Top Android news of the week: Huawei Force Touch, gold smartwatch, Samsung tanking
This week in Android we saw that Samsung's financial situation worsened, Huawei announced a phone with Force Touch before Apple, and that a new luxury smartwatch is coming to town.
Lackluster demand for Samsung's new flagship phones has resulted in a $44 billion drop in its market value, the result of a 8.1 percent share price drop. The company has experienced a decline for five straight months in spite of launching new flagship phones.
There is no sign that the company's financial situation will turn around in the near future.
Huawei beats Apple to the punch with Force Touch. At the IFA in Berlin this week Huawei unveiled the Mate S smartphone. The new phone has the feature that is expected in upcoming devices from Apple that uses pressure sensitivity in touch operation to do different activities.
The Mate S will initially be available in select markets starting in September.
At the IFA this week Lenovo showed off two new phablets, the Phab and Phab Plus. Featuring 6.8 and 6.9-inch displays respectively, the two handsets are crossing the line between phones and tablets. The phones are aimed at the budget-conscious with starting prices of $179 and $299.
These phones look so large that they are approaching the impractical for daily use.
The folks at LG have added a luxury model to the Urbane smartwatch line. The Urbane Watch Luxe has a 23-carat gold case and an alligator band. The $1,200 Luxe looks to be simply a luxury version of the regular Urbane.
The expensive smartwatch will be available in November according to LG.
