latest
Why are Android phones plastic-metal-glass boringburgers when there's a world of premium materials to play with?
OnePlus's Kinder Liu explains why they aren't made of stainless steel, sapphire, titanium, or other high-end materials
I've been envious of the iPhone over the last few years for one, not-so-obvious reason: Apple makes its recent flagships out of stainless steel. Here in the land of Android, the best we can really hope for is aluminum and glass, but there's a whole wide variety of premium, super-durable, and exotic materials out there phones could use. So, why are almost all Android smartphones boring glass and plastic or aluminum slabs? I was able to speak with Kinder Liu, COO and Head of R&D at OnePlus, to find out.
Although its watches don't run Wear OS, we've followed Withings closely for a few reasons. For one, it makes beautiful minimalist watches with some smart fitness tracking features added in (I own an Activité Steel and I love it). The French company has also been in the news a lot due to Nokia acquiring it, turning it into its Digital Health Division, and then selling it back to its co-founder.
Back in 2016, Nokia announced it wanted to acquire French wearables and health company Withings. One year and two months later, in June of 2017, the acquisition and assimilation was complete and Withings became Nokia Health and started releasing some more products, the last of which was Nokia Sleep which was introduced at this year's CES. Now Nokia has announced that it has initiated a strategic review for this Digital Health business.
Huawei's Steel-Clad P8 And Enormous 6.8" P8max Announced For 30 Countries, Not Including The US
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, which has quietly become the third-largest on the planet, has a new flagship to show off. Two of them, in fact: the 5.2-inch Huawei P8 and the absolutely enormous 6.8-inch P8max. Both have been announced for a launch in "more than 30 countries," including China, Columbia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, UAE, and the United Kingdom. As usual, Huawei doesn't seem interested in selling its high-end offerings in the United States.
While Sony's initial Android Wear offering, the SmartWatch 3, is perfectly fine from a technical point of view, one of the words we heard from commenters over and over again was "ugly." Even Ryan Whitwam could only call it "acceptable" in his review. Sony's hoping to fix the lackluster looks of the SmartWatch 3 with a new version clad in a stainless steel body and watch strap. And boy, it's amazing what a little metal can do.
I'd like to start this piece Peter Jackson style: with a longer-than-necessary flashback to provide background on this story. Back in the 90s, kids were all about two things: basketball and fighting games. We loved Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Space Jam and Shaquille O'Neal. Or so the legends go. As a result, in 1994, some genius marketer aimed to put the two together to create Shaq Fu. It did not fare well. In fact, it was so bad that there is an organization devoted to "liberating it from existence."