Latest Articles
Google could kill certain kinds of YouTube Vanced alternatives for good
The company is exploring an integrity API that could lock down WebViews with DRM, which some Vanced alternatives rely on
Last year, Google already killed YouTube Vanced for the first time. The company sent the makers of the modded, ad-free YouTube app a cease and desist letter, forcing them to shut down the project. However, eager copycats were quickly found, with new versions of Vanced making the rounds online. Since cease and desist letters are ultimately just a game of cat and mouse, Google appears to be looking into a way to stop one kind of Vanced alternatives once and for all.
Google Calendar finally shows predictive back animations for everyone, not just devs
Turns out you don’t have to enable developer options when an app uses custom animations
Google added new back animations to Android 14 that allow you to see the next step ahead of finishing the gesture. To use this, you need to activate predictive back gestures in your system setting's developer options. However, the latest update of Google Calendar makes clear that apps don't even need developer options to be enabled to display Predictive Back Gestures.
Google Pixel Watch 2 vs. Pixel Watch: It's what's inside that counts
The Pixel Watch 2 is what the first Pixel Watch should have been in the first place
The Google Pixel Watch 2 is finally here, and it’s what the first watch should have been in the first place, earning a rank among the best smartwatches out there. It offers much improved battery life, a faster and less power-hungry processor, and some key software improvements that may or may not make their way to the predecessor. At the same time, the Pixel Watch 2 looks almost exactly the same as the first Google Pixel Watch, so let’s dive into what exactly sets them apart.
Google’s Nexus 5 at 10: A glimpse into the future
The Nexus 5 was released right when Google started taking software and hardware seriously
It’s hard to believe, but the Nexus 5 is 10 years old this week. It was released on October 31, 2013, launching just about a month after the original Moto X. Google was in a weird position at the time, with the company having just bought Motorola and its own lineup of phones, all while keeping the Nexus series very much alive and well. In a sense, the Nexus 5 represented a real crossroads for Google, with the company starting to take software design and hardware ownership seriously. That pressure made the Nexus 5 one of the best phones of its time, even in a vastly different landscape from today’s best flagship phones.
iOS 17 vs. Android 14: The biggest features compared
Google is working on Android 14 QPR1, and Apple has released iOS 17.1, but which is better?
While Google only launched Android 14 in October 2023 alongside the Google Pixel 8 Pro and its smaller sibling, Apple is already one step ahead with a big update to its 2023 operating system, iOS 17.1. At the same time, Google is working on its next major update to Android 14, slated to arrive at the end of the year as the December Feature Drop. Let's look at the two operating systems and see what they focused on this year, which does what better, and if there is a clear winner.
The Google Pixel Watch 2 isn’t always charging reliably
People are taking to Reddit to share their charging woes
The Google Pixel Watch 2 is what the first Pixel Watch should have been in the first place. Its processor and battery life are much more reliable, and it retains the unique design that Google came up with for its smartwatch. Some people consider that moving from wireless charging to a four-pin connector is a step back, though, and reports on Reddit seem to support that notion. Pixel Watch 2 owners report that they’re experiencing charging issues.
Chrome finally gets its long-awaited bottom bar … on iOS
Google originally teased it on Android, but ultimately committed to iOS
Google experimented with a bottom address bar for Chrome years ago, and now, the company has finally made it official — on iOS only. Google has announced that starting today, you can optionally move the address bar from the top to the bottom. The option first showed up a few months ago, but it was still locked behind an experimental feature flag.
Google suggested that Apple pre-install its Search app on iPhones
More juicy details are coming out of the big US v. Google antitrust trial
Google Pixel phones and iPhones, as different as they may be, have one thing in common: Both don’t include any pre-installed software from third-party vendors. That’s not the case for all the best Android phones out there and definitely isn't true for Windows laptops, but it’s something you could always rely on with Apple hardware. We’ve learned that Google asked Apple to change just that as part of the big antitrust trial concerned with Google’s search dominance.
Google is making it easier to sign in to Android apps
Android’s new Credential Manager is rolling out — here’s what that means
Passkeys are the latest step forward when it comes to protecting your precious data. They’re meant to replace passwords and two-factor authentication, all in one. However, with so many different authentication options available these days, it gets harder to remember which method you’re using to sign in to which service. Google is looking to combat this problem on Android with its new Credential Manager, an API developers can use to automatically guide you to the right login method in their apps.
While the official Reddit app offers a serviceable way to browse the social network, its many flaws led to third-party apps offering a better experience. However, due to the API fee changes, many have shut down, reducing the selection available to users.
