News Weekly is our column where we highlight and summarize some of the week's top stories so you can catch up on the latest tech news.
This is Android Central's News Weekly, your go-to source for a concise roundup of the week's most significant tech stories. This is where we delve into the top headlines that provide the latest developments and innovations contributing to the digital landscape.
This week we saw OnePlus admit its mistake with the Watch 3, Oppo's foldable Find N5 launched, Nothing compares Phone 3a's camera to the iPhone 16, a massive Pixel 9a leak brings full specs and Samsung confirms the existence of the unreleased Galaxy devices.
OnePlus' powerful Watch 3 arrives with a 'Meda' typo
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OnePlus has launched its latest smartwatch, the Watch 3 this week (Feb 18), and it's a major hardware upgrade over the OnePlus Watch 2. According to Android Central's Michael Hicks, the "active crown, fixed health tracking, eye-friendly display, smarter coprocessor, and larger battery capacity," takes it a notch higher than its predecessor.
The wearable has a 1.5-inch LTPO flexible display and a stainless steel exterior with a Titanium PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) bezel. What's more, is that the smartwatch has a dual chipset— the Snapdragon W5 and the new BES2800 MCU Efficiency which helps the WearOS 5 accomplish complex tasks.
"It not only enhances its operating speed but also significantly reduces power consumption, resulting in extended battery life," OnePlus added.
The company builds on the watch's battery, promising a 5-day battery life on Smart mode, which Nick Sutrich said has surpassed this limit after spending 10 days with the watch, thanks to the larger 631mAh Silicon NanoStack Battery.
The Watch 3 comes with a new feature called the 60S Health check-in that will give users a physical and mental health report in just 60 seconds and also gains an IP68 rating which allows the device to be submerged in 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. The OnePlus Watch 3 will have two colorways: Obsidian Titanium and Emerald Titanium and is priced at $330.
While focusing on what's built into the watch, OnePlus seems to have missed out on a tiny detail. A user on Reddit noticed a minor error with the wearable, where the company ended up engraving "Meda in China" instead of "Made in China," on the first batch that went out. Admitting its mistake OnePlus took to X (formerly Twitter) to put all the chatter to rest around the hilarious typo, stating it was completely unintentional.
"A typo slipped through and made its way onto your shiny new OnePlus Watch 3," the company said. And if users seem to have received one that says "Meda" on the wearable, they have one of two options. They can either keep it as a 'super limited edition' or return it to the company for a brand new one — minus the typo of course.
OPPO launches the slimmest foldable yet
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OPPO unveiled the company's newest foldable on Feb. 20 and has already become AC Harish Jonnalagadda's favorite foldable. Measuring just 8.92mm when folded and 4.21mm when open, the OPPO Find N5 comes with a 6.62-inch cover display and an 8.12-inch inner screen.
The most powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, is at the core of this foldable which is paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Out of the box it runs on ColorOS 15.0.1, based on Android 15.
Giving it a 4.5-star rating, Jonnaagadda said, "Once you combine all of that (hardware) with fluid software and meaningful multitasking features, it's no wonder that the Find N5 is now my favorite foldable phone."
When it comes to the cameras, it looks similar to its predecessor with curved corners— but it is so sleek that the array barely peeps out of the back panel, with 9.0mm thickness. It comes with a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP telephoto lens for 3x optical zoom. Selfies and video calls are captured with 8MP front cameras on both the outer and inner displays.
The phone comes with a 5,600mAh battery that supports 80W wired charging and 50W wireless. The Find N5 will cost around $1,867, but won't be seen in the U.S. anytime soon.
Nothing compares Phone 3a's camera to iPhone 16 Pro Max
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Nothing has been dropping several hints about its new flagship device and recently teased its full camera array. In a YouTube video showcasing the device, Nothing says that the Phone 3a series will have a 50MP main camera sensor, an 8MP Ultra-wide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens on the rear.
Additionally, it will showcase another 50 MP front camera consisting of a periscope telephoto lens, that is said to come with a 3x optical zoom and a 6x "in-sensor zoom".
While boasting about the above, in the same YouTube video, the company mistakingly compared the lower-quality ultra-wide camera of the Phone 16 Pro Max to the Nothing Phone 3a's main camera. After several viewers spotted this potentially misleading comparison, Nothing said this was made as a result of an editing mistake and wasn't intentional. It then put out the following statement in a pinned YouTube comment and on Nothing's community page:
"Hey everyone, we shot across all lenses throughout the day (sometimes cycling one-handed on a bumpy road), and in editing, a clip shot using the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s ultrawide lens was mistakenly used in the video stabilization comparison instead of one shot using its standard lens. There was no intent to mislead, and we’ll be more careful to ensure even greater scrutiny in future comparisons. Appreciate you all keeping us accountable!"
Full renders of the upcoming Pixel 9a leak
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Google's next budget phone release is a few months away however, the leaks seem to be coming in hot. This time a German publication claims to have obtained the Pixel 9a's full specs and its colorways. The article stated that the device will feature a 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and comes with a 48MP primary lens with OIS (optical image stabilization) and a 13MP ultra-wide lens.
While we've seen most of these rumors previously, the images double down on them with the rear panel being nearly flat without the usual pill-shaped camera casing.
The device could get a 5,100mAh battery, as well as a 128GB and a 256GB storage option with 8GB RAM on both. While Google's Tensor G4 is expected to power the Pixel 9a. Colorways seem to be consistent across previous leaks, like Obsidian, Porcelain, Peony, and Iris. Lastly, the publication suggests the Pixel 9a could see a price hike in the U.S. starting at $499.
Samsung leaked three of its unreleased phones
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Samsung spilled the beans on three of its A-series phones this week. This occurred when the company updated its service list on a Chilean website that showcased the Galaxy A56, Galaxy A36, and Galaxy A26. The listings showed off the official names and model numbers of these phones, as seen below:
Samsung Galaxy A26 5G (SM-A266), Samsung Galaxy A36 5G (SM-A366) ,Samsung Galaxy A56 5G (SM-A566)
Additionally, the listing confirms that the Galaxy A56, Galaxy A36, and Galaxy A26 will be sold in Chile. While the cost of the out-of-warranty repair, though visible, showed "not available"
According to prior leaks, the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G may be powered by a Samsung Exynos 1580 chipset and could support 45W wired charging. Previous leaks revealed the design of the Galaxy A56, but the specs remain under wraps. We'll know more hopefully closer to launch which is expected around the first or second week of March.
More stories this week
Those are some of the biggest stories from this week. Meanwhile, here are some other stories that are worth catching up on:
- Like earbuds, Google will change the Assistant's notifications on headphones
- Google will finally uncouple YouTube Premium and YouTube Music with 'Premium Lite'
- Android Auto's new update causes glitches for some users
- Pixel phones to gain an important battery feature, tipped by Android 16 beta
- Gemini adds document upload and analysis for free users
- OnePlus is 'working on' fixing two key Watch 3 downsides this year
- Samsung releases yet another One UI 7 beta update for the Galaxy S24
- Android 16's 'Live Updates' get previewed in an early beta test demo
- Humane will disable AI pins after $116 million buyout, leaving early adopters high and dry
- Strava upgraded its AI out of beta and added better anti-cheating tools
