After seeing MWC take the whole of Week 9, the next week (week 10) had a lot to do if it was to keep up the tempo. Quite frankly, we think it managed just well.
Opening the week was the news of Samsung putting their new Galaxy A8+ (2018) into the category of phones that will be getting quarterly updates. That is even more shocking since we saw lesser units on the Galaxy pecking order get monthly updates while this upper mid-range would not be. In the same week, the non-Plus variant of the aforementioned device (Galaxy A8 2018) started getting the security fix for the month of March.
Moving on from that, we had the HTC U12 leak heavily. This spill brought all the juicy details, including the possibility of a massive 256GB of storage. That is surely something we will be looking forward to. When they were not busy leaking their unit, the Asian OEM also began the rollout of Android 8 Oreo to their HTC U Ultra. This is coming after the same software had hit the HTC U11 and HTC 10, rounding off the promised set of flagships (or former ones) to get the new dessert.
Leaving the world of mobiles for a while, Groupe PSA – the large body behind the likes of Opel and Chevrolet – posted a massive 20.7% rise in their revenues from the last year. Quite interesting is their meteoric rise in Africa, given that they’ve now captured no less than 11.6% of the total market share.
Coming back to the mobiles, Google surprised everyone by pushing out a new Search app for iOS users. Among other things, this new app will enable the iOS user include search items in iMessage chats. Showing someone something you found via a search online just got easier. Well, that is if you are an Apple product user. Talking of adding new features, Facebook will not be left out too as the company integrated video calling support into its Messenger Lite application.
Even though Nokia had already launched three devices this year – Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 8810 4G and the Nokia 7 Plus – it seems that they still have more to offer. More, in this context, could be named Nokia 9, and we should expect what they call a penta-lens camera setup on it.
Although that report has not been officially confirmed, Huawei has thinned the veil on its upcoming P20 flagship further. This time, they teased the triple camera setup in its full glory.
The first developer preview for the Android 9 P, as well as the timeline of release and gradual implementation, was announced by Google. In the same breath, Google made it known that neither the Nexus 5X nor the Nexus 6P will get a taste of the coming dessert. Being that these are two of the most popular Nexuses still keeping the brand name alive, it is almost saddening. While Google is stopping a software rollout to its old units though, HMD was pushing security fixes for the month of March to the duo of Nokia 5 and Nokia 6.
Finally, Xiaomi gave us a hint of what to expect with the Mi Mix 2s in a new teaser. If they should go on to implement this neat feature, the Mi Mix 2s is shaping up to be the first ever Xiaomi smartphone to come with such on board.
Its Week 11 already, people, and we hope to keep the excitement alive
