Android Circuit: New Pixel 2 Details Leak, Samsung Tests Galaxy Note 8, Microsoft's Android Love

Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes new details about the Google Pixel 2 screen, Samsung testing the Galaxy Note 8, the iPhone 7’s defeat by the S8, where to buy the OnePlus 5, why the Nokia 9 could be bound for America, Microsoft debuting new version of Skype, Apple’s update of Apple Music for Android.

Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week.

Google Pixel 2’s New Screen Details

Thanks to the appearance of the Pixel 2 on the popular internet based GFXBench tool, we have more details on the screen that will grace the ‘difficult second album’ smartphone from Google. 

Popular benchmarking software GFXBench has recorded information for a handset listed as the ‘Pixel XL2’ and it lists top of the range specifications which include a larger 5.6-inch, 18:9 aspect ratio, 2560 x 1312 display.

How do we know the pixels connect to an 18:9 aspect ratio? Because the wider 16:9 ratio used on the Pixel XL resulted in a 2560 x 1440 native resolution. But is it a bad thing the new Pixels would lose some of their resolution? Not necessarily because the aspect ratio suits reading very well and being longer but narrower makes phones easier to use one-handed.

Samsung Tests The Galaxy Note 8

With an expected reveal in mid-August, Samsung’s new phablet - the presumptively titled Galaxy Note 8 - has popped up in the HTML5 online browser testing tool. Even if the external design may be tweaked before the launch, the Note 8 running Samsung’s own browser software is going through the motions!

HTML5test, a web application designed to test browser capability, has records of being used to test the web browsing performance of a device with the official model number of SM-N950F. Or, in other words, what seems to be the Galaxy Note 8.

Thought to be destined for a proper reveal in September at IFA 2017, the device has seemingly been spotted running Android 7.1.1 and the Samsung Internet 5.2 web browser. It is likely that Samsung are simply testing the phablet's performance ahead, in which the Note 8 was awarded 488 out of a total 555.