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Android Circuit: Samsung's Powerful Galaxy Update, Microsoft's Next Android Step, Motorola's Number One Smartphone

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Taking a look back at the week in news across the Android world, this week’s Android Circuit highlights a number of stories including the new Galaxy S5 Plus, the 'number one' Moto G, US Government approves Samsung's Knox, Microsoft's Android Launcher, Nokia's HERE Maps in a wide-ranging beta release, the Nexus Player and Chromecast, Android Wear updates, and the Samrtisan T1's tribute to the iPhone 4.

Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android over the last seven days.

Supersizing The Galaxy S5

Samsung continues to roll out the iterations of the base Galaxy S5 design. The latest variant is the Galaxy S5 Plus, a Snapdragon 805 equipped smartphone running at 2.5 GHz with an upgraded GPU, 2GB RAM, and improved 4G with support for 'LTE Advanced' downloads. Gordon Kelly reports on the handset for Forbes:

The S5 Plus, however, is a pleasant surprise if not a wholly unexpected one. Samsung announced the ‘Galaxy S5 LTE-A’ in its native Korea back in June which showed the company was looking at juicer S5 variants and it is never shy of releasing alternative versions of its flagship handset with the likes of the rugged ‘Active’ and photography-focused ‘Zoom’.

Sadly the new S5 Plus doesn’t carry all the benefits of the Korean Galaxy S5 LTE-A. That handset also packed a Note 4-matching 2560 x 1440 pixel (2k) native resolution and 3GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S5 Plus will have a European launch in Holland, and the Tech Team at Forbes is watching to see when a variant will be available in the US.

Samsung's Knox Gets Security Clearance

Samsung's Knox layer allows a number of the South Korean devices to run a 'secure' area for apps and files, and the company has been pushing for certification from governments around the world. Samsung announced this week that Knox has been approved for "US government classified use":

After completing ten Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs), the government added the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition), Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy Tab S 8.4, Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and the Galaxy IPSEC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Client to the Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) Program Component List.

The certification will make the approved devices more attractive to government purchases and I'm sure Samsung's US sales team will already be pitching hard to get the handsets into government hands.

Why Is The Moto G The Leading Smartphone of 2014?

It might not be the handset with the fastest processor, the most RAM, the biggest screen, or the largest camera sensor, but in terms of value for money and functionality (especially when you look outside of the US and Western European markets) the latest generation of the Moto G is hard to beat. My controversial discussion on the Moto G as 'the number one smartphone' has been burning away all week:

I’m not saying that the Moto G Second Generation 2014 Edition (let’s go with Moto G for the rest of this article) is the perfect smartphone – too many people have their own favorite feature, so that’s an almost impossible target to hit. Neither am I saying that the Moto G will win in every single round of ‘specification Top Trumps’ because there are clearly phones with hardware numbers that are larger than the Moto G.

As an all-round handset, as the handset that is going to be rated as ‘above average’ and ‘exceeds expectations’ in almost every area, I cannot look past the Moto G in the current crop of smartphones.

That’s why I’m calling it the number one smartphone for 2014.

Let me know your thoughts in the article's comments. I'm sure I'll revisit this topic when Android 5.0 'Lollipop' arrives on the Moto G before the end of the year.

Another Android Skin, But This Time It Belongs To Microsoft

Fresh out of the Microsoft Garage skunkworks comes 'Next Lock Screen,' another way to view what you have to do next with your smartphone:

It’s a time saver lock screen built for busy people. See your calendar, missed calls, email and text messages all at a glance. Connect to a conference call in a single tap without unlocking your phone. Next Lock Screen even surfaces the apps you use most based on your location.

Although there is a strip of your most used app for quick launching purposes, Next Lock Screen focuses on information rather than the constant in and out of applications that Android is built around. It's an interesting side project, and its another sign of Microsoft coming out of its walled garden focus on mobile.

You can download the app from the Google Play Store in the US.

HERE Maps Moves Into A Wide Beta Release

Following a beta release targeted at the Samsung Galaxy in September, Nokia has released a downloadable beta of the HERE Maps client for Android devices. Offering offline mapping, turn by turn voice guidance, public transport maps, and live traffic, the .apk is a direct download from the HERE Maps website.

Mapping was always a strong point of Nokia's smartphone heritage, and it is good to see that the software and features are now available to the vast majority of Android users.

Chromecast vs Nexus Player

With the release of the Nexus Player, the Asus-built Android TV reference device, Mountain View turns its attention to television and how to get involved profitably at scale. Ian Morris has been looking at Nexus Player, and wonders how Google can establish this device when the Chromecast is still available at such a low price:

But Google doesn’t seem satisfied with Chromecast, perhaps because it makes the company very little money. It’s not tied to Google’s Play music and movie services, so you can use your Netflix subscription, or even Plex for video sourced elsewhere. That’s an issue, because for a cheaper devices, Google will want to have a high attachment rate for its own pay services.

Now we’re getting the Nexus Player, a device built by Asus and running Google’s new Android TV platform. It will offer access to the Google Play store for not just music, movies and TV shows, but also select Android games. An optional controller will be sold to allow you to play on your TV. And this is where the whole thing starts to fall apart. Android games don’t work on TVs, because Android games are aimed at touchscreens.

Android Wear Adds Offline Mapping And Music

As noted previously in Android Circuit, Google has been expected to update the Android Wear OS before the end of the year. Well, that update is (mostly) here and makes its initial appearance in Sony's first Android Wear powered smartwatch. The SmartWatch 3 is available to pre-order today from Verizon in the US, with availability across the world expected in the next few weeks.

The Android Wear update focuses on two areas - the first is GPS and location data when the device is not connected to a smartphone or tablet, and the second is the ability to listen to music in the same 'offline/unconnected' mode through a bluetooth headset.

Locked Down Now, But Android Wear Should Be Opened Up In The Future

Google is acknowledging the locked-down nature of a number of Android strains, including Android Wear and Android Auto, while noting that Google '...wanted a bit of time to make sure it had the basics right in these new areas before allowing deeper customization of the software experience' (reports Ina Fried for Re/Code).

It's an interesting area of discussion and thinking. One of the main drivers of fragmentation on smartphones and tablets using Android is the flexibility and ability to customise. Google needed that hook to become established, but now Android has the lion's share of the market, the indications with projects such as Android One and Android Silver points to a Google that would prefer one vision (its vision) of the Android UI.

I'm intrigued to see just how Google will open up these new projects.

...And Finally

Ever wondered what a high-end tribute to the iPhone 4 would look like if it ran Android? Forbes' Eric Mu discovers the Smartisan T1 in downtown Beijing:

The result is that T1 looks and feels like a single slab of glass, even more so than iPhone4. With the tapered back cover, it feels less flat than the iPhone4 (and iPhone5 and 5S for that matter). If the iPhonesque minimalism is one of T1’s main selling points, then the biggest drawback is perhaps that the phone is not an iPhone. It doesn’t run iOS.

To be fair, the guys at Smartisan did put a lot of effort to innovate the Android system and the result is not half bad. But having been a happy iPhone user for four and half years now, the learning curve is a bit sharp.

‘Android Circuit’ will round-up the news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!