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How to sign up for an app beta through the Google Play Store
Join a beta program and live on the bleeding edge
For those developing the latest and greatest apps on the Play Store, open beta programs and events can boost their following and popularity. Letting everyone see what's under the hood before the official release can be handy for generating hype, ironing out egregious bugs, and receiving useful criticism while the app is being made. Open betas are practiced by both indie-devs and larger AAA publishers, and you can enroll in them through the Play Store. Read on and take part in some great betas on your favorite Android gaming phone.
Google's AI-infused Assistant might be limited to the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24, at least at first
Older Pixel and Galaxy models would be next in line
The Google event on October 4 showed us many things. Some of those things we already knew, such as the Pixel 8 series and the Pixel Watch 2, as they were already leaked beforehand and were even shown off by Google, so they weren't actually a surprise. Something that did surprise us a bit, however, was that Google announced a brand-new version of the Google Assistant, one that's AI-infused with new party tricks provided by Google's Bard generative AI. The new experience is not available yet, though, and Google isn't being too straightforward about its availability, only saying that it will be rolled out to selected testers soon. Now, we've learned that Google may gatekeep this for some devices, at least at first.
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 is joining the One UI 6 beta party
Days after the Galaxy Z Fold 5 did the same
Samsung's latest foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, have both been out for quite some time now. And they are really, really good phones. If Samsung hasn't yet perfected the foldable, it's really close to doing so — and as the form factor becomes more and more popular, its offerings are going to mature even further in upcoming generations. Like other Samsung flagship phones, the new foldables are eligible for the upcoming One UI 6 update, based on the just-launched Android 14. Now, it's the Galaxy Z Flip 5's turn to get in on the beta for Samsung's next major upgrade.
If you recently created a Google account, congratulations. You have access to one of the best productivity platforms online and 15GB of free cloud storage to boot. That amount can quickly get limiting, especially since that space is shared by everything Google, including Gmail, Drive, Photos, and other productivity apps like Docs, Slides, and Sheets. It's not always easy to pin down why you're nearly at the max of those 15GB. A lot of the time, it's Google Drive since your files are backed up in the cloud, even if you have one of the best budget Android phones in the market. It's also possible a good chunk of it is your email.
Google may have just spilled the beans on an upcoming Chromecast
What's that star button all about, huh?
The Chromecast with Google TV is an amazing addition to any household and one of the best streaming devices your money can buy. If you need a streaming device for your living room, it's probably one of the best ones your money can buy. It was the first device to come with the brand's new Google TV experience, which has since shown up on many other TVs and streaming devices, and it's also fairly cheap — even cheaper if you don't need 4K streaming. It's not in desperate need of an upgrade, and you could say the current model is perfectly okay and holding up pretty well. But, if you've wondered whether a new model is coming anytime soon, it looks like Google might just have accidentally spilled the tea on the existence of an upcoming new model.
The OnePlus 12 is looking mighty familiar in latest leak
Revised renders resemble the OnePlus 11 — in a good way
It's no secret to anyone by this point that OnePlus is planning to launch a new smartphone soon. The OnePlus 12, the long-awaited successor to the OnePlus 11 and what will likely become one of the best phones of 2024, is closer than ever, and we're beginning to learn more details about the phone. Unofficial CAD renders leaked a couple of months ago, showing a rough look at the upcoming smartphone from multiple angles. Now, though, we have new CAD renders, and these ones might look a lot closer to what will eventually be announced by OnePlus.
The year 2023 began with some bittersweet news for cloud gaming enthusiasts. After several struggling months, Google decided to call it quits on its cloud gaming effort, Google Stadia, for good. It was something many of us saw coming, but it was nonetheless shocking when Google decided to announce it — and the sudden news took even developers and Google employees by surprise. Now, Google wants to do games again — this time, through YouTube, with something called Playables. And the company is now actually starting to test them, so you might even get to play them sooner than later.
Google is killing the Play Movies & TV app for Android TV
You have roughly a month to go pay your respects
Some of you might remember how Google Play was, at least at first, more than just an app store. Back when the company first rebranded what was then called the Android Market into the Google Play Store in 2012, Google had a much wider vision for "Google Play" that included music, movies, TV, and pretty much all kinds of media. Over the years, however, all of that slowly died off. Google Play Music was killed off and replaced by YouTube Music, and the same thing happened with Google Play Newsstand and Google News. The latest app to die in this manner is Google Play Movies & TV, as Google is putting the final nail in its coffin with the removal of the Android TV app.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is getting its upgrade to Wear OS 4
One UI Watch 5 continues trickling down to older hardware
The next version of Wear OS is finally available, and it's about to make landfall on some of our favorite watches of the past few years. Just like it was the case with Wear OS 3 two years ago, Wear OS 4 is landing first on Samsung's watches. After first shipping with the Galaxy Watch 6 in August and arriving for the Galaxy Watch 5 series last week, it's now the Galaxy Watch 4's turn, as the update is now making its way to the standard Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic right now.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 might use an Exynos 2400 chip in Europe
Will it be the right move or the worst decision ever?
Read update
We're firmly into the latter half of 2023, which means we're actually closer than ever to the new Galaxy S24 range. Leaks and rumors have slowly started to drip in, and while there's still a lot we don't know about the upcoming smartphones, a clearer picture is starting to form. The Galaxy S23 lineup launched earlier this year came with one big improvement for European users — the use of a Snapdragon SoC over an Exynos chip. Now, Galaxy users in Europe might be treated to some bittersweet news, as Samsung appears set to make a U-turn after just one year.
