Since making waves at Mobile World Congress 2018, Android Go devices have slowly trickled their way onto US shores. Only one device was officially announced for the US at MWC, but several OEMs have extended availability to the US in the months since, and it looks like we just received another.
Android 9.0 Pie has officially rolled out, but for the time being, it's only available to Google's own Pixel phones and a select few others. Thankfully, you can get a taste of the Android Pie experience on any phone right now.
It's human nature to wonder if the grass is greener on the other side. This is no more true than for people who use iPhones, and those who use Galaxy S phones. While iPhones were initially the gold standard for smartphones, Samsung's phones equal them in many ways and surpass them in others. If you use an iPhone and you're on the fence, here's the case for making the switch to a Galaxy S9 or S9+.
With Nokia's relaunch, the iconic company attempted to reimagine the budget phone market. The series of phones they introduced last year challenged the idea that good phones can't be cheap. This year, Nokia introduced the Nokia 7 Plus, a phone which offers perhaps the best balance of specs, software, and price.
Ever since Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the helms of the world's most valuable brand, he has made it his mission to bring smartphones to lower-income communities. Born in India, Mr. Pichai has created several programs to address the needs of the Indian market, particularly the lower income families.
After the success of the Snapdragon 835, Qualcomm now has its eyes set towards the future with the arrival of its next-generation SoC, the Snapdragon 845. Debuting alongside the Samsung Galaxy S9, the 845 is now set to take over the market for flagship Android phones in 2018.
With the Galaxy S9 finally making its debut, flagship season is officially underway. But even though Samsung's latest offerings are the newest phones out there, they already face some stiff competition — namely, the LG V30.
One of the best-received features of the OnePlus 5T was the relatively secure face unlock, which made it quick and easy to get into the phone. Unfortunately, this feature wasn't included with the slightly older OnePlus 5 at first, but now, face unlocking is finally out of beta and available to everyone with a 2017 OnePlus.
Speakers have been an integral part of smartphones since the beginning. Razer's concept Project Linda even uses the speakers from the Razer Phone to power the faux laptop's audio system. But what if Google's next Pixel phone didn't even have speakers? What if it didn't need them in the first place?
| Updated February 11, 2019 with new phones. When will my phone get Android Oreo? That's a question still being asked by many, even this late in 2018. Most OEMs have answered this question in one way or another, either releasing a stable OTA or confirming their device won't be receiving the update. We consolidated all these responses, and here's where we stand.
As smartphones become more accessible, billions of people have come to depend on their features for daily life. One of the most important aspects these days is the camera. OEMs have been working for years to improve camera quality, and they seem to have finally figured it out — the best way to achieve DSLR-quality photos wasn't just with better sensors, but with better intelligence.
Root, TWRP, Xposed, Magisk, custom ROMs — before you can have any of these, the first thing you should do is unlock your bootloader. Thankfully, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are some of the most modder-friendly phones out there, so you only need to send a single fastboot command to unlock the bootloader.
As smartphone users, we live in dangerous times. The value of phones continues to rise, making them prime targets for thieves. In 2015, the FCC estimated that one million phones are stolen each year, and with several devices starting to hit the $1,000 mark now, these numbers are sure to rise. But what do you do if you fall victim to phone theft?
Razer, the company known for PC peripherals and laptops, is joining the smartphone industry with a new device. Rumors have been swirling since they announced an event on November 1 at 4 PM EDT, but now, we have our best look yet with a leaked promotional video before the actual announcement.
The LG V30 is an amazing device that will contend for best smartphone of 2017. It has all the major features you'd expect from a high-end flagship, and it even includes what's become a rare commodity these days — a headphone jack. However, for the purists out there, the LG UX skin strays too far away from stock Android. Have no fear, for with the LG V30, you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Android Oreo may not be the flashiest release, but it's got tons of under-the-hood changes. We recently discovered documentation in the AOSP source code that outlines one of these understated features, which has been dubbed "Rescue Party."
Winter is coming for Amazon. It looks like the company is having another go at the smartphone world with its release of new smartphones branded as "Ice".
Google Play Services has been near the top of every Android user's list of battery-sucking apps for years now. It's a core system app, so you'd expect some battery drain, but for many folks, it runs rampant.
Who likes security? I like security. I lock my doors at night, and so should you! That's why it's exciting to me that Samsung has just announced its May security update. It's like getting a brand new, top-of-the-line lock for free, but for your phone.
It's no secret that Samsung had a lot of bad press this year. Despite this, we've reported how, even with the massive negativity in the media, Samsung has been expected to have an excellent Q1. Not only have those expectations been confirmed today, but Samsung has announced they are also working on a new flagship smartphone. One that some say could be the Note 8.
