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Android Circuit: Galaxy S7 Leaks Surprise, Microsoft Abandons Android, Google Fights Russia

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Taking a look back at seven days of news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit includes a review of the Nexus 6P, Google's fight over a Russian legal challenge, a long-term review of the Sony Xperia Z5, Microsoft's abandoned Android development plans, BlackBerry Venice leaks, iFixit's teardown of the Fairphone 2, Android's current market share, and Samsung addressing its S Pen issues.

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).

Galaxy S7 Details Leaked

While Samsung's Galaxy S6 family of devices were exclusively powered by the in-house Exynos chipset, leaked details on the Galaxy S7 models point to four variants, powered equally by Exynos and Qualcomm chipsets. Gordon Kelly looks at the leak from SamMobile and its impact on the flagship South Korean devices:

With the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge expected early in 2016, the ever reliable SamMobile has discovered we shouldn’t expect two smartphones but four. It has learnt the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will go by the model numbers: ‘SM-G930’ and ‘SM-G935’ respectively but they will be split into two further distinct groups: Qualcomm Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos.

Yes, it appears Samsung is ready to step back in time and let Qualcomm have a share of its premium smartphones. Previously Samsung had road tested its Exynos chips by equipping them in phones in its native South Korea, but pushed the safer Snapdragon to the rest of the world before stepping out on its own with 100% Exynos for its premium models in 2015.

More details here.

Nexus 6P Reviewed

Google's Nexus 6P should be rightly seen as the handset that epitomizes Google's view of Android hardware, and arguably could lead to a greater focus from Mountain View on building its own hardware. If the 6P is used as a base model, Forbes' Gordon Kelly believes this could be a "very good thing" as he reviews the Huawei-manufactured phablet:

I’ve owned every Nexus and none could be labelled luxurious. For better or worse, luxury simply wasn’t a consideration, but with the Nexus 6P that changes. Made in partnership with Huawei, the 6P drops the plastic and glass builds of previous models for an aluminium body that’s chamfered to within an inch of its life.

The results are excellent and photos do not do the 6P justice. This is a device which can stand toe-to-toe with the best Apple and Samsung can muster and it signals 6P builder Huawei’s arrival as a major player in the West. Better still it does this by being unique. The 6P’s so-called ‘visor’ (an ever so slightly raised strip for the camera, flash and sensors) is initially odd, but really grows on you with time. In fact it provides the kind of personality Google could build its smartphone brand around. You can identify the 6P from across the room.

Sony's Xperia Z5 Loses The Advantage

Having spent a month with the handset, I've written up my thoughts on Sony's Xperia Z5 handset in a long-term review here on Forbes. Sony's long-standing advantage in hardware specifications has been slowly eroded away as the competition catches up and the base-line specifications for Android devices offer acceptable performance with mid-range specifications.

I’m disappointed that Sony hasn’t risked anything really new on the Xperia Z5. The fingerprint sensor is the only practical update over the Xperia Z4/Z3+ handset. The big ‘whizz-bang’ technology that the geekerati are looking for is NFC, and Sony’s leading smartphones have been shipping with that communications hardware since the original Xperia Z. Sony’s previous advantages have been eroded and the competition has caught up. With nothing new, the Xperia Z5 the handset will struggle to stand out in the way that previous handsets have done.

The Xperia Z5 did almost everything I asked and expected of it and no more. That gives the smartphone a feeling of a comfy pair of slippers. It fits into the demands of my digital life with little fuss and draws little attention to itself. That makes for a handset that is easy to recommend, even with some of the minor faults mentioned earlier, but it also makes for a handset that is going to struggle in the commercial marketplace to gain any acceptance or traction.

It's still an easy handset to recommend, but it's not a handset that stands out easily in the retail space.

Google Picks Up Russian Legal Challenge

Google's tussle with Russian regulators over anti-trust concerns in Android is escalating, as Mountain View confirms that it will contest the issue. Megan Geuss reports on the issue at Ars Technica over the inclusion of mandatory applications bundled in Android:

Back in September, the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service ruled in favor of Yandex, a Russian search engine that complained to the authorities that Google was abusing its power as a dominant operating system provider to lock its customers into using Google services. Russian authorities said that Google would have to sell its Android phones pre-loaded with nothing but the Google Play Store, and it gave the Mountain View-based company until December 18 to update its contracts with its smartphone manufacturers, according to Reuters.