Google kills off Pixel Pass just months before the Pixel 8 launch
All good things must come to an end
Google's Pixel Pass is excellent value if you're looking to both get a Pixel phone and get yourself tangled into Google's ecosystem. With Pixel Pass, you could get a Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro phone in addition to premium access to services such as YouTube, Google One, and Google Play Pass, all for a flat monthly fee. It was one of the best ways to get yourself a Pixel phone without having to pay the full price upfront, with the phone being fully yours after being subscribed for two years. Now, though, as Google is just months away from launching the Pixel 8 lineup, Pixel Pass is gone.
Generative AI is a top contender for the biggest technology development of the decade. There are two major fields — we have text-based generative AIs, like ChatGPT, and then we have the kind of AI that makes images, like Midjourney and Dall-E, which are increasingly hard to tell apart from real images. The latter ones are my favorites by far, because they're getting more and more realistic by the day. But you don't really need all that realism all the time. Case in point — WhatsApp is adding an AI feature for beta testers that can generate cute stickers on demand, and it looks pretty cool.
Xiaomi's new Mi Mix Fold 3 has all the things the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 doesn't
Big battery, fast charging, a usable outer screen, and a versatile camera setup in a thin body
The 2020s are increasingly shaping up to be the decade of foldable phones. Sure, they might not be mainstream just yet, but we're reaching the point where they're starting to look less like experimental products and more like phones that actually make sense to buy. Through continuous generational refinements, foldables have gotten more solid and have fewer downsides compared to standard, non-folding smartphones. And while Samsung arguably had a head start, with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 being fifth-generation devices already, other companies have been following suit in recent years. Now, Xiaomi has released its latest take on foldables, the Mix Fold 3, and it's carrying a lot of improvements.
The Motorola ThinkPhone can run Windows — sort of
Cloud-based Windows 365 is coming to Lenovo's business phone
Lenovo's Think series has always been the company's go-to brand for business-y stuff. That's why the Think brand was the go-to solution when the company thought to build a phone that means serious business. Thus, the Motorola ThinkPhone was born, and quickly became one of the best Motorola phones. It already supports some important business features like the Ready For desktop mode, but let's be real — running full Windows on a phone would be even better to get work done. The ThinkPhone is getting something just like that thanks to a partnership with Microsoft.
Android 14 will feature a new way to combat full-screen ads
Full-screen notifications are for incoming calls and alarms, not spam
Ads are necessary for service providers, websites, and apps to make money, but there's a fine line between acceptable ads and overbearing ones. Full-screen ads are, more often than not, firmly in the latter category. They can take over your phone's screen and, a lot of the time, they can also be hard to close. Thankfully, it appears Android 14 will let you manually revoke full-screen notification permissions from apps, in an attempt to further cull the issue.
In case you hadn't heard, Telegram fell victim to FOMO and became just the latest of many social media platforms to add stories. The platform's implementation isn't 100% identical to what we've seen with others such as Instagram, as it has a lot more flexibility, but the main concept is the same — temporary posts that will disappear after a set period of time. When the feature was first rolled out, however, it was exclusive to Telegram's new Premium paid tier. Now, Telegram seems to be all but ready to roll out the feature to non-Premium users as well.
Google is working on an Apple-like Continuity feature for Android
You could soon link your devices and transfer phone calls between them
A big pull of the Apple ecosystem is how well Apple devices work with each other. The level of integration that exists thanks to something the company calls Continuity is outmatched. We have AirDrop and even more things that seem like black magic, such as using your trackpad and keyboard between devices. Android has made several attempts to create something similar, which is how we've ended up with things such as Nearby Share. Still, deeper integration between devices can still exist, and it's something Google is actively working on. This latest potential addition might be particularly useful if you happen to have multiple Android devices.
YouTube stops showing home screen when history is turned off
Subscriptions? Nah, who needs those? You need your recommendations
Most of us are pretty well-acquainted with YouTube's home screen and how it looks. It shows you recommended videos and content that's floated by the algorithm in addition to what creators you're actually subscribed for. The algorithm is heavily influenced by your YouTube watch history, so when you turn it off, you also won't get these perfectly tailored recommendations and will have to make to with more generalized content instead. YouTube is currently adding a new and annoying side effect to those who opt to not store a watch history. Some people are finding their YouTube homepage left completely blank.
Google is finally adding translations to Gmail on mobile
It only took Google years to port integrated translations over from the web version
Machine translation has been a staple feature of Gmail on desktop for a long time. Like many other advanced features, it's something that the service's smartphone app sorely lacks. If you want to translate an email, your best bet is to copy the body and paste it on a translator like Google Translate. That step soon won't be necessary, as Gmail is finally introducing built-in email translations on the mobile version.
The app formerly known as Twitter could soon let you jump right to someone's most popular posts
How famous are your tweets—I mean, posts?
Twitter is in the midst of a messy rebranding to X that has the potential to wipe out billions in brand value, with many users considering deleting their Twitter accounts in the light of the changes. But not everything the company does under Elon Musk's ownership is outright bad. One genuinely helpful addition to the platform could be a new feature to sort someone's profile by their most popular posts.