This week will be rich in news and announcements, primarily thanks to the IFA and related events. On the other hand, the current issue of the digest will be noticeably shorter than usual. There is no point in discussing IFA now, it's worth waiting for the end of the exhibition, so let's talk about what happened before it. We will discuss all the new items in a week, when the companies will show us everything they are planning.
Every year the releases of new versions Android are quieter and more imperceptible. No separate events, presentations and the like – just information about the release on the official website and the beginning of the distribution of updates. Even the new Nexus will be unveiled later, after Android 7.0 'arrives' on older devices.
Someone complains that following the development Android is becoming more and more boring, that nothing new appears in the system, and Google is so lazy that it cannot even hold a separate event in honor of the release. But I personally like this approach on the contrary.
Recently, we are used to companies putting on a show from every trifle, talking for hours about 'amazing innovations'. Presentations and announcements become an end in itself, a way to once again appear on the pages of specialized publications and once again remind users of themselves. When the expected show does not take place, many are lost, accustomed to assessing the significance of an event by the amount of money spent on its presentation. Both the companies and we, together with them, slowly began to forget that it is worth being proud of the work done, and not at all the party dedicated to it. And that celebrating the end of each work project or arranging corporate parties in honor of the end of the working week, to put it mildly, is not necessary.
Android 7.0 is another step forward for Google OS and has been well done with a number of improvements that are both visible and subtle. No one is trying to pass it off as a new word in science and technology, this is really evolution, not a revolution. But here you need to understand that revolutions happen at best a couple of times a decade, and between them lies the usual work. Long, sometimes difficult and from the point of view of an outside observer boring and completely uninteresting. But this is life, not fairy tales for children, it does not happen otherwise. Only a good comedian or circus performer is capable of winning wild applause with every action, but they also have to work hard day and night for this, the viewer simply does not see it.
Android 7.0 will be devoted to a separate article, which will appear on the site in the near future. Among the main innovations are the support of the Vulkan API and Daydream system, the Direct Boot function of accelerated loading, extended work with notifications, an improved backup system, support for full scaling and multi-window mode.
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Interestingly, the first out-of-the-box smartphone to receive Android 7.0 Nougat will not be the Nexus, but LG V20. What Google reports on the official website, which tells about the innovations in the new version of the OS.
The announcement of the smartphone is expected on September 6 in Seoul and September 7 in San Francisco. According to preliminary information, he will receive a 5.7-inch QHD-display, processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4 GB of RAM and 32-bit Hi-Fi DAC (Quad DAC) from ESS Technology. Also worth noting is the additional display located just above the main screen, which is clearly visible on the leaked render.
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Older devices from the Google Nexus line, such as the Nexus 4 or Nexus 5, will not receive an official update. But their owners should not grieve too much – already a couple of days after the release Android of Nougat, its first unofficial assemblies, adapted for old devices by enthusiasts, began to appear on XDA. True, at the moment they are in beta versions and still contain a number of bugs and serious flaws.
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In parallel, enthusiasts launched a new Android on a bunch of various devices, including the Raspberry Pi 3 mini-computer. Of course, the system's operation is far from stable, and it is adapted to a large display diagonal, but itself the fact is pretty funny.
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Before the announcement of the new iPhone there is nothing left, Apple has already started sending invitations to the presentation. It will pass in a week, on September 7.
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Usually, a week before the presentation of a new item, rumors about a new one iPhone begin to ply across the network at a double speed. But this year everything is somewhat different – they are discussing not so much the model of the current year as iPhone 2017. A new wave of rumors was provoked by the Bloomberg publishing house, announcing that the device, firstly, could lose the physical button 'Home', but secondly, it will receive a curved screen. In principle, we did not hear anything new, such information was circulated on the network before. But disputes still flared up with renewed vigor.
The main argument of the opponents Apple is very simple – even now you won't surprise anyone with curved screens, and in a year only the lazy will not use them in their devices. This means that the Yabloko company again acts as a catch-up company, it does not even smell of any innovations, and in general, Apple is no longer a cake.
It's time to remember that the Cupertino-based company has rarely been a pioneer. iPhone was not at all the first touchscreen phone, voice assistants existed long before Siri, the fingerprint scanner was found in mobile technology even at a time when no one even thought about its production in Apple. And even the tablets that 'invented' Apple existed back in the days Windows XP.
But with all this, the Apple products were still strikingly different from their predecessors, not so much due to the technologies used and supported functions, but due to the idea behind them. Not paying attention to this is like claiming that modern cars Mercedes are no different from Moskvich-412. As much as the commentators slandered, iPhone still divided the history of mobile phones into 'before' and 'after', Siri ushered in a new era of voice assistants, and iPad turned the idea of tablets upside down .
Will Apple be able to re-take the familiar tools and create something really bright and unusual with their help? Previously, the company succeeded, but recent devices like Apple Watch or iPad Pro have slightly damaged its reputation. Not even because they turned out to be frankly bad or unsuccessful. And simply for the reason that there is nothing unusual and interesting in them, they differ from the corresponding devices on Android only by the operating system.
Fans of the brand say that iPhone 2017 will consist of one solid screen and it will look like the designers of the Sharp Aquos Crystal will start dusting their heads with ashes. They dream of a case with self-tightening connectors that are invisible to the eye. Hopefully iPhone 2017 will be the first bendable smartphone. If something like this happens, then no one would think of reproaching Apple for 'copying Samsung'. But if all they can do is a smartphone with slightly rounded edges of the screen, then the company will collect all the bumps. And deservedly so.
For millions of people around the world, mobile electronics had their own god who performed miracles year after year. Contrary to everything: the opinion of analysts, the actions of competitors, the habits of the main audience. And he was forgiven and will be forgiven for anything, because gods are not judged by human standards. But all this will continue only as long as he does not allow him to doubt his divine essence. As soon as the miracles are over, God will immediately be declared a heretic-impostor, a deceiver, meanly taking someone else's place. And their fate was sad at all times.
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Speaking of flexible displays, one cannot fail to mention the latest development of Japanese scientists from the Electronic Functional Macromolecules Group. Their flexible screen can be easily cut with scissors, but it will still work. You don't need to worry about the energy efficiency of the screen either, it is built using technology reminiscent of E-Ink, and is able to display an image even in a de-energized state.
The current version of the screen is small and only supports one single color, but this is only an early prototype. I would like to believe that in the future Japanese scientists will be able to overcome these limitations. After all, there are a lot of applications for such a display – wearable electronics, smart clothes and items for a smart home, and a lot of other things.
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