"We intend to contest this decision and explain in court why we consider it unfounded,” Google wrote on its Russian blog.

Microsoft 'Abandons' Windows Suicide Note

The last year has seen discussion over Microsoft's plans to allow Android applications to run on Windows 10 devices. It's a plan that would likely have seen Android become the dominant developer platform and the slow death of native Windows coding. Daniel Rubino sifts through the evidence that Project Astoria will not reach the public.

Windows Central is now hearing from multiple sources that Project Astoria is on hold indefinitely, and maybe even shelved completely. Although Microsoft is not publicly — even privately — stating Astoria is cancelled, they are not openly talking about it anymore, or even privately discussing it with developers.

One source has told us that "the Android app porting is not going as planned."

The interpretation by others familiar with the matter is that Astoria is not happening anytime soon and Microsoft has yet to find a way to announce the news publicly. Indeed, while the news will be welcomed by Windows developers, it could come across as a failure by the company to execute on a publicly announced strategy.

The Register puts it a little more bluntly as it writes 'Microsoft shelves 'suicidal' Android-on-Windows plan.'

BlackBerry Priv Follow-Up Leaks

Just as BlackBerry starts picking up critical acclaim over the slider-keyboard Priv smartphone, new renders of the BlackBerry Vienna have leaked out. The unique selling point of a physical keyboard is going to continue for the Canadian manufacturer

BlackBerry does not look to be ready to bow out just yet. The BlackBerry Vienna is a candy-bar styled phone. It features a fixed-in-place qwerty keyboard under a 5.4 inch screen. The images are not of physical devices, but digital renders of the hardware. That leaves a lot of questions up in the air.

One question that appears to be answered is the choice of the operating system. Although BlackBerry has BB10, its own operating system has not captured the imagination of mainstream developers, and that platform has been increasingly reliant on its Android emulation. Given the need for applications on a mobile platform, the switch to Android is a necessary step for BlackBerry to remain relevant in 2016 and beyond.

More thoughts on the Priv follow-up here.

iFixit In 'Perfect Score' Review Of Fairphone 2 

It shouldn't be a surprise given the approach taken by Fairphone, but the Fairphone 2 has picked up a 10/10 rating on repairability from iFixit (reports 9to5google's Abner Li). The modular approach is at the core of the Netherlands-based manufacturer's vision.

The Fairphone 2 is designed to be easily disassembled so that regular users can swap and upgrade the phone’s parts, and the company hopes that this will give the device a projected lifespan of about five years. In an interview with ArsTechnica, Fairphone cites how the phone can be safely assembled/disassembled around 50 times, with most parts being able to last longer. In iFixit’s teardown, the company’s claims about repairability seem to have been proven true.

You can follow through the teardown of the Fairphone 2 here.

Google Rules The Smartphone Marketshare

Android's market share of the smartphone space is now sitting at 84.7 percent, according to recent numbers from Gartner. Add in Apple's 13.1 percent and the two mobile operating system are utterly dominant in the space with a combined 97.8 percent of the market. Todd Haselton looks at the impact:

New data from Gartner suggests that 97.8 percent of the smartphones sold during the third quarter of this year were running either Android or iOS. There hasn’t been much room for a third ecosystem, which means platforms like BlackBerry OS and Windows 10 for Phones, in addition to others such as Tizen, are facing an uphill battle.

Gartner found that Android was installed on 84.7 percent of all global smartphones sold during the third quarter, while iOS was installed on 13.1 percent of devices. Both smartphone operating systems increased share over the third quarter of 2014, with Windows and BlackBerry losing their already tiny slices of the pie.

And Finally...

Samsung has decided how to address the S Pen issue in the Galaxy Note 5 that caused the pen to jamb on the mechanism if it was inserted incorrectly. Cam Bunton reports that it has included a warning sticker on the screen protection cover in the packaging:

A recently published YouTube unboxing video reveals that Samsung has begun shipping its Galaxy Note 5 handsets with a warning label, telling users not to insert the proprietary stylus in the wrong way. It may seem like pointing out the obvious, but Sammy has very real reasons for warning users.

So there you go. The S Pen sticks if you put it in the wrong way... so don't put it in the wrong way.

Android Circuit’ will round-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 LoopLast 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!

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