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Apple's drag-and-drop-the-dog Visual Look Up tool is the coolest iOS 16 feature you never knew Android needed
Hey Google, copy this for Google Photos
Apple borrowed a few tricks from Android in iOS 16, including Maps, the lock screen, and even photos. Apple did surpass Google in one weird, kind of wonderful way. In iOS 16, iPhone folks will be able to drag-and-drop subjects from a photo into other apps. It's pretty neat.
Google is making it easier to buy things with the Play Points you forgot you have
You'll soon be able to instantly apply Play Points to in-app purchases
You might be surprised to learn that it's been almost four years since Google rolled Play Points out in the first markets. This loyalty program awards points for buying content and installing apps, but using the points usually requires some foresight. Google says it's planning to make Play Points usable for in-app purchases right in the checkout workflow.
Google Pixel Stand 2 review: Google is bad at accessories
All the bells and whistles in the world won't make it a good value
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The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were a much-needed breath of fresh air in Google's smartphone lineup. After years of half-measures and poor decisions, the Pixel team finally nailed it. While Google is getting better at phones, it still struggles with accessories. Case in point: the $79 Pixel Stand 2. The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro can charge at up to 21 and 23W, respectively, matching wired charging speeds. However, that's just the maximum speed. Most of the time, the Pixel Stand charges much slower. That makes the price tag hard to swallow, particularly when other OEMs are producing much faster custom wireless standards. To top it off, the stand's Pixel-exclusive features don't work well enough to make up for that.
Sony LinkBuds S review: Do something nice for your ears
Sony's latest earbuds balance sound quality with comfort
The year isn't even half over, but Sony has now graced us with two devices under its new LinkBuds line. I did not hide my general distaste for the last Sony LinkBuds, which sported middling battery life and were nowhere near as comfortable as I'd hoped. Just a few months later, Sony has a new set of LinkBuds—the LinkBuds S. These earbuds have a more traditional design, eschewing the open-ear design of the last buds. However, they're much more comfortable thanks to the lightweight design, and Sony didn't sacrifice sound quality. They might not stand up to the Sony WF-1000XM4 or Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3, but you can wear them all day long. They're good enough that you might even want to.
Samsung's 2022 smartwatch shipments are up 46%, but Apple is still on top
Meanwhile, Fitbit's market share is collapsing
Market research from Counterpoint has updated its smartwatch tracker, showing a respectable 13% improvement for the entire market in Q1 2022. Samsung saw a big increase in the first quarter, getting it a strong second-place position behind Apple. Xiaomi is also up this year, but no one is anywhere close to challenging Apple, least of all Google's Fitbit subsidiary.
This may come as a surprise, but Barnes and Noble still exists. If you've recovered from that shock, here's another: it still makes Nook e-readers. There's even a new one coming out, and it's called the Nook Glowlight 4e. The specs seem fine, but it'll cost you $119. Let's be honest, though. You weren't going to buy one even if it undercut the Kindle.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ review: The only high-end Android tablet you should buy
This is the sweet spot in Android tablets, but it'll cost you
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It's been hard to get excited about Android tablets since... well, ever. I will admit to being a little excited about the original Nexus 7, but things went downhill quickly after that. I don't know if you should get excited about the Galaxy Tab S8+, but maybe you can finally look forward to being excited about Android tablets in the near future. The hardware is excellent, with possibly the prettiest OLED panel I've ever laid eyes on, and the best version of Samsung's S Pen yet.
Chrome OS could be getting a long overdue audio settings page
Slowly but surely, Chrome is getting features other platforms have had for ages
It can be hard to find things in the Chrome OS settings, which is odd given how sparse it is compared to more established operating systems. Should you need to tinker with the audio settings on your Chromebook today, you might be disappointed to find there's no dedicated settings page. In the near future, those settings could get their own space, according to a change in the Chromium open source project, reported by Chrome Story.
Google nearly quadruples its share of North American smartphone market to a whopping 3%
It's now number five, right behind TCL
Even with the usual raft of Pixel bugs, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are fantastic smartphones—and it's about time! We've been waiting years for Google to get the Pixel line figured out, and we at AP are apparently not alone. Google is selling a lot more Pixel phones, according to new data from analytics firm Canalys. They say Google has almost quadrupled its share of the North American smartphone market in the last year, but it's still running behind the big dogs.
Auto-generated summaries might be the most important I/O 2022 announcement
Understanding language is hard, even if you're not a machine
Google I/O has been a bit low-key in the past few years—no surprise with the ongoing global pandemic. This year's Google I/O still wasn't the in-person soirée to which we've become accustomed, but there were a surprising number of hardware announcements like the Pixel 6a and Pixel Watch that attracted the most attention. However, one announcement might end up being the most important in the future: Its auto-summarization announcement, which debuts in Google Docs, leverages years of Google's AI advances to potentially save us all a lot of time. It's also fascinating from a technical perspective.
End-to-end encryption is coming to Google Messages group chats
Expanding a feature that was previously only available for 1-on-1 conversations
Google is a company built on knowing about its users so it can serve targeted ads, but it strives to keep personal communication separate from its advertising arm. Last year, Google added end-to-end encryption to 1-on-1 RCS chats in the Messages app. Just because you're talking to more than one person doesn't mean everyone should be able to listen in, and as announced during the Google I/O keynote, that feature is now coming to group chats.
