About Karandeep Singh
Karandeep has been with Android Police as a freelance writer since 2019, covering reviews for India, buyer’s guides for the US, and handy tutorials for everyone. He cares more about the impact of technology on people’s everyday lives than the superfluous features companies keep adding each year, which is central to his reviews and product recommendations.
In his previous life, he worked with Android Headlines to cover everything Android. He also wrote and edited for a handful of publications in India during his writing journey, which started in 2014. Ever since his first Symbian phone that had the iconic Ovi store to download apps, he has stuck to Android phones and is currently using a OnePlus Open. In his free time, he’s usually busy clearing his ever-growing backlog of movies and TV shows or tracking down an eatery he hasn’t been to yet. Chats about food go to Twitter DM and everything tech to karandeep (at) androidpolice (dot) com.
Latest Articles
Sony's sporty WF-SP800N wireless earbuds are water resistant and support ANC
Yet another true wireless option in Sony’s roster
Sony may have announced and discontinued a zillion truly wireless earphones since the category’s inception, but it seems nowhere close to being content. Each of its newer pairs uses a slightly different combination of the company’s proprietary sound and noise-canceling tech than the previous model and calls it a day. The latest to join the company's portfolio are the WF-SP800N earbuds that sit closer to the premium WF-1000XM3 — both in terms of features and price.This pair borrows a lot of features from its higher-end sibling; the biggest one of all is digital noise cancellation and the Ambient Sound Mode. The former is pretty self explanatory, and the latter has made its way into recent Sony headphones to help keep you aware of your surroundings. On top of that, Adaptive Sound Control automatically tinkers with ambient sound setting based on your current activity and location, if saved in the companion app.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKNluxnSmF8[/EMBED_YT]Sony’s WF-SP800N are high-end earbuds that are IP55 rated to survive your workout sessions. Each earbud can receive an individual audio stream from the source device, has touch controls, and lets you talk with your phone’s voice assistant. Sony claims that with noise-canceling turned off, these earbuds can last for an impressive 13 hours, with the case providing juice for another round. And with ANC turned on, the battery life drops to 9 hours, which is still quite decent. Plus, a quick 10-minute top-up can last you an hour.Sony has priced the pair at $200, even though they’re supposed to succeed the older $130 WF-SP700N. The manufacturer’s highest-end WF-1000XM3, on the other hand, officially cost $230, though they lack any kind of splash resistance. You can pick the WF-SP800N up in shades of black, white, blue, and orange from BestBuy and Amazon right away.Source: Sony (1), (2)Buy: BestBuy, Amazon
Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 10 5G and budget wireless earbuds land in India
Accompanied by the Android TV-powered Mi Box 4K
Xiaomi’s extensive reach in the Indian smartphone market is largely due to its entry and mid-tier phones popularized under the Redmi sub-brand. The company did branch out to budget flagships with the Mi Mix 2, Poco F1, and the Redmi K20 Pro in the last couple of years, but it kept this crucial market devoid of a real flagship. That changes now as Xiaomi has introduced its premium Mi 10 5G in India, along with a pair of truly wireless earbuds and a 4K Android TV box.
LG reveals Velvet's price ahead of official launch
Specs, accessory details, and renders already officially shared ahead of launch
Read update
LG’s troubled smartphone business seems to be taking a few marketing lessons from OnePlus in the hopes of building up a little buzz once again. The company has been dropping some key features of its upcoming LG Velvet over the last week or so, weeks before the phone’s official unveiling on May 7. In its latest update, LG gives away a few more details about the handset, including its local availability date, possibly leaving only pricing for the actual announcement.
YouTube’s recent free Nest Mini offer was sent out erroneously
When April Fools' is a month too late
Google generously handed out Home and Nest Minis to its YouTube Premium subscribers through the last quarter of 2019. The campaign spread outside the US and was well received all over, because who doesn’t like free stuff? YouTube recently started showing a similar promo to some of its paid users, only this time, the redemption process led to a dead end.
Samsung halts monthly Galaxy S8 updates, moves phone to quarterly releases
Joined by other A-series mid-rangers from this year
Samsung’s once-flagship Galaxy S8 series turned three following the recent launch of the Galaxy S20 line. While the company usually commits to two years of regular OS and security updates for its high-end models, the releases start to get a bit more infrequent after that. That's just what's happening now to the manufacturer's 2017 Galaxy flagship.
OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro update improves camera 'dirt detection,' no black crush fix yet
A May update was expected to address the issue, but this doesn't appear to be it
While otherwise outstanding, OnePlus’s latest flagship pair was shipped with some software bugs and display-related issues, as pointed out in our reviews. The company has so far fixed a few of those initial hiccups via a couple of pre- and post-release updates. While we're still waiting on a few fixes, a new OxygenOS update is rolling out to both the 8 and 8 Pro, bringing along a handful of general fixes and improvements — though the so-called "black crush" screen problem remains as-is.
The Redmi Note 9 and Mi Note 10 Lite are Xiaomi's latest take on budget phones
In case their standard siblings weren't cheap enough
Xiaomi’s widely popular budget lineup is a complex nexus of sub-brands, rebrands, variants, and configurations. Just look how the recent Redmi Note 9 Pro series is sold under different names with slightly varying specs in many parts of the world, and the Poco X2 is a rebranded Redmi phone. Further adding to the muddle, the manufacturer just announced the non-Pro Redmi Note 9 along with a cheaper Lite variant of the Mi Note 10 line, which debuted in November.
Google Home testing separate Assistant voice volume setting
Please stop shouting at me, Google
One of the longstanding demands of Google Home users, myself included, has been the ability to control Assistant’s volume independently of the music’s. A new setting has started appearing for iOS users that lets you tweak the volume of your Assistant's voice — but it doesn't really work yet.
