Taking a look back at seven days of news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit highlights a number of stories including a review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 camera, pitching the Galaxy S6 in a head-to-head battle with the Galaxy Note 4 (and the S6 Edge with the iPhone 6 Plus), Sony finally announces the Xperia Z4, Mountain View’s MVNO plans announced, Android Wear updates, and how Outlook is winning the Android email client battle.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week.
Galaxy S6 Ready For Your Close-Up
Since Nokia’s departure from mainstream mobile phones a few years ago, Apple has been seen as the leading smartphonein terms of image quality through the smartphone camera. At the launch of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung’s JK Shin suggested that the S6 family would claim that crown from Cupertino. Was he right? I took a closer look this week:
What’s clear looking at all the comparison images I have from both the Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6 is the advantage in the increased amount of light that the Galaxy S6 can capture. More light means more information, more information means the imaging software has far more data to work with, and more data means the pictures are better. The engineering to gather more light at similar camera speeds is not easy, but if there’s anything that easily stands out it is this.
Pair up the extra light falling on the more sensitive sensor with the improved lens, and the simple argument is that you get more detail in your images. It’s not just a simple matter of scaling up the megapixels, it needs to be in tandem with the lenses and filters already in place, and to work with the software processing, but Samsung has achieved all of this.
The Bullpen Smartphones Go Head-To-Head
While the Samsung Galaxy S6 is clearly up against the Apple iPhone 6 in terms of comparison reviews, but this week I took a look at the secondary handsets – Apple went large with the iPhone 6 Plus while Samsung focused on design and innovation with the S6 Edge. But which is ‘better’?
Apple has taken the available hardware it has on the shelf and made the best phablet it can make, without disrupting the iOS ecosystem or the user base. Cupertino has maximised the available resources and if it wants to build a next-generation phablet, it’s going to have to release and sell a new model. That might be great for business, but it leaves consumers looking at the iPhone 6 Plus in an awkward place.
Samsung has taken the opposite approach. The curved screen has been put in place, the basic functionality has been added to the software, but there remains a huge amount of optimization that could be done to make the S6 Edge worthy of the ‘edge’ moniker. The question for me is when will that optimization will come? The Galaxy S6 Edge has far more promise than the iPhone 6 Plus, but with the iPhone 6 Plus it’s clear what you are getting in the package and it’s easy to predict what functionality will be available as a two-year contract approaches its end. The same cannot be said of the S6 Edge.
As for the victor, there’s only one way to find out…
Go Large Or Go New?
Staying with comparisons, Samsung stuck with the 5.1 inch screen size for the Galaxy S6 family, which means phablet fans need to look at the older Galaxy Note 4. How does the new cutting-edge handset measure up against one of the best Android phablets on the market? Gordon Kelly investigates:
what makes the S6 look great results in a loss of practicality and functionality that the Note 4 simply doesn’t have to stomach. Consequently the Note 4 may have a plastic back, but it is less slippery to hold, actually feels more durable and means you get both the upgradeable microSD storage and removable battery the Galaxy S6 gave up in its quest for style.
I’ll see how this settles for me, but right now this isn’t the walkover I expected. The Galaxy S6 looks the part, but the Note 4 has far more substance to it.
Sssh, Or You’ll Miss The Sony Xperia Z4
Sony’s mobile division has not been having a great time of it during 2015. With huge staff reductions, targets missed, and rumors that the division could be sold, keeping the focus on the mobile hardware has not been easy. The expectation has always been that the Xperia Z4 Android flagship would be announced at some point this year, but the reveal – through a blog post – on Monday was anti-climatic and felt like a company trying to hide a product rather than promote it strongly to every potential buyer:
…The new flagship won’t be immediately available internationally [it is currently limited to Japan – Ewan]. I reached out to Sony for more information but was told nothing other than there’s “no press release at this time”.
As expected, the Xperia Z4 is small upgrade on the Z3, which was released last September. Sony has continued with its partial-improvement policy of making minor changes to its main-line of smartphones with the Z4, save for the new Snapdragon 810 processor.
The Z4 keeps the same shape and design as previous models but weighs in at a slightly lighter 144g, compared to the Z3’s 152g. It’s also marginally slimmer at 6.9mm.