More than 20 Google apps are getting tablet-centric updates
And there are 270 million active Android tablets today
Android existed on tablets even before Google gave its blessing to the Motorola Xoom in 2011, but that first official tablet did not lead to a large-screen renaissance. Google sadly ignored tablets for years, and that's only now starting to change. At Google I/O, the company noted that there are 270 million active large-screen Android devices and correctly admitted that these devices are a whole lot less useful without optimized apps. And it's finally doing something about it.
Google announces AI-powered document summaries in Google Docs
And it's coming soon to other Google Workspace products
We've all been there—you have to read a document that could be published as a very boring novella, but time is short. Google has a solution, which it just unveiled at Google I/O. The new automated summarization feature is rolling out in the Google Docs outline feature, giving you a handy tl;dr for any document.
Sony's latest Android phone is exactly what you'd expect
The Xperia 1 IV has a headphone jack, no display hole, and the best cameras Sony can muster
Sony might not be the most popular Android smartphone manufacturer these days, but you always know what you're getting. Sony's latest entrant in the Xperia family is the Xperia 1 IV, and it makes several small but meaningful changes over the 1 III. You still get the uninterrupted 4K OLED and headphone jack, but the camera array moves to a "true optical" 85-125mm zoom lens. Of course, Sony's passion project won't come cheap. This phone will retail for $1,600 when it launches in a few months.
Samsung actually seems to be making some thoughtful changes for its next-gen foldables
Leaks suggest meaningful tweaks beyond just upgrading to the latest chips
Galaxy S22 season is over, and that means Samsung watchers are on to the next big release: fourth-gen foldables. The Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 are expected to launch later this year, and leaks have already hinted at a few hardware changes. The latest round of info from Twitter leaker Ice Universe confirms a bigger battery for the Flip4 and screen changes for the Fold4.
Motorola MA1 review: The best wireless Android Auto adapter
An effective way to add wireless Android Auto to your car
Android Auto has existed for years, and now most new vehicles support it. Some cars can even run Android Auto wirelessly—no plugging in your phone and tossing it awkwardly into a cup holder. Wireless AA is mostly limited to luxury vehicles and the higher trim levels of mid-range cars, but what if I told you wireless Android Auto can be yours in almost any vehicle for just $90? That's what it costs to get the Motorola MA1, the first wireless Auto dongle Google has seen fit to promote. I've been using the MA1 for the last few months, and I've barely had to use my USB cables. I was expecting to enumerate the bugs, frustrations, and shortcomings of this device in the review, but I'm here to tell you a very different story: the MA1 is great, and you should buy it... if you ever find it in stock.
Asus ZenWiFi ET8 review: Wi-Fi 6E might not be an upgrade
Amazing performance spoiled by frequent bugs
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I ask a lot of my Wi-Fi network. At any given time, I have between 40 and 60 devices connected, some of which are constantly streaming video, pinging remote servers, and syncing data. I also live in a suburban US house that was built without any regard for wireless signal propagation. My wife and I both work from home and need reliable connectivity, and this has set me on a quest to find the best home Wi-Fi solution possible. Some Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers can deliver, and others can't.
Samsung Internet v17 goes live with Web Authentication API and security key support
We're playing catch-up here, but better late than never
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Samsung's custom browser app is an alternative to Chrome, which many people use simply because it's pre-loaded on their Samsung phones. But anyone can download Samsung Internet, and you might want to check out the latest version if you're the private type, peeking out at the web from behind your VPN. The v17 release includes privacy and functional improvements, like some tweaks for Samsung's AI-powered Smart Anti Tracking and long-overdue Web Authentication support. It has been in beta, but the stable software is now live.
Moto expands its budget lineup yet again with Moto G Stylus 5G and Moto G 5G
Moto now has more Gs than a 90s rap album
Motorola has been on a roll lately, growing faster than any other Android OEM as it gobbles up the market share left by LG's withdrawal from smartphones. A big component of its strategy appears to be making a phone at every conceivable price point, from the bargain-basement Moto G Pure to the updated Edge+ flagship. The latest additions to the Moto G family fall somewhere in the middle. The Moto G Stylus 5G is a tweaked version of the 4G Stylus from earlier this year, and the Moto G 5G is a slightly cheaper MediaTek-powered device with no stylus. Although, "cheaper" is a relative term here—both phones are a bit more spendy than you'd expect at $499 for the Stylus 5G and $399 for the Moto G 5G. They could have trouble competing with the excellent budget phones already on the market.
Samsung details Exynos 1280, promises better mid-range phones
More flagship features are coming to affordable phones
Samsung has been making Exynos chipsets for years, some of which have been successful and others not so much. It toyed with making custom ARM CPU cores for about four years, but it dropped that fantasy in 2020 with the release of the flagship Exynos 980. There haven't been any mid-range Exynos parts in the last two years, leaving cheaper Samsung phones without a modern in-house option. That changed a few weeks back with the announcement of the Exynos 1280, but only now has Samsung explained what makes this mobile chipset special.