Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
⥠Welcome to The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that breaks down the top Android and tech news from the week. The 203rd edition here, with the Nothing Phone 1 launch, Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold 5 rumors, Julyâs PS Plus lineup, World Emoji Day, and moreâŠ
đ§ The craziest deal I saw during Prime Day this year was a $500 ice maker (thatâs after the discount). Does anybody really need ice that much? Needless to say, did not add to basket!
Popular news this week
Nothing:
- Nothing Phone 1 officially launched on Tuesday: A mid-range affair with 6.55-inch 120Hz Full HD+ OLED screen, 4,500mAh battery, dual 50MP cameras, and 8/12GB RAM, powered by the Snapdragon 778G Plus, plus 15W Qi wireless charging. The âGlyphâ LEDs on the back can flash when you receive calls, pulse when you get a notification, and other functions, which is pretty cool. Pricing starts at ÂŁ399 (8GB/128GB) but the phoneâs not coming to the US (more in our full review, below).
Google:
Samsung:
OnePlus:
Apple:
Space:
Elsewhere:
- Who needs a Nothing phone when you can turn your existing phone into one?
- Itâs official: The Asus Zenfone 9âs coming on July 28.
- Qualcomm says its next Snapdragon chip for Wear OS smartwatches is âcoming soonâ.
- Montblanc Summit 3 has arrived: See how Wear OS 3 looks on a non-Samsung watch.
- And some of us still donât have Windows 11, but hereâs when Windows 12 could land as Microsoft could return to release schedules seen in years gone by.
- This hands-on with the LG rollable phone was doomed before it started.
- You can store and charge your wireless earbuds inside Nokiaâs latest phone â a pretty neat idea.
- According to Bloomberg, 5% of new car sales in the US for the past six months have been fully electric vehicles. Could this be the tipping point where mainstream demand overtakes early adoption?
- Watch out for this unfixed, untraceable hack that can unlock and start your Honda remotely.
- Meanwhile, âUber Filesâ reveal shady business: Over 124k emails, messages, and texts leaked by ex-Uber exec Mark MacGann reveal questionable behavior among execs.
- Now everyone can unmention themselves from Twitter threads, great if you find yourself in the middle of an unwanted conversation.
- Itâs World Emoji Day on July 17, and the official Emojipedia released its draft designs for 2022âs new emojis, ranked by Gizmodo (more on that in the Weekly Wonder).
- Something I loved this week: The website Literature Clock finds a quote from literature mentioning the exact time it is. Itâs not exactly useful? But interesting and strange nonetheless.
- Plus: A robot chef cooks all the dishes at this Tokyo restaurant.
- Finally: Hidden artwork revealed by X-Ray appears to be Van Gogh self-portrait, experts say.
Movies/TV:
- The Last of Us TV series finally gets a release window: looks like early 2023.
- And some exciting news for Black Mirror fans: We havenât had a new episode since 2019, but season 6 is on its way, with Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, and Josh Hartnett all on board, amongst other famous names â hopefully coming next year.
- Severance, Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Yellowjackets snag Emmy nominations, with Squid Game making history as the first-ever non-English language Emmy nominee â Gizmodo has a great roundup of all the nominations.
- Reviews are in for Thor: Love and Thunder, and theyâre not particularly great â Mashable says, âChris Hemsworth is back, but thatâs where the good news ends,â while the NYT is more positive overall, calling it âA Godâs comic twilight.â
- Meanwhile, Chromecast with Google TV gets a fresh update after 7 months, but itâs not what weâve been waiting for.
- And YouTube TVâs leading the live streaming market with over 5 million subscribers â itâs now the largest internet TV company in the US.
- Another trailer dropped for dark comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, and the murderous Millenial weekend away looks like a lot of fun, in select theaters August 5, everywhere August 12.
- And we saw the first full-length trailer for Rob Zombieâs new movie adaptation of 60s TV creepy-comedy The Munsters.
- The first trailer for horror prequel Orphan: First Kill also landed and looks pretty spooky, in theaters August 19 and also streaming on Paramount Plus in the US.
- The live-action Resident Evil series landed on Netflix, and our AA colleague Fred Blichert has some thoughts.
- Plus: With Peaky Blindersâ sixth and final season over, here are 9 crime shows to watch on Netflix.
Gaming:
- Sony revealed its inaugural game catalog for new PlayStation Plus, available to Extra and Premium subscribers from July 19, including Stray, making its debut on launch day, FF VII Remake Intergrade, Marvelâs Avengers, two Saints Row titles, and five Assassinâs Creed games.
- And Sony announces PlayStation Stars loyalty scheme for PS5, PS4 fans, with rewards including PS Store wallet funds and games, launching later this year.
