Weekly Authority: Space race, Nord 2 launch, and more

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July 25, 2021

⚡ Welcome back The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that breaks down the top Android and tech news from the week. Notice the new subject line? We've figured out we're almost into the fourth year of the Weekly newsletter, so welcome to the 151st edition!

🚀 Tristan Rayner here once again, sadly not part of the recently-been-to-space club. If you happen to have a spare ticket and a scheduling conflict, be a pal?

Popular news this week

Blue Origin

Bezos flew to space: It all went well for Jeffrey Bezos, his brother, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, who took the first manned rocket from Blue Origin into space for a 10 minute 10 second look at the earth from above. There’s a lot of cynicism post-event, mainly because Bezos is worth a few hundred billion and Amazon workers aren’t exactly getting the same take home pay, along with the classification of “astronaut” vs “space tourist.” But it was a big moment, because the idea of paying to build a rocket company to get to space does mean that the great expanse of space is a little more accessible for humanity. Eventually, maybe?
OnePlus Nord 2: OnePlus launched its Nord 2 smartphone, the follow-up to its first mid-ranger, this time sporting a MediaTek processor and a very similar 6.43-inch form factor. It’s available in the UK, Europe, and India for now, starting at £399 / €419 / Rs. 29,999 for the model available in all three zones. The original Nord crossed into the US as the Nord N100 5G and OnePlus Nord N200 5G, so perhaps there’ll be some kind of follow-up, but it won’t be the Nord 2 as such. We’ve already reviewed it, too, as it takes on the Samsung A52 5G, Google Pixel 4a and 4a 5G, Poco F3, and possibly even the OnePlus 8T. Bonus: A second opinion review, too!
Samsung Unpacked, August 11: The launch of Samsung’s next foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, plus the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series, was officially announced this week by Samsung. Lots of leaks have led to this moment, but it will still be a big launch. Possible pricing leaked out in advance but not in those greenbacks just yet.
Pegasus: Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus malware for iOS and Android phones was always controversial, but this week’s reporting assembled by media organizations, Amnesty International, Forbidden Stories, and more, was remarkable (The Guardian).
Among lawsuits and political disruption, French President Emmanuel Macron, listed in the leaked names of targeted people, changed his phone and number (DW). It proves Apple and Google aren’t close to closed secure systems, which we knew, but should we expect more?
2020 Olympic Games: The Tokyo Olympics are underway! It’s a big event for tech because the Olympics tends to drive next-gen broadcasting via the Olympic Broadcasting Service always aiming to one-up the last event. This year the Games will be produced natively in 4K UHD for the first time, with some events in 8K too. (That said, your location and local broadcaster/streaming service will impact if you can get 4K or not!) There’s a bunch of other tech, too: AI overlays thanks to Intel’s 3D Athlete Tracking (already in the NFL), Biometric Data Display, and more (Sports Video). Plus there’s all the sports tech going into things like running shoe spikes (Usain Bolt isn’t happy (The Guardian), and I agree with him), drone displays, and much more.
And the google.com doodle for the opening ceremony was a fun little 16-bit RPG game.