Galaxy S22 series, Android 13 Developer Preview, Infinix ZERO 5G, and more from Last Week

Samsung’s next big thing is finally here in the form of the Galaxy S22 series. The South Korean tech unveiled its latest flagship smartphones with a fanfare at the Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event on February 9 (Wednesday).

The company has introduced multiple changes in the new models. Firstly, all three devices arrive with a new design. The Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ are only slightly different from their predecessors, whereas the Galaxy S22 Ultra has been completely revamped with a built-in S Pen. In fact, the latter is more of a Galaxy Note than a Galaxy S.

The two cheaper models come with updated primary and telephoto cameras. The plus and ultra offer the brightest display on a smartphone. Finally, in some markets, these phones are powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2200 SoC with AMD RDNA architecture-based Xclipse GPU.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab S8 series alongside the Galaxy S22 series. The family consists of three models like the phones – vanilla, plus, and ultra.

Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, the first ‘Ultra’-branded tablet from Samsung, has a massive 14.6-inch AMOLED display. The screen also includes a notch housing two cameras.

The Galaxy Tab S8 and the Galaxy Tab S8+ are regularly sized tablets. But the vanilla variant has an LCD panel instead of AMOLED like the other two. 

All three are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. They also have support for the S Pen stylus.

Even before Android 12L could hit the stable channel, Google has already released the Android 13 Developer Preview. Anyone with Pixel 4 or above devices can try out the upcoming version of Android.

Android 13, which is codenamed Tiramisu, is a polished version of Android 12. So don’t expect major changes like the transition from Android 11 to Android 12.

According to a timeline shared by Googe, beta builds will be out around April, followed by stable in June or July. Anyway, this schedule is only applicable for Pixels.

Google has officially revealed that the Android 12’s monet dynamic theme engine will be soon available on devices from popular OEMs like Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and others. However, the search didn’t give a specific timeline.

Ahead of this announcement, a report had already disclosed that the Android 12 dynamic theming engine will be a requirement for GMS approval from March 14. This means the feature should come to non-Pixel devices in the next few weeks, at least, in the form of beta.

The Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL received their final software update last week. The system update merely brings February 2022 security patches.

The Pixel 3 series debuted in October 2018 with Android 9.0 Pie. Throughout their lifetime, the handsets received 3 Android updates (up to Android 12).

The Pixel 3 XL has made a name for itself in history for its ‘bathtub notch’.

OnePlus and OPPO are expected to introduce a unified operating system based on Android 13 later this year. Ahead of that, the former has scheduled an Open Ears Forum (OEF) to discuss the said software with its userbase.

As of now, OnePlus is still calling it OxygenOS 13 based on Android 13. Perhaps, the name change may happen once the software reaches the release phase.

That said, the event is planned for February 28 and the registrations for it are open until February 18.

Popular leaker Evan Blass shared press renders of five forthcoming Motorola smartphones on February 9. As he does with Motorola leaks, he merely described the codenames of these phones instead of their actual marketing names.

These handsets called Hawaii+, Dubai, Rogue, Rhode, and Austin belong to multiple price segments. For instance, one of them has an under-display camera, while another features a thick chin.

We expect to learn more about these devices in the coming days.

Infinix ZERO 5G made its global debut in Nigeria as the brand’s first 5G smartphone. It is a mid-range offering with some interesting set of features.

The 6.78-inch 120Hz display (LCD) touting handset is powered by a MediaTek Dimesnity 900 SoC coupled with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage. Unlike most phones in the segment, it sports a 13MP 2x telephoto camera.

In addition to a dedicated MicroSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack, the device is backed by a large 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.

A Canalys report revealed that Realme entered the top 5 in 30 markets globally. For the first time, the brand made it to the list in key markets like Germany, Peru, Colombia, and Western Europe.

In India alone, the company grew 48% YoY. As a result, its market share rose to 17% in the region. In Western Europe and Europe, it registered growths of a whopping 1365% and 450% respectively.

In January, OnwardMobility reassured that a 5G BlackBerry smartphone with a keyboard is on its way later this year after being delayed. Within a few weeks, a report from last week revealed that this project is dead.

It is said that OnwardMobility has lost its license to use the ‘BlackBerry’ name. The once-popular smartphone maker is reportedly distancing itself from its glorious days after selling its mobile patent portfolio in early February.

RELATED:

• Upcoming Smartphones: Redmi K50 Gaming, Realme 9 Pro, OnePlus Nord CE 2, and more
• Throwback Tech Thursday: Revisiting the HTC One (M7) – The BoomBox Metal Phone
• OPPO Reno7 Pro Review: Shiny New Flat Design, Solid Software, & Capable Cameras
• OPPO Reno7 5G Review: Good Looks Alone Don’t Make a Worthy Upgrade