LONDON: This week Android Circuit highlights a number of stories including Android 5.1.1. for the Galaxy S6, Samsung overtakes Apple in Q1 sales, the LG 4 is ready to trump the S6, Nokia is (honestly) not looking at an Android smartphone, Chinese app stores benefit Android, the Galaxy S5 takes on the Galaxy S6, Tag Heuer has an Android Wear smartwatch, and Microsoft release tools for Android to Windows 10 compilation.
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 read the weekly Apple news digest here).
Galaxy S6 Edge Ready For Android 5.1.1.
While it hasn’t arrived for everyone, Samsung is already preparing Android 5.1.1 for the Galaxy S6 Edge. The update to Android addresses a number of memory leaks, adds in a new notification dismissal action, and introduces guest mode. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly investigates:
Of course Samsung may also have included several goodies for its own TouchWiz fork of Android 5.1.1, but that has yet to be confirmed. Additional Edge functionality to make it more than a gimmick would be wise.
Perhaps the best thing about this leak, however, is that it hints at a new Samsung: a company determined to get Android updates to users quickly. Whether that will apply across all its smartphones and tablets or just flagship devices remains to be seen, but this is a potential game changer for the company.
Samsung Takes Gold Ahead Of The S6
Strategy Analytics has released it’s estimates on sales for the first three months of the year, and it gives Samsung the gold medal. Samuel Gibbs covers the numbers for The Guardian:
Samsung sold 83.2m smartphones globally in the first quarter of 2015, according to data from research firm Strategy Analytics, reclaiming the top spot from Apple which sold 61.2m iPhones in the same period. In total, 345m smartphones were sold globally.
Given this period does not cover the initial sales of the Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, Q2 could be even stronger for the South Korean company.
Does The LG G4 Trump The S6?
Samsung won’t have it all its own way with a number of devices announced at MWC 2015 now available in retail chains, the competition is shaping up nicely. Jay McGregor takes a look at one of the rivals to the Galaxy S6 family, the LG G4, and argues why this is the better phone.
The LG G4 has landed and it’s already causing a stir. The launch-event was filled with barbs aimed at LG’s competitors which is fast becoming a trend and showing off key features that Samsung and Apple decided to skipped on. An impressive camera, improved display and expandable memory make-up some of the new smartphone’s best features, but what other reasons are there for buying the LG G4?
Nokia Denied… With Just A Little Bit Of Wiggle
Chris Smith pulls on the heart-strings in ‘Nokia Just Crushed Our Dreams‘, covering Nokia’s statement on its (lack of) involvement in any new Android smartphone manufacturing:
A few days ago, a report said that what’s left of the Finnish company will soon get back into the smartphone business. But now, the company denied the new rumor, although it’s not entirely bad news for Android fans.
“Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false,” the company said in a statement on its website, Reuters noted. “Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.”
The wiggle room to avoid the bad news is that Nokia has not denied licensing the Nokia name to a smartphone manufacturer. Given the Nokia N1 Android tablet is built, distributed, and supported by Foxconn in just such an arrangement, I would not be surprised to see the Nokia name grace an Android smartphone during the first quarter of 2016.
