Android Circuit: Pixel 7 Pro Excitement, OnePlus’ Trees, Xiaomi 12T Pro Reviews

Consumer Tech Android Circuit: Pixel 7 Pro Excitement, OnePlus’ Trees, Xiaomi 12T Pro Reviews Ewan Spence Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Storyteller exploring digital worlds, mobile, music and podcasting Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 7, 2022, 03:37pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation 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 the launch and first thoughts on the Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7, and Pixel Watch, why Samsung is so far ahead of Google, the new European USB-C charging standard, Xiaomi 12T Pro reviews, OnePlus’ trade-in for trees, and a million dynamic islands 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 ). Pixel 7 and 7 Pro Launched By Google Announced at its I/O event in the early summer, Google has now fully revealed the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones. The two new handsets build on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro with a new chipset, improved camera, and a tweaked design.

Here’s Google’s thoughts on the update : “Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are sleek, sophisticated and durable. Plus the aluminum enclosure for both phones is made of 100% recycled content. “With a 6.

3-inch display and smaller bezels, Pixel 7 is purposefully more compact than Pixel 6 — packing more features and improvements into a smaller profile. Its new zirconia-blasted aluminum feels silky in your hand, and you can choose from three colors to suit your personal style: Snow, Obsidian and brand new Lemongrass. “Pixel 7 Pro has a 6.

7-inch immersive display, a beautiful polished aluminum frame and a camera bar that’s perfectly complemented by the three color options: Snow, Obsidian and a new Hazel color. ” MORE FOR YOU They Inherited Billions Upon Billions: Meet America’s Richest Heirs How Long After Having Covid-19 Should You Wait To Get The Booster Vaccine? Zachary Armstrong Draws Us Into His Singular ‘American’ Zodiac At Faurschou New York Google is leaning into the safety and security on the smartphones, their ‘smarts’ found in using AI to process personal data, and of course, the improvements in photography. The change that will have the biggest impact is the new system-on-chip.

We’re waiting on benchmarks to come in on the Google Tensor G2, but the key to these chips will not be the raw performance but their focus on processing the data for the various machine-learning-based experiences on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo : “Google didn’t make any claims that the CPU or GPU is any faster (I asked), but ARM promised the G710 was 20 percent faster and 20 percent more power efficient compared to the G78 when it was announced a year ago, so we’ll see. All of the Google Tensor’s year-over-year “percent better” claims revolve around hyper-specific single-app AI use cases, claims like Google’s text-to-speech models now “run 70 percent faster and average 50 percent lower power” ” ZDNet’s Jason Cipriani picked up some hands-on time with the two handsets after the launch event, noting the new design of the iconic camera bar making these new handsets out as evolutions of the Pixel 6 family: “At first glance, it could be easy to mistake last year’s Pixel 6 for the Pixel 7 and the other way around.

The designs are similar, but there are some telling differences. For instance, the camera bar on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro is now metal, not glass, and wraps around the side of the phones instead of abruptly stopping on the edges. ” ( ZDNet ).

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Google Store Pixel Watch Opens Up Smartwatch Angle Google has supported wearables on Android with Wear OS, but now it steps up by launching its own smartwatch, in this case, the Pixel Watch. Once more to the Google Blog : “Designed with comfort and durability in mind, the Google Pixel Watch is sophisticated for a night out or a business meeting, can endure your activities and workouts, and is pleasant to sleep in. The bold, circular 3D domed glass blends seamlessly into the stainless steel body giving it a slim look on the wrist.

It is both water-resistant (up to 5 ATM/50 meters) and scratch-resistant, meant to be worn all day and night. ” Notably, Google is highlighting the integration of Fitbit (which it acquired in January 2021), but that’s not the only Google Service that the Watch makes it easy to tie into: “The watch will also be more overtly integrated with Google services out of the box. That includes Google Wallet for contactless payments, turn-by-turn navigation with Google Maps, and Calendar and Gmail notifications.

The watch will also feature Find My Device, Google Assistant, and the Google Home app for smart home control. For music, Google’s also including three months of YouTube Music Premium with each Pixel Watch. ” ( The Verge ).

Where Does The Pixel 6a Fit In? The Pixel range has grown, with both the 7 and 7 Pro taking over from the 6 and 6 Pro launched last year. As for the Pixel 6a? Not only does that stay relevant, but Google will be using it as a benchmark alongside the iPhone SE to show what a Pixel can do. I put the two small handsets through some comparisons earlier this week: “.

. . both phones rely on computational photography to enhance and edit the incoming image data for a better output.

“This is where the Pixel 6a has the edge. The Tensor Mobile chip may not take the crown of the benchmark king, but Google focused the design on creating a chip that is geared toward machine learning and enabling AI features… just the sort of hardware that you need to make the best images possible, In good light the photos are comparable, but once the light levels drop the Pixel 6a’s night mode comes into its own… and the iPhone SE’s lack of a night mode is an Achilles heel. ” ( Forbes ).

Some Perspective From South Korea The Pixel package will certainly make a splash in the media, but will there be as big an impact on shelves around the world? Samsung, arguably the lead worldwide manufacturer of Android smartphones, is a long way ahead of Google. SamMobile’s Mihai Matei highlights the retail difference between the Pixel and the Galaxy: “According to sales reports by market research firm IDC, Google has sold 27. 6 million Pixel phones since it introduced the lineup in 2016.

And as highlighted by Bloomberg editor @vladsavov on Twitter, that’s 1/10 of Samsung’s sales in one single year (2021), which means that, at this rate, Google would need to continue selling Pixel phones for about 60 more years to catch up with Samsung’s Galaxy phone sales across 12 months. ” ( SamMobile ). Common Charger Bill Passed In Europe The European Parliament has passed the long-discussed legislation around a common charging standard for mobile devices.

Designed to tackle e-waste and to allow consumers to make more sustainable choices, implementation is expected by the end of 2024 for the majority of devices covered, which include Android-powered smartphones and tablets “Regardless of their manufacturer, all new mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, earbuds and laptops that are rechargeable via a wired cable, operating with a power delivery of up to 100 Watts, will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port. ” ( European Parliament News ). Xiaomi 12T Pro Review Xiaomi’s mid-cycle upgrade to the Xiaomi 12 smartphones has arrived in the form of the 12T and 12T Pro.

The step up from the vanilla 12 handsets is not significant, but there are some notable additions, such as the 200-megapixel camera. Cam Bunton looks over the new handset and that super snapper: “Xiaomi’s phone pixel bins 16 pixels into one (essentially merging them to create one, big pixel). This is quite a familiar approach in the Android phone market, and should mean decent low light performance and fast focussing.

“If you do opt to use all 200 million pixels, it means being able to crop into an image without losing much in the way of sharpness. We’ve taken a few test shots with this mode enabled and – in daylight – it is impressive how much you can zoom into an image before the detail starts to fall away and look a bit rough. ( Pocket Lint ).

The OnePlus 10 Tree Working alongside the climate action organisation Ecologi, OnePlus has pledged to plant a tree for every handset traded in through its website. This is part of the company’s drive to find more sustainability in its business, which includes packaging design, recycling centres, and longer product cycles: “At OnePlus we’re renowned for our community spirit, and looking out for our users. By giving OnePlus fans the chance to help the planet every time they get a new phone, we’re helping them make a positive difference to the planet,” said Tuomas Lampen, OnePlus’s Head of European Strategy.

“By partnering with Ecologi as part of our wider environmental work we hope to continue to reduce our impact on the world and become a more sustainable business. ” ( Ecologi ). And Finally.

. . Android’s fascination with Apple’s Dynamic Island continues.

Following the reveal of the iPhone 14 punch-out disguise, Android manufacturers have asked users their opinions… and third-party developers are hard at work. One million downloads of dynamicSpot later, there’s at least a curiosity around the UI element: “. .

. what caught our eye is dynamicSpot hitting its first big milestone, with the early access app tallying over a million downloads on the Google Play Store — and it’s in the top 10 this week on APKMirror, too. If the numbers are anything to go by, Android users seem very curious to see how a Dynamic Island would look on their phones.

” ( Android Police ). 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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