And Other Stars Are Ditching Their Managers With ‘Brotox’ On The Rise, The Get Refreshed Spa Has Their Own Mancave 2023 Layoff Tracker: Meta Could Reportedly Cut Thousands Of Employees Taking The Subway To Find The Fold Has Google’s foldable phone been spotted in the wild? An eagle-eyed smartphone watcher out in public spotted an unfamiliar sight on their commute… naturally, pictures were taken and discussions began. This could be a test unit of the Pixel Fold “A Redditor yesterday said they saw the Pixel Fold on a New York City subway, and took four shots.

The first three images are quite blurry, though the best one in the set lines up with a folded device that’s being held in landscape orientation with the hinge facing the sky. ” ( Reddit via 9to5Google ). Where The Watches Are While Apple, Google, and Samsung push out high-end smartwatches, the biggest area of growth in the wearables market is coming from more basic smartwatches.

The latest report from CCS insights highlights the growth of the category in India: “In 2023 184 million smartwatches are expected to be sold, up 16% from 2022. But almost all of this increase will come from India, where demand is expected to grow by 75%. This regional growth is being fuelled by the increased availability and popularity of basic devices, generally priced between $30 and $70.

“Three Indian companies — boAt, Fire-Boltt and Noise — have made a success of Indian consumers’ love for smartwatch technology, creating an explosion of demand in their domestic market. In contrast, smartwatch sales in the country three years ago were negligible. ” ( CCS Insights ).

The Nokia Fix Is In HMD Global’s latest smartphone, the Nokia G22, goes on sale in the UK this week. This mid-range handset is notable for its repairability. Both the battery and the screen can be replaced using parts available from iFixit, and standard tools found around the house: “Nokia G22 has repairability in its DNA so you can keep your phone for even longer.

Through the collaboration with iFixit, a global repair community, fixing your devices becomes more affordable and accessible. It gives people easy access to replacement parts, including battery, display and charging port, as well as tools, and repair guides to make repairing your device as straightforward as possible. ” ( Nokia.

com ). I’d Like To Buy The World A Smartphone Realme’s latest phone is a limited edition model (with a run of just 6,000 models) with lots of Coca-Cola branding on the packing and the handset. The phone itself is still a Realme 10 Pro 5G model, but what makes it a Coca-Cola model: “Its back panel is treated with a “Matte Imitation Coating Process” to provide the “elegant touch of brushed aluminum while remaining resistant to scratches and fingerprints.

” The idea is to make the phone feel like a can of Coke when holding it, and we must say that the back cover’s matte finish feels nice and resists fingerprint smudges. And like its box, the Coca-Cola Edition’s rear also reflects light at different angles. ” ( GSM Arena ).

Android’s Passkey Approach Welcomed Google’s move to adopting third-party applications to manage passkeys services into Android 14 has been, unsurprisingly, welcomed by the team at Dashlane: “This is the first Android iteration that enables password managers to manage passkeys, and we anticipate the public release later this year. Look out for websites adopting passkeys in the months and years to come. Once you start using passkeys, you won’t want to return to passwords.

Besides enabling you to skip typing in anything, passkeys are also far more secure than passwords, offering both phishing resistance and ease of use. Higher levels of security often come at the cost of usability, but as you can see in the demo video above, that’s not the case with passkeys. ” ( Dashlane Blog ).

And Finally. . .

According to Qualcomm , Nothing Tech’s next-generation smartphone (the title Phone (2) ) will sport the SnapDragon 8+ Gen 1, but we don’t know what the handset will look like. That said, with all the leaks, YouTube artist 4RMD has put together a concept trailer for the upcoming handset, and their best guess at the marketing call to action: “Introducing the new Nothing Phone 2. Let’s Bring the Future Back.

” ( YouTube ). 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! Check out my website .

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