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Weekend poll: What are your must-have features in a smartphone?
If your next device doesn't have these, it's a deal breaker
To some, October is the season for candy, costumes, pumpkins, and apples, but here at Android Police, there’s only one thing on our mind — new smartphones. If you’re looking to upgrade this year, you probably have a wishlist of everything you want out of your next device. Folding screens, under-display cameras — maybe even a headphone jack if you’re feeling crazy. Even if your dream phone doesn’t exist, everyone has that one feature they absolutely can’t live without.
Weekend poll: Should companies be forced into adopting USB-C?
The EU wants a mandate, but it might not be the best idea
We've begged companies like Apple to adopt USB-C on its devices for years — and we aren't the only ones. The dream of plugging in every device with a single cable feels closer than ever, but if there's even a single iPhone somewhere in your home, keeping around a Lightning cable is essential. The EU wants to pass legislation mandating companies use USB-C on all gadgets sold in Europe, but not everyone thinks that's a good idea.
Weekend poll: Do you prefer round or rectangular smartwatches?
New wearables from Samsung and Apple have us pondering the best shape for our wrists
The last couple of months have been pretty big for smartwatches. Google launched Wear OS 3 with the help of Samsung, whose next-gen Galaxy Watch4 series is the best it's ever been. Meanwhile, we got our first glimpse of the Apple Watch Series 7 this week, which — while probably not of interest to most of our readership — will undoubtedly become the highest-selling smartwatch of 2022. It's two radically different design philosophies, and it has us wondering about future designs for Wear OS-powered gadgets.
Weekend poll: How do you feel about Material You?
Android 12 is the platform's first big refresh in years — but is it any good?
It's been a while since Android received a visual overhaul, but that's just what's on the menu this year. Google's new Material You design strategy is a bold shift from its previous look, pulling colors from your phone's wallpaper to create a dynamic theme across all of your support apps. As we draw closer to the official launch of Android 12, it's worth finding out just how Android users are feeling about the change.
Weekend poll: When do you use Google Maps for navigation?
Is it a daily necessity or something just for road trips?
It's Labor Day weekend here in the US, marking the unofficial end of summer. Students are returning to school, pools and water parks are closing for the season, and soon enough, your neighbor will coat their home in Halloween decorations. That's not to say you can't squeeze in a final road trip, of course, and Google Maps is the perfect app to get you wherever you want to go.
No one wants to be without all their photos or files while out and about, and that's why cloud storage is so essential. Not only does it back up all of your data in case of emergency, but it also leaves space on your phone for locally downloaded content, like offline playlists and your favorite games. Google includes an allotment of cloud storage for free with every account, but if you're willing to shell out a few bucks a month, that space expands pretty quickly.
Weekend poll: How will you replace Android Auto on phone screens?
Google's handy driving interface is going away with Android 12
This week, we learned Android Auto's long-delayed death on phone screens was back on the calendar. It's been a long time coming, but that hasn't stopped fans of Google's driver-friendly app from feeling frustrated by the transition. It's also left users up in the air over where to go next for all their driving needs.
Weekend poll: Did you pre-order any of Samsung's newest gadgets?
Flips and Folds and Watches, oh my!
This week, Samsung finally held its long-awaited Galaxy Unpacked event, showing off its latest folding phones alongside new smartwatches and some fancy ANC-equipped earbuds. Despite plenty of leaks ruining the surprise, this fall's lineup looks to be one of its best yet, making it harder than ever to pick which device you're going to pre-order.
Weekend poll: Did the Pixel 6 change your near-future plans for a smartphone?
Google's next flagship shakes up the game
We're all still reeling from the Pixel 6 announcement this week, an effort certainly intended to get ahead of the usual round-up of leaks that plague Google's smartphones. While it may have been a surprise, it was undoubtedly a welcome one. From its unique design and color choices to the brand-new Tensor chip, this is the most interesting the Pixel series has been since, well, arguably the original.
Weekend poll: Has the Play Store ever banned an app you cared about?
Sometimes Google forces you to find a workaround
Even though Android is wide open to any installation file found on the web, an overwhelming majority of users trust the Google Play Store to discover, download, and update their library of apps and games. It's not perfect, of course. Developers can fall victim to all sorts of pitfalls on the store, including a few introduced by Google itself.
Weekend poll: How important are Android's customization options to you?
How much of your phone is your own?
Customization has always set Android apart from other operating systems, going all the way back to its earliest days. Whether it's manufacturers crafting unique (and usually bad) skins or power users installing launchers or custom ROMs, making your phone feel like your own has always been a core component of the platform. As Android grows into a mature ecosystem, however, its audience's need to change every aspect of a device may start to shift.
Weekend poll: What kind of headphones do you use with your smartphone?
Wireless? Wired? A combination of both?
It's been nearly five years since Apple bravely dropped the headphone jack from its phone, and since then, countless companies have followed in its wake. Initially a massive inconvenience, wireless audio has since become second nature. Walk down any street in any city, and it seems like nearly everyone has switched to wireless headphones.
