This week’s can’t-miss Android news headlines

If you haven’t been following all the comings and goings in Android as closely as you’d like lately, don’t worry — that’s why we sit around refreshing forums and mashing that check for updates button all week. The biggest names in the ecosystem have been quite busy this week, with Google dropping huge updates left and right, and Samsung and OnePlus doing a little damage control. We even saw a long-rumored prototype in the flesh after a couple years of silence, so buckle in while we get you caught up!

Android 15 makes its first appearance

On Friday, Google dropped its biggest update of the week, month, and even year. Android 15 is now available as a Developer Preview release, which means you have to manually install the firmware, as it’s not even ready for beta testers yet. Still, it’s our first look at the operating system that will be all the rage when it makes its stable debut later this year.

Google announced its Android 15 development timeline, and it looks like we’ll be seeing a beta in April, with a stable build sometime around August. Sadly, Snapdragon Pixels are no longer supported, marking the end of an era. On the bright side, Android 14’s space theme stuck around, even if it doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Samsung responds to Galaxy S24 issues

A lot of longtime Samsung users were disappointed when we reported that the Galaxy S24’s Vivid color profile was intentionally updated to feature more natural (read: washed out) colors. But Samsung, never being one to shy away from adding a setting, quickly responded to those complaints by seeding an update this week with a new Vividness slider that lets you crank the colors from dull all the way up to, well, vivid.

At the end of the week, we learned this update goes above and beyond, even possibly fixing our biggest complaint about the Galaxy S24 Ultra: The fact that it tends to take blurry pictures when the subject of the photo is in motion. As it turns out, there were a number of camera fixes in this update, and Samsung’s quick turnaround time is worthy of applause here.

Google goes all-in on Gemini

Last week, Google rebranded its Bard chatbot to share the same name as the model it runs on: Gemini. The rebrand came with a new Android app that replaces the Google Assistant as your digital sidekick, but Google being Google, this was only available in the US to start.

This week, the new Gemini app has gone global — well, sort of, as a few key markets are still missing. And the Gemini mutlimodal backend got a huge upgrade, too, as Gemini 1.5 Pro was announced with support for 1 million tokens of input — in other words, you can feed it huge amounts of data, like entire books and movies, and Gemini summarize, analyze, and respond to questions about it all.

OnePlus owns up to its misleading marketing

Most people have no clue whether their phone’s storage is UFS 3.1 or 4.0, but if they do, it’s likely because they read about it in marketing materials before making the purchase. After releasing its new 12R budget flagship, OnePlus found itself in the unenviable position of having to issue a correction to those marketing materials after some customers had already ordered the phone based on inaccurate information.

Originally, the company had listed its 128GB storage model as having UFS 3.1 technology, while stating that its 256GB model was running on the newer UFS 4.0. Yes, it’s a pretty big slip-up, but the truth is, it just won’t matter to most folks. And while it was misleading, it’s good to see the company own up and correct its mistake so quickly.

Google’s ‘Jumbojack’ finally sees the light of day

One name we never expected to hear again this side of a certain clown-themed fast food joint was Jumbojack, a rumored foldable device we had spotted Google testing in 2021. This week, someone was bold enough to list the device for sale online, and we got our first clear look.

As it turns out, Jumbojack was a Galaxy Z Fold 2 in all but its name and software. Google used the device to test Android 12L, its half-step release focused on large-screen devices and foldables, so it flashed the phone with its near-stock flavor of Android to see what made it tick. It wasn’t a Pixel Fold predecessor, per se, but you could certainly call it a precursor!