Weather Underground’s Play Store rating has plummeted since v6 was released (Update: Correction)
Recent updates have improved the situation but users still aren’t happy
Read update
Not too long ago, the weather app Dark Sky saw its Play Store ratings decimated overnight after its acquisition by Apple and the subsequent scrapping of the Android app was announced. Another popular meteorological app is seeing a similar trend for its app ratings, although for entirely different reasons. Instead of improving the user experience, a recent major update to Weather Underground monumentally degraded the app by dropping several basic and prominent features.
First-gen Samsung Galaxy Buds gain some features from Buds+ with latest update
Spotify integration and Microsoft Swift Pair now on board
Samsung is one of the only other phone makers that makes worthy alternatives to Apple's AirPods, taking cues from their seamless pairing process. The first-gen Galaxy Buds were a stepping stone in that direction, with the newly released Buds+ building upon their predecessor to iron out some of the lingering flaws and add a few new features. Samsung is now bringing some of those enhancements to its older pair through a software update, extending their shelf life a bit.
The OnePlus 5 and 5T get their first Android 10 Open Betas
Right on track with their rollout schedule
OnePlus’s entire lineup of phones released in the last couple of years is now running Android 10 with an updated version of OxygenOS. With that job done, the company is now shifting its focus to the previous-gen 5-series phones. Within days of halting the Open Betas for the OnePlus 6 and 6T for good, the company has opened the program for the OnePlus 5 and 5T, keeping up with its original release plan for the two 2017 flagships.
The best value smartphones you can't get in the United States
Samsung, Xiaomi, and Realme offer more bang for your buck in other regions
OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro get camera cutout battery indicators courtesy of Energy Ring
The first phones outside the Galaxy family to get Energy Ring support
Energy Ring is a fun way to put the unsightly hole-punch cameras on smartphone screens to better use, turning them into battery indicators. But the app maker’s close association with Samsung flagships so far, possibly due to their enormous global userbase, has meant that other phone users felt left out. In a change of course, the super customizable app is putting an end to this exclusivity, and is now adding support for its first non-Samsung phones: the newly announced OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro.
Microsoft Your Phone's drag-and-drop file sharing is now rolling out widely
Was previously only available to Windows Insiders
Read update
The Your Phone app from Microsoft is a powerful productivity tool that bridges the gap between Windows and Android for cross-platform interaction. While the basic suite is open to most Android handsets, Microsoft tends to favor Samsung phones with newer features, and such was the case with RCS messaging and screen mirroring. Your Phone is now adding drag and drop for files, which, you guessed it, will again be available exclusively on a handful of Galaxy models.
Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 rumors hint at big upgrades
Could the next folder really get the S Pen and a 120Hz screen?
The first folding-screen Galaxy got off to a rough start when many units started failing left and right, halting its retail release for several months. It didn't turn out to be a smash hit even later, mainly due to its sky-high pricing. Samsung’s reincarnated flip phone for 2020 wasn’t a true successor to the Galaxy Fold, but it did help iron out some of the initial design complications and helped make foldables more affordable. Now a new report claims that the second generation of Samsung's ultra-premium foldable would take cues from both the Galaxy Z Flip and the recent S20 line.
The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro are priced up to $220 less in India than the US
There’s also a more affordable OnePlus 8 model with 6GB of RAM
As OnePlus phones begin to gain feature parity with many mainstream flagships from the likes of Samsung, their prics have inevitably gone up too — the top configuration of the OnePlus 8 Pro hits the $1000 mark in the US while even the cheaper model starts at $700. In the Indian market, which has the biggest OnePlus userbase, that price tag would be far too high to be competitive, and therefore prices start much lower. In addition, the company also plans to bring a more affordable RAM option for the already economical OnePlus 8.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite Android 10 rollout resumes with broader availability
The first release was halted following widespread reports of bricked phones
Read update
Xiaomi doesn’t have the strongest presence in the Android One space, while most of its popular handsets run a heavily customized (and better supported) software skin. The Chinese company has a habit of running into trouble when updating its Mi A-series phones with the latest Android builds,sometimes causing more problems than they fix in the first place. Hot on the heels of the Mi A3 fiasco just last week, a new Android 10 update for Mi A2 Lite is similarly up to no good, with word of it bricking handsets.
If you're running out of things to watch and aren't interested in spending on a Netflix subscription, you can still access some of the service's excellent documentary films on YouTube, totally free of charge. As we all cope with the ongoing coronavirus situation, some companies are extending free services to both those working from home and those binging shows all day long. Netflix has now joined the growing list, as it has made some of its popular documentaries available for free.
Google Drive’s built-in document scanner gets a Material Design facelift
The easy-to-use scanner just got better
While there are a ton of apps that let you make a nice clean PDF file from your physical documents, or save a digital copy of your receipts, why dig through third-party apps when there's a scanner built right into Drive? For one, the Google app comes pre-installed in nearly all Android phones, so you don’t need to download anything extra, and it’s a one-stop solution to scan and directly upload the file to Drive. Following the Drive app's Material makeover, Google is now introducing a similar iconography for its scanning interface.
Google and Apple want to make SMS-based 2FA easier and more consistent
The idea is to bring uniformity and curb SMS-based phishing
Both Android and iOS have a couple of solutions baked in to let apps automatically verify your phone number through a single-use passcode sent over SMS. Earlier this year, Apple proposed to standardize the format of these messages to make the process even more seamless. After joining hands with Apple over their contact-tracing tool, Google is now backing Apple's proposal to make SMS OTPs (one-time passcodes) a tiny bit more secure and easier to use.