Latest rumors and leaks about upcoming flagships: videos from Samsung Galaxy S7, photos LG G5, rumors about a new iPhone and patent Microsoft for a folding device of incomprehensible classification, and more …
For what I do not like modern flagship announcements, it is for the complete lack of intrigue. I still remember the same presentations HTC of 2010, and then they looked no worse than the most action-packed film. It was really extremely interesting to see what devices will show this time, how they will look and what hardware they will get, what tricks Sense has learned over the past year, and so on.
A moment of nostalgia: announcements of the most iconic Desire smartphones, a young and promising company HTC, calm and confident Peter Chou and unprecedented opportunities HTC Sense.
But what is the point of wasting time on modern presentations of even the most iconic flagships like the same iPhone or Galaxy devices is absolutely incomprehensible. Indeed, by the time of the official announcement, absolutely everything is already known about them.
Eldar wrote a very detailed material about the expectations from the Galaxy S7 / S7 EDGE, which in a different situation could well be called a first look at these devices.
Galaxy S7 / S7 EDGE – everything you wanted to know about flagships
It would seem that there is much more – but no, leaks continue to get into the network, and we are not even talking about photos and text descriptions, but about entire videos.
For example, this video from the resource Android Authority shows the appearance of the upcoming news.
Leaks are often organized by the companies themselves, thus fueling interest in the new device. But this is clearly not the case – the video was shot in a hurry and did not even have time to wipe the smartphone from fingerprints. If this is an advertisement, it is more likely with the prefix 'anti'.
Moreover, Samsung knows how and loves to shoot commercials. Last time it was a series 'It Doesn't Take a Genius …', this time – a series of videos 'Seven Days of Unboxing', in which the lucky few who saw SGS7 with their own eyes try to share their impressions with us.
Completely uninformative, but funny – in other words, exactly what is required.
Videos about LG G5 are not yet uploaded … and judging by the latest photos leaked to the network, thank God they are not uploaded, because there is no need to get upset ahead of time. So at least there is hope that this is a fake, but in reality the design of the device will be different.
Of course, tastes differ. But if I were asked to draw a wicked cartoon of the Huawei Nexus 6P, I would do something similar.
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The good news is a message from @evleaks about the presence of a dual wide-angle camera and a small additional screen in the smartphone.
Well, and a portion of dubious rumors about the special design of the device, which will make it easy to get and replace the battery.
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There are not many leaks about the Galaxy Note 6, which is understandable, because its announcement will be very far away. However, there are already rumors in the Chinese social network Weibo that the new product will receive as many as six gigabytes of fast LPDDR4 RAM and a 5.8-inch screen with a resolution of 2560×1440.
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On the other hand, there are more than enough rumors about the new iPhone rumors. Mentioned support for touch recognition with wet fingers, a proprietary dock with a flexible Lighting connector, an additional speaker for more surround sound and the absence of the usual audio jack.
It is difficult to vouch for the accuracy of the information. Honestly, there is a feeling that in the absence of any significant innovations, users from boredom begin to invent themselves 'chips' of the upcoming novelty.
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The mobile version of Ubuntu still shows signs of life. So, recently a new Ubuntu-flagship was announced, the manufacturer of which is again Meizu.
Although, in fact, Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition is actually a flashed Meizu Pro 5 and an independent device can be considered a stretch. Moreover, what it is and for whom it was made will remain a mystery to the vast majority of fans Meizu.
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But in Microsoft, it seems, they have already agreed that everything went wrong with their phones. Now the company is actively coming up with new form factors for mobile and semi-mobile devices. Including modular, with the ability to replace the display, battery, external speakers and other components. Details are in the patent below.
The main trouble Microsoft is that whatever they undertake, it turns out in any case a computer.
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Once the main emphasis in expensive phones was on design, body materials, unique features, unusual form factors and unusual 'chips'. It was impossible to hook a buyer with a bare list of technical characteristics, which is why manufacturers constantly had to think about how and how to surprise him. Then each company tried to jump over and over again, and, what is most surprising, many really succeeded.
To refresh your memory a little, I suggest looking at the pictures of smartphones Nokia N93 and Nokia N95 – where is there now at least one company ready to release something like that?
I won't presume to say for sure, but it seems to me that the very phrase “flagship phone” was used in relation to expensive devices much less often than in our days. At that time they were not approached with one yardstick at all. Music smartphones, business devices, camera phones, ultra-thin fashion clamshells and qwerty-sliders got along well with each other and did not try to find out once and for all which of them was cooler.
Then the company Apple convincingly demonstrated that a single smartphone is enough for dizzying success. Moreover, all other devices in this situation only interfere, forcing the user to doubt once again that the flagship he bought is ideal in literally every respect. And then Android showed users that all the most important things in a smartphone are inside, not outside. Buy a smartphone with cool hardware, and you can watch movies on it, play games, conveniently browse heavy sites and do a whole bunch of different interesting things. Decide to save money – and the level of comfort will be fundamentally different, because with a weak processor you can't even open web pages with flash normally.
Performance cult flourished for a long time, and counting virtual 'parrots' really made sense. The difference between smartphones for 10 and 30 thousand was noticeable even to the most inexperienced users, there was simply no need for manufacturers to try to somehow stand out due to the form factor or design.
Now the time is coming when a bare list of technical characteristics again ceases to be an incentive to buy an expensive device, buyers want to get something more interesting and meaningful for them personally for this money. Among the middle price segment, there are more and more devices that, in the standard scenario of use, are not much inferior to the flagship models. Yes, they will get less points in synthetic tests, if you look at the screen under a magnifying glass, it turns out that it is slightly worse, and the upgrade from Android 5.x to Android 6 may take a few extra months. But for the buyer there is practically no difference, both smartphones work flawlessly. That is why curved screens, frameless smartphones and other completely useless (and sometimes even harmful) from a practical point of view, but extremely attractive outwardly solutions are increasingly used.
And so, I look at the renders of the new Galaxy S7, go over the expected list of features and technical characteristics and understand that it will clearly be a solid, high-quality smartphone, the flagship of 2016. Which, if viewed objectively, should turn out much more successful than the sensational SGS3 at the time. That's just why I have to choose it from the many options, it is no longer obvious to me. If I suddenly decide to compile a 'wish list', then on the same line with it there will be many other interesting devices, half of which are in a completely different price category.
Of course, this is all very subjective. But it is from a heap of subjective opinions that the general picture is formed, which some prefer to consider the truth. Therefore, I will have a small request for you – write in the comments what upcoming or already released smartphones you dream of. If you were offered to choose any smartphone with no restrictions on cost or sales region, where would you go?