Weekend poll: Would you sacrifice some of your phone's performance for extra battery life?
Long-lasting gadgets or supercharged speeds — the choice is yours
No phone is truly perfect. There are always elements worth improving in a successor, both big and small. From lackluster camera quality and limited battery life to significant hardware flaws that can brick a device, every phone is about tradeoffs. That's why it's essential to consider what you prioritize before buying one. But what if the manufacturer was making those decisions for you?
Weekend Poll: What screen size do you consider 'small' for a phone?
Somewhere around 6" seems to be our new cutoff for "bezel-less" designs — what's yours?
This is a holiday weekend. For many, it's the first big chance we've had to see friends or family in the last year and a half. So let's keep today's question simple, brief, and not too deep: What do you consider to be a "small" phone?
Weekend poll: Did Microsoft make the right choice with Amazon's Appstore for Windows 11?
It's good for competition, but are you happy with the decision?
The biggest news of last week was Microsoft's announcement of Windows 11 — and, more relevant to us, the fact that the new OS will run Android apps. However, there is one major catch: The app store Microsoft plans to use is Amazon's. While sideloading apps will apparently be possible, we don't know what sort of restrictions or difficulties that might impose. So for this week's poll, we'd like to know: Do you think Microsoft is making the right choice using Amazon's Appstore on Windows 11?I'm of two minds here because there is a clear consumer benefit in terms of competition. Yes, Amazon's Appstore doesn't have as good of a selection, and the company's recent practices are sketchy at best. In terms of tech giant conglomerates, Amazon's about as far down on the "evil" scale a company can go before it starts stealing candy from babies or starting fights in bars. But, Amazon's Appstore is also one of the very few third-party ones for Android that has managed to be successful at any level, and an uptick in customers via a Microsoft partnership could be the kick in the pants it needs to really compete with Google and provide us with a solid second choice.Of course, a Microsoft Engineer says we should be able to sideload apps, but that's not necessarily an easy workaround for Microsoft's choice of store. Chromebooks are a good example for comparison here. Yes, technically you can sideload Android apps on them, but it's a huge pain in the ass, and there's no proof yet that Microsoft will make things easy for us, either.Microsoft could likely have gone with the Play Store just as easily — after all, the company highlighted how closely it worked with Google for the Surface Duo dumpster fire — but Google's terms for such a deal would almost certainly have been more difficult for Microsoft to accept. Historically, Google's Play Store licensing imposes things like pre-installed apps, Google service integrations, and Google Search as the default search engine (though GMS licensing terms are usually confidential and vary by manufacturer and market). And when it comes to desktop services, search, and personal computing, Microsoft and Google are direct competitors.Lastly, Microsoft has a software storefront already: the Microsoft Store. In fact, that's how you'll get your Android apps on Windows 11, but Microsoft still isn't fully in charge. As the screenshot above shows, it's just a front-end for the Amazon Appstore. If the company wanted to, Microsoft could have just done its own thing from end-to-end.There's a lot to balance here as you consider the question, but what do you think of Microsoft's choice of Android app store for Windows 11, and do you think Amazon's Appstore is the right one?
Weekend poll: What email service do you use?
Are you hip with the Gmail, rolling a vintage AOL address, or self-hosting?
Following the expansion of Google's "Workspace" branding to encompass personal Gmail accounts, I've been thinking about the subject of email. Specifically, Gmail's almost total dominance in the personal email provider market. These days it's even a little weird to see someone with a personal Yahoo or iCloud address; Gmail is so prevalent. While I know our readers are likely to slant to the Googly-end of most product spectrums, I'm curious to know how many of our readers use other email services and which.
This time last year, technology promised a short-term solution to make a dent in the expanding COVID-19 pandemic: Contact tracing apps. By keeping track of who was near who when, it was thought that people could be notified if they came into contact with someone that was sick, and exercise more care themselves to reduce the spread of the virus. So, did you ever install one?
Weekend poll: When was the last time your phone overheated — if ever?
How's it handling this heat wave?
Summer is nearly upon us, but the northeast's record-setting heat wave this weekend might have you convinced it's already here, calendar be damned. As we spend more time outdoors, it's not just sunscreen you need to worry about; your smartphone can also get pretty toasty. So, when was the last time your phone overheated?
Weekend poll: What software did your phone run before you switched to Android?
Or did your mobile experience begin with it?
It almost seems like Android has been around forever, but that's not the case. The HTC Dream/G1 was only released in 2008, and while some of our younger audience may have been "born" into Android, many of us switched to it from something else. Looking back, which software platform did you last use before coming to these greener, bugdroid-laden pastures?
Google I/O is planned for this week. And, if history is any indicator, it's pretty likely we'll see the first Android 12 beta land sometime during I/O, potentially delivering the first Android 12 builds for third-party, non-Pixel phones. Given both what we've already seen and the rumored visual redesign, Android 12 looks like it will be one of the biggest updates in memory. So, are you going to try Android 12 before its released to stable later this year, or are you leaving that to the early adopters?