- And a new Walking Dead project debuts on Facebook â The Walking Dead: Last Mile has a months-long story thatâs shaped by the decisions and actions of players, so everyoneâs influencing what happens next, and time moves forward with each real-life day.
- Meanwhile, Aliens is getting a single-player action-horror game: Developer Survios is teaming up with 20th Century Fox for the title, currently referred to as âAliens,â though we donât know much more other than that itâs being made in Unreal Engine 5 for PC, as-yet-unnamed consoles, and VR.
- GoldenEye 007 remaster is still in limbo due to the Ukraine war: Some rumors from reputable sources claim the gameâs complete and ready for formal announcement and launch, while Microsoft has yet to confirm its existence at all.
- And Rockstarâs sunsetting Red Dead Online: The multiplayer component of Red Dead Redemption 2 will no longer receive major content updates as developers focus on Grand Theft Auto 6.
- Speaking of Red Dead Online, players gathered online for the gameâs funeral on Wednesday, a day-long affair attended by actor Roger Clark, the voice of RDR 2âs Arthur Morgan.
- Meanwhile, long-waited exclusive Bayonetta 3 finally arrives on Switch October 28.
- And Skate 4 is officially called skate, will be free-to-play with cross-play and cross-progression, but no release date yet.
- Looking for Switch games to play with friends? Here are the best multiplayer Switch games around.
- Plus: As temperatures soar, Nintendo issues Switch heatwave warning â donât use your Switch above 35 degrees Celsius (isnât that summer for many of us?)
Reviews
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
Weekly Wonder
This week marks World Emoji Day (July 17), and we already saw Emojipediaâs draft designs for 2022âs new emojis, which we werenât that blown away by, to be honest (not sure when Iâd use a goose emoji?). So it seemed like a good time to dive into all things emoji-related â because it turns out, those little icons we know and love havenât really been around all that long.
Itâs not a coincidence that July 17 is the date for world emoji day. Not only is it the date displayed on the calendar emoji, but itâs also the date iCal for Mac was announced at MacWorld Expo in 2002.
- The word emoji is actually a blend of two Japanese words: e (ç””, âpictureâ) + moji (æć, âcharacterâ).
- We can trace the roots of todayâs emojis back to 90s chatrooms.
- Back then, emojis were a bit more primitive, so youâd likely have used đ to smile at somebody or đ to respond in a flirty or sarcastic way.
- Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita is seen as the founding father of todayâs emojis.
- In 1999, NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese cell company, released the first-ever emoji library: 176 emojis designed for pagers and cell phones.
- Kurita used a blend of illustrations, pictograms, Japanese graphic novels, and the Zapf Dingbats typeface to create the emoji library.
- You can see it on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The emoji evolution
Did you know there are over 3,600 emojis in use today?
- Over 900m are used on Facebook Messenger every day.
- One in five Tweets contains an Emoji.
- And 50% of Instagram comments contain emojis.
- Face with tears of joy (đ) was the worldâs most popular emoji from the time Emojipediaâs records began (2011) until March 2021, when loudly crying face (đ) took the top spot for 10 months â pretty understandable given all that was happening in the world. Today, face with tears of joy is back on top.
- Did you know you can still use Androidâs cute yellow blob emoji?
- Nowadays, we use emojis on all our devices â you can even get them on your Chromebook.
Global emoji use reached new heights in July 2022, ahead of World Emoji Day:
- Over 22% of all Tweets sent in July (in the runup to World Emoji Day) included at least one emoji.
- From June to July 2022, we saw record-breaking emoji use, with the highest instances of emojis-per-tweet since Emojipediaâs records began in 2011.
As part of World Emoji Day, you can catch Emojipediaâs video series âEmojis Across The Worldâ on the official Emojipedia YouTube channel, packed with contributions from global emoji experts and emoji lovers worldwide.
Tech Calendar
- July 19: Stray lands on PS5, PS4, PC
- July 28: Pixel 6a launch
- July 28: Asus Zenfone 9 launch
- Late July/Early August: Possible OnePlus 10T launch?
- August 10 (TBC): Samsung Unpacked? (new Galaxy foldables, Galaxy Watch 5 series?)
- September 2-6: IFA Berlin
- September 10 @ 9 PM CEST: Ubisoft Forward showcase
- November 8: Skull and Bones release date on Xbox Series S/X, PS5, PC, Stadia, and Luna
- November 9: God of War: Ragnarok launches on PS4, PS5
Tech Tweet of the Week
Although today it has my sympathies I know this community will never die. #outlawsforlife
Enjoy your week!
Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.