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 look at some of the coolest innovations we came across at MWC, Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro launch, One UI 7 delays, Pixel's March feature drop, and OnePlus clarifying its update policy. Let's get into it.
MWC Wrap up
While MWC showcases some of the best and upcoming innovations in tech, it also shows us some technology that we'd take a second look at. This made us think about what exactly the company was thinking while creating these devices.
For instance, Samsung's claw-like tri-fold, which looks like a flip but would fold on both ends, leaving half an inch of gap in the center. Instead of folding two halves together, this phone folds in two separate sections, which closes the phone like you would close your fist.
Next up is the Tecno Spark Slim, which looks cool and is the world's slimmest phone with a 5,200mAh batter, measuring just 5.75mm in thickness. It gets better, at the rear, the camera bar looks like a futuristic robot's eyes, connected by LEDs with unibody ceramic or stainless steel rear panels. Hope you're taking notes, Samsung!
Xiaomi took accessorizing to another level, with a custom Xiaomi 15 showcased at the event that had a large magnetic ring on its rear that could attach a bigger camera lens, instantly converting your phone into a DSLR camera.
Some of the other things that the AC team spotted were Honor's AI-powered robotic hand on display that onlookers could interact with, Nubia Focus 2 Ultra, which features a ring around the camera housing that can be physically rotated to control the zoom, UAE's Humanoid robot that kinda creeped them out and more.
Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro
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Nothing has finally unveiled its newest flagship devices at the MWC in Barcelona. The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro come with 6.7-inch AMOLED displays protected by Panda Glass. The phones are powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 and run the Nothing OS 3.1 out of the box, which is built on top of Android 15.
Both phones get camera upgrades; the Phone 3a showcases a pill-shaped horizontal camera setup with a 50MP main camera, another 50MP telephoto lens, and an 8MP ultrawide lens on the back, while the selfie camera sports a 32MP lens. The Phone 3a Pro's circular triple camera array comes with a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide, and another 50MP periscope sensor with 3x optical zoom.
A new action button on the side will bring up Essential Space—the new AI-powered hub that allows users to pen down their ideas with just a click of a button. The Phone 3a costs $379, while the Pro version starts at $459.
A longer wait for One UI 7
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One UI 7 beta builds have been rolling out in full swing for the past couple of months; however, the wait for a stable version continues to get longer. That said, we now know when we will get the update, as Samsung announced this week that it will release One UI 7 starting in April.
The Korean OEM also went on to say that it will bring three One UI 7 beta builds before the official rollout for the Galaxy Z Flip 6, Z Fold 6, Galaxy S23 series, and Galaxy Tab S10 series. Samsung explains in the press release that One UI 7 integrates "leading AI agents with multimodal capabilities into every touch point of the interface."
While we wait for the much-awaited One UI 7 to drop, rumors have been cropping up recently that Samsung will skip its minor point updates for One UI 7 and jump to releasing One UI 8 soon. A tipster spotted a test-built version of the said software for the Galaxy S25 series. He claims that Samsung has started working on this build two months earlier than usual.
March Pixel update turned out to be a fun one
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March's drop came with loads of new features for Pixel users to experiment with. This includes features like AI-powered spam detection over calls and suspicious text alerts that will "flag text patterns commonly associated with scams."
Up next is Google's Find My Device app, which now lets users share their live location only with "trusted contacts." In an attempt to make the user feel safe in tricky situations.
Third, the devices get a cool feature for the camera called "Connected Cameras." Limited to the Pixel 9 series, the company states that it allows you to "Connect your Pixel phone with a GoPro or other Pixel phone camera, and use popular social apps to stream from different angles."
Pixel Watches weren't left behind either, as they gained a new feature called Loss of Pulse detection. If your watch can't detect a pulse, it will first send you a notification checking on you, and if you're unresponsive, it will automatically call emergency services. Finally, women with the watch can breathe a sigh of relief as Menstrual Cycle tracking has landed on the Pixel Watch 3. Users can now log their period, view cycle status, or see a prediction about the next one from the Watch 3.
OnePlus and its updates dilemma
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Initially, when the OnePlus Watch 3 dropped, the company stated that it would get only 2 years of security updates. However, it seemed like it was a miscommunication from the company, and OnePlus contacted us to confirm that both the Watch 2 and Watch 3 will receive "3 years of quarterly security updates."
Additionally, while the watch will receive "3 years of software updates," that won't include version updates, which will be limited to two. The OnePlus Watch 2 launched with Wear OS 4 and will stop at Wear OS 6 in 2026. The OnePlus Watch 3 will eventually receive Wear OS 7 in 2027, OnePlus stated.
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:
- New leak spills more details on the upcoming Pixel 9a
- Android Auto's next update could bring controls for a more comfortable car ride
- Google Home Max will soon lose support for a critical safety feature
- Samsung is rolling out its One UI 7 beta for the Galaxy Z Flip 6, Fold 6
- Honor Magic V4 specs have leaked, and the Oppo Find N5 should be scared
- Pixel Camera 9.8 rolls out alongside the March Feature Drop with new tweaks
- Google tests experimental 'AI Mode' enhancing search results
- Google takes home 'Smartphone of the Year' award at MWC for the second straight year
- Google Pixel 10 to debut with exclusive AI-powered assistant 'Pixie'
- Google Calendar's web client gains a Gemini in Workspace side panel