DSP Manager, Dolby Atmos, ViPER4Android — how are you supposed to pick just one from the wide variety of Android equalizers? Depending on your OEM, your phone may have come with a stock equalizer, but they're usually not enough. Combine them with a third-party equalizer, and then we're getting somewhere. However, installing multiple equalizers at the same time has always seemed to cause audio glitches — until now.
No one is safe anymore, it seems. Google's Project Zero has just uncovered how easy it is for attackers to target your phone's Wi-Fi chip, which is essentially a mini processor for Wi-Fi that detects and processes networks.
Chrysaor, a zero-day spyware believed to have been created by the Israeli "cyber war" group NSO, is an even greater threat to Android phones than it ever was to iOS.
We have some bad news for BlackBerry fans: It looks like the upcoming KeyOne flagship won't be shipped in April after all.
Headphone drama has been all the rage in the past year, with Apple killing off the headphone jack and trying to force AirPods upon its users (Apple, stop trying to make tiny, expensive, easy-to-lose earbuds happen. It's not going to work).
A 5-year-old girl was injured after the battery in another Samsung phone exploded in China. The Samsung Note 4 was reportedly charging next to the sleeping girl when it blew up in her Guizhou-based home.
It's the bane of many a tech geek's existence that the customizability of Android software cannot be combined with the sleek design of the iPhone. A new Kickstarter project titled Eye, however, is looking to change that with a new iPhone case that allows you to combine the two.
Google just announced that it will be bringing the Google Assistant—previously an exclusive feature on Pixel phones—to many more devices in the coming days. The only requirement they're giving is that the phone must be running either Android Marshmallow or Android Nougat, so according to the most recent Android distribution numbers, that's roughly 32% of all existing phones and tablets.
Long before Apple and Android became household names, Nokia dominated the mobile industry. The Finnish company was one of the first to develop smartphones, and their classic N95 with 2G "high-speed" internet connectivity was declared the "best smartphone ever" by some in 2007. Outside of the US, before the iPhone became all the rage, owning a Nokia phone was a status symbol akin to wearing a Rolex or Omega watch.
After poor sales of last year's HTC 10 and the terrible reviews their first 2017 flagship received, HTC really needs the HTC U11 to succeed. But they're not taking things lying down, as they've come up with some interesting tech for their latest handset.
By default, Android limits your call history to the last 500 incoming, outgoing, or missed calls. When you reach this limit, older entries get trimmed off the bottom of the list and deleted forever. This isn't an issue with storage space, because even the biggest call logs only occupy mere kilobytes, so it's really just an artificial limit.
LG, like many other OEMs, usually locks down their bootloaders with an airtight seal. There are a few good reasons for this, the big one being that an unlocked bootloader technically compromises some device security measures. LG would also argue that unlocking your bootloader is absolutely pointless, as having it locked will not hinder normal device usage, which is kinda true.
With the death of Google's Nexus line, the market for phones with top-notch specs at midrange prices is now wide open. OnePlus is apparently ready to fill this void, as they've just announced the OnePlus 3T, an iterative update to their OnePlus 3 flagship only five months after initial release.
Whatever you think of Google's new Pixel phones, the one thing we know for sure is that these are the most polarizing devices in recent memory. On the one hand, we've seen reviews in which longtime Android users say they'll be walking away from the OS all together thanks to Pixel. On the other hand, you've got the iPhone-obsessed David Pierce over at WIRED saying he'll be switching immediately.
The one big question remaining about Google's upcoming Pixel phones has finally been answered: Yes, the Pixel and Pixel XL have unlockable bootloaders—at least, if you buy directly from Google.
Google's Pixel phones have a feature that lets you swipe down on the fingerprint scanner to open your notification shade and Quick Settings panel. It's one of those features that make you wonder why it wasn't there in the first place, since it gives you another way to interact with your device, and your fingerprint scanner isn't being used while you're screen is on anyway.
Forget headphone jacks and "Courage." Look past the shiny Jet Black finish and beyond the minimized antenna lines. Sure, quad-LED flash and dual cameras are nice—but dual-SIM would've been much better.
If you're a fan of sleek, powerful computers and highly-customizable smartphones, then you probably own a Mac and an Android device. But the downside to this glorious hardware pairing is that it can be hard to get the software on the two devices to play nice together.
When you make or receive a call on your iPhone, you're forced to use the built-in ear receiver at the top of the phone to hear anything—unless you're already connected to a Bluetooth device. If you don't have Bluetooth in your car, or prefer to just use the speaker instead, having to manually switch to speaker mode can get annoying real fast.
Counter-Strike is one of the most popular first-person shooters of all time, and deservedly so. What originally started out as a third-party Half-Life mod garnered such a cult following that Valve had to hire the developers and purchase the intellectual property to make it an official standalone release.