Google Pixel 7a vs Pixel 7: Seeing double
The Pixel 7a and 7 have more similarities than differences
Google Pixel 7 might not be the most powerful Pixel phone you can buy, but if you're considering the company's latest budget powerhouse, the Google Pixel 7a, it's the most similar device on the market. The Pixel 7 offers a wealth of powerful features, but the Pixel 7a offers a near-identical experience alongside significant savings.
Google Chrome will let you save YouTube video frames
Google already added the option to copy frames, but saving is more convenient in many cases
Google Chrome is chock-full of features these days, with some of them becoming increasingly specific. For example, you can easily copy individual frames from YouTube videos via the right-click menu. Google is now working on expanding this functionality with the option to save video frames, skipping a few steps compared to the old method.
Google Chrome releases: What's new in every version
A central hub for all the things that have changed in Chrome
Google Chrome is probably the browser everyone is using. When it launched back in 2008, it was lauded as a super-small, resource-saving program that wasn't even feature-complete, but that has long changed. After its long and winding march to market domination, the browser received more features, grew in size, and is now known as an absolute resource hog and data collection engine.
Google Maps makes its new colors official and brings Immersive View to routes
There are tons of AI highlights coming to the Maps app, too
Google Maps is invaluable when you need to get around town and while you’re on vacation. The increasing complexity of the tool can make it harder to wrap your head around it, though. Google has announced it's combating this with the help of a big redesign and AI, bringing more contrast to its maps and making it easier to find specific things to do. It’s also finally rolling out Immersive View for Routes, first teased during Google I/O this year.
What’s new in Chrome 119: Saving and syncing tab groups
Tab groups are becoming more and more useful
Following right in Google Chrome 118's footsteps, the next Chrome release is here in early stable, as Google announced in its Chrome releases blog: Chrome 119. Due to a change in the company's schedule, this version is reaching us much earlier than it usually does, with only three weeks between it and its predecessor. Nevertheless, there are a few interesting changes in this release, and we'll dive into everything you need to know here.
Android 13: News, features, and everything you need to know
The 2022 OS came with some much-needed refinements
Android 13 was released in August 2022 and became available on all the best phones over time, including the flagship Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro, which were both launched with it preinstalled. The release is as good as obsolete due to its successor, Android 14, which launched in October 2023 and offers thoughtful enhancements to a solid existing system. It's slowly making its way to all recent Android phones. You might still want to learn everything there is to know about Android 13 and all the quarterly feature drops it received while it was still getting new updates.
Google Tensor G3: The complete guide to the Pixel 8's custom chip
Google's custom silicon goes big on AI features
Tensor is Google's custom processors for its Pixel phone and tablet lineup. The original Tensor chipset made its debut on the Pixel 6 series in 2021. The company followed up a year later with the much-improved Tensor G2 that still powers big chunks of the company's lineup, including the Google Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.
Chrome 120 makes its transparent navigation bar ready for prime time
Google has fixed lingering issues with Chrome displaying content behind the navigation bar
All the way back in Android 10 in 2019, Google introduced its full gesture navigation system with a single bar at the bottom of the screen to indicate multitasking and home gestures. Since then, it’s best practice to draw content behind this navigation bar rather than adding another non-transparent bar behind it. Google itself is pretty slow to adapt this change in its own apps to this day, four versions later on Android 14, with only a handful fully supporting this more immersive look. The latest experimental Chrome version finally joins this exclusive club.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro needs some extra smarts to reliably measure body temperature
You can experiment with reading your body temperature on the Pixel 8 Pro ahead of the FDA approval, but results fluctuate widely
The Google Pixel 8 Pro’s most controversial feature is likely its temperature sensor, which seems like an idea someone had at the height of the pandemic and then nobody stopped to think if it’s still necessary in 2023. On top of this, this feature isn’t FDA-approved yet, meaning it can't officially read your body temperature. When you attempt to measure your skin temperature right now, you’ll notice that it’s far below regular body temperature. There is a trick you can try right now to get an approximation of your body temperature even before the FDA approval, though the results have us scratching our heads even more.
The Google Pixel 8's new multi-language dictation is less than perfekt
The Pixel 8's local multilingual dictation is better than the competition, but voice typing in general leaves a lot to be desired
Google is priding itself for its impressive machine-learning capabilities, particularly when it comes to breaking down and optimizing large models enough to run them locally on phones. The new Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro are chock-filled with new features in this field. The one that stood out to me immediately was the addition of advanced local voice dictation for multilinguals, a feature that was previously restricted to single languages on the Pixel 6 and 7.