Information Weekly
Information Weekly is our column the place we spotlight and summarize a number of the week’s high tales so you’ll be able to compensate for the most recent tech information.
That is Android Central’s Information Weekly, your go-to supply for a concise roundup of the week’s most vital tech tales. That is the place we delve into the highest headlines that present the most recent developments and improvements contributing to the digital panorama.
This week, Google dropped a second Android 16 developer preview, Motorola is vulnerable to being banned within the U.S., OnePlus teased the 13R with an enormous battery, Samsung’s Android 15 beta continues, and the Ray-Ban Meta Sensible Glasses simply bought an enormous replace.
Android 16 is one step nearer to beta
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Android 16 is ready for an early launch in 2025, so it is no shock Google has already pushed the second developer preview to eligible Pixel smartphones. With this new replace, we’re beginning to get a greater concept of what to anticipate from the following main replace.
There are many under-the-hood modifications to assist enhance app startup, help for adaptive refresh price, and haptics. There are additionally updates to Well being Join with help for extra information varieties and APIs for sharing well being data. The cloud photograph picker is getting a search operate, and there are new APIs for predictive again animations and behaviors.
After all, as is common with developer previews, there are tons of options below the hood that Google is engaged on, nevertheless it’s seemingly not all will make it to beta or steady. Luckily, we do not have to attend lengthy to get an excellent have a look at the user-facing options, because the Android 16 beta is predicted to reach in January.
Motorola might be banned within the U.S.
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If Ericsson will get its approach, Motorola’s greatest telephones might be banned from america and different areas. This is because of a patent dispute between the businesses that discovered Lenovo infringing on Ericsson’s 5G patents.
The telephones in query? The Moto G, Edge, and Razr lineups, based on Reuters. These are the corporate’s major smartphone households, with the Moto G lineup performing strongly amongst low cost Android telephones, whereas the Edge and Razr lineups have been well-liked sufficient within the U.S. and globally that the corporate is set to double its enterprise by 2026. As such, the prospects of a ban within the U.S. can be fairly catastrophic for the corporate and the market, particularly after the lack of LG years in the past.
Ericsson has received preliminary rulings towards Motorola earlier than and can also be concerned in patent disputes in different areas, however Lenovo has thus far managed to stave off a ban in South America. Hopefully, Lenovo can do the identical for the U.S., and the 2 firms can come to some kind of settlement.
The second One UI 7 beta is already right here
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Samsung is lastly giving us a style of its Android 15 software program, and the second beta is now obtainable for Galaxy S24 fashions in varied nations.
So, what’s new on this beta? It is largely bug fixes aimed toward addressing points that cropped up from the first One UI 7 beta launched simply a few weeks in the past. This contains sooner transitions, improved GPS, Fast Panel fixes, and far more. Nonetheless, per the changelog, one recognized situation that is been identified is that the Device panel generally doesn’t seem within the Edge Panels.
In the event you’re new to the One UI 7 beta, the replace might are available in at round 4GB, whereas these updating from the primary beta might have solely a 1GB obtain. For now, the beta stays unique to the Galaxy S24 sequence in choose nations.
We lately printed our first impressions of the One UI 7 beta, highlighting the brand new UI components (a vertical app drawer!), new options, and extra. The steady replace is predicted to reach with the Galaxy S25 sequence in early 2025.
The OnePlus 13 sequence features a mighty mid-ranger
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OnePlus lately revealed the launch date for the OnePlus 13 sequence, which made us marvel if there was additionally a OnePlus 13R coming alongside. It seems there’s, as the corporate confirmed shortly after that we’re getting an R-series midranger alongside the flagship.
The telephone will seemingly characteristic an almost equivalent design to the common OnePlus 13, which launched in China in October. In keeping with OnePlus, the 13R will characteristic a large 6,000mAh battery, which is bigger than the 5,500mAh battery on the OnePlus 12R. It’s going to additionally apparently characteristic a brand new Gorilla Glass 7i, a thickness of 8mm, and a flat show.
There’s nonetheless quite a bit we do not know concerning the 13R, such because the chipset, charging pace, and worth. It’s going to seemingly sport a lesser chip than the Snapdragon 8 Elite that shall be featured within the OnePlus 13 and certain much less RAM than its flagship sibling’s 24GB max.
Each telephones will launch globally on January 7, 2025.
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In the event you’ve been holding off on shopping for the Ray-Ban Meta Sensible Glasses (like I’ve), this newest replace might make you need to lastly hit the “Purchase” button. Meta simply up to date its spectacular good glasses with extra options that might make even Google jealous.
The brand new v11 replace brings Reside AI, which makes use of video that lets the good glasses repeatedly see what you see, permitting it to achieve extra context and converse extra naturally with customers with out the “Hey Meta” wake phrase. It sounds quite a bit like what Google is promising with Undertaking Astra, which goals to make use of AI to see and bear in mind issues for the person that may be introduced up later.
Moreover, dwell translate will routinely translate speech to English, supporting Spanish, French, or Italian, and it’ll both be performed via the built-in audio system or seem as transcripts in your telephone.
These new dwell options can be found by way of Meta’s Early Entry Program, which is obtainable within the U.S. and Canada.
Lastly, the Ray-Ban Meta Sensible Glasses are gaining help for Shazam within the U.S. and Canada, which means you’ll be able to ask it a few track that is taking part in, and it’ll use Shazam to establish it for you. One much less motive to tug out your telephone.
Extra tales this week
These are a number of the largest tales from this week. In the meantime, listed here are another tales which can be price catching up on: