About Manuel Vonau
Manuel Vonau is Android Police's Google Editor, with expertise in Android, Chrome, and other Google products — the very core of Android Police’s content. He has been covering tech news and reviewing devices since joining Android Police as a news writer in 2019. He lives in Berlin, Germany.
Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university career with a master's thesis titled "The Aesthetics of Tech YouTube Channels: Production of Proximity and Authenticity." His background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn't shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either.
Manuel's first steps into the Android world were plagued by issues. After his HTC One S refused to connect to mobile internet despite three warranty repairs, he quickly switched to a Nexus 4, which he considers his true first Android phone. Since then, he has mostly been faithful to the Google phone lineup, though these days, he is also carrying an iPhone in addition to his Pixel phone. This helps him gain perspective on the mobile industry at large and gives him multiple points of reference in his coverage.
Outside of work, Manuel enjoys a good film or TV show, loves to travel, and you will find him roaming one of Berlin's many museums, cafés, cinemas, and restaurants occasionally.
Latest Articles
Google Wallet adds a snazzy new card-switching animation
Swiping between cards now invokes a carousel animation for some
Google Wallet, or Google Pay before it, has largely always carried the same look, with a carousel of your payment cards at the top and a list of loyalty cards, transit passes, and tickets at the bottom. This look doesn’t look set to go away anytime soon, but Google is working on some smaller refinements. A few people are seeing a new card switching animation that seems to be rolling out slowly, at least when they've added more than one card to Google Wallet.
Google's Pixel lineup includes some of the best phones out there, and the company's Photos app is chock-full of smart and delightful editing tools, but there's still one big gap in functionality: Pixel phones don't easily let you blur sensitive stuff out before you share an image. Recently, my wife was in a rush to sell part of her wardrobe online, and she used herself to model the clothing. Wanting to preserve a little privacy, she turned to Magic Eraser to blur her face — after all, it's an eraser, so it should work in a pinch for a case like this, right?
Google Pixel 7 vs. Pixel 6a: Different price, similar experience
You won’t lose out on too much when you go for the Pixel 6a rather than the 7
When the Google Pixel 6a was first announced, we eagerly anticipated how it would stack up against the higher-end Pixel 6. Upon reviewing and comparing both models, we found very little disparity in their performance, which led us to conclude that the Pixel 6a was a more enticing investment. And to date, it remains one of the best budget Android phones. However, with the arrival of the improved but costlier Pixel 7, replacing the Pixel 6, our curiosity is once again piqued. So, does the Pixel 7 offer enough enhancements to justify the extra expense, or would you be better off sticking with the older, affordable Pixel 6a? Let's find out.
Multiple services stop working with Google Assistant despite one-year grace period
Google announced it would shut down Conversational Actions a year ago
About a year ago to the day, Google announced it would remove Conversational Actions on Google Assistant on June 13, 2023. The company pushed developers to implement App Actions with Android instead, a newer and more limited alternative. Even though developers had a year to make the switch, it looks like not all of them chose to change their implementations. Both Alarm.com and MyQ have unceremoniously left users with broken Assistant integrations, asking them to use competing assistants instead.
Big YouTube Music web redesign takes cues from Play Music
A new sidebar makes better use of space and puts search front and center, like on regular YouTube
YouTube Music was met with a lot of criticism when it was first positioned as a Google Play Music replacement, but the company managed to make the new music player better with every update. The latest tweak to YouTube Music on the web offers a throwback to Play Music by adding a new sidebar for navigation and quick access to all your playlists.
The EU threatens to break up Google over advertising dominance concerns
Google is said to abuse its position as the leader in online advertising technology
Google doesn't only make some of the best Android phones, it also dominates the online advertising space, which is where most of the company’s revenue comes from. Regulators around the world have seen issues with this unrivaled position, and now, the EU is looking to challenge the status quo. In a press release, the European Commission announced that it thinks Google has breached its antitrust rules, which may mean that the EU will force Google to sell part of its adtech business.
Google Lens can tell you what skin condition you have
Two years after a more complicated version of this was demoed at I/O 2021
Google has announced and rehashed a few Lens features today. Among them is a new option to take a picture of a skin condition and use Lens to find out what it could be. The feature is also supposed to help you describe any other quirks or oddities about your body, with Google offering lines on your nails or hair loss on your head as examples.
These 3 new Google Maps features want to help you plan your summer vacation
Glanceable directions, a wider Immersive View rollout, and more planning tools for Google Maps on the web
Google Maps is one of the most popular navigation and mapping services out there, and even if Apple Maps is a worthy competitor, Google still beats it thanks to the sheer amount of features and community-added information on its platform. With summer having all but arrived, Google is adding three more tools to help you plan your next trip. The company has announced that it’s rolling out glanceable directions, a new Recents section to Maps on desktop, and Immersive View for more locations.
Fitbit’s first Feature Drop is here with expanded exercise support and more
Google is using the Feature Drop moniker for more brands
Google finally released its quarterly feature drop for Pixel phones just a little behind schedule. This time around, the company surprised us with a new feature drop altogether. Apart from bundling its updates for Pixel phones and the Pixel Watch, the company is also launching a number of Fitbit features, rolling out from this week onwards to a variety of Fitbit’s excellent fitness trackers.
Google’s Pixel June Feature Drop is here with cinematic wallpapers and much more
New camera features, improved Google Assistant capabilities, and Google Recorder updates
Google may not publish point releases anymore (with Android 12L being the exception that proves the rule), but the company is nevertheless continuing to improve its OS year-round, particularly on its own phones like the Google Pixel 7. Every three months, Google publishes a feature drop, a collection of some bigger improvements to the system software. This is true again today, with the company releasing the June Feature Drop to all supported Pixel phones running Android 13 — a week later than usual and not on the weekday it normally does, but here we are.
Reddit blackout explained: Why subreddits have gone dark
Redditors are protesting management decisions that effectively kill third-party apps
If you're browsing Reddit today, you may have already noticed that it feels a lot emptier than usual. There may even be some subreddits you can’t visit or some links from other places that lead to now private subreddits. It's even possible that the full site is currently not working correctly for you. It's unclear what's causing this latter problem, but the former issue has manifested because there's currently a big protest underway against Reddit's corporate leadership. Here's everything you need to know about it.
Google Meet might switch to a safer interface when it spots you're walking
The new interface is as distraction-free as possible
Sometimes it’s just not possible to sit down for a Google Meet call or conference, and you’re forced to take part in a meeting while you’re on the move. Google is reportedly preparing a new mode for the Meet Android app specifically made to accommodate this use case, adding a simplified interface tailored to be usable at a glance.
Some Android 14 beta users can now create their own emoji wallpapers
Pixel Emoji Workshop wallpapers were first announced at Google I/O 2023
Google showed off only a few Android features during Google I/O 2023, but among them was the option to create and customize your own emoji wallpapers on Pixel phones. The feature has now started to roll out to those on Android 14 Beta 3, showing up as part of the Wallpaper & style settings. The wallpapers are enabled by a new app slowly becoming available on the Play Store called Emoji Workshop Wallpaper.
Android 14 Beta 3 has your back when you forget how to use gesture navigation
There is a new tutorial accessible in the system settings
Gesture navigation has been with us on Android for a few years now, but it’s clear that not everyone has made the switch yet. Android 14 Beta 3 wants to make this easier with a redesigned gesture navigation tutorial that you can even access via system settings at any time — just in case you need a refresher on how gesture navigation works.
Android 14 Beta 3 brings back a beloved Android 11 feature
You can finally jump to the Clock app via the notification shade
One of the elements in Android that Google tweaks with basically every new Android release is the notification shade. Things have slowed down a bit following the Android 12 launch, but there are still tweaks here and there. This is also true for Android 14 latest beta, Beta 3. The release finally brings back a beloved Android 11 feature: You can access the Clock app via a shortcut in the notification shade.
iOS 17 might just make iPhone owners hate green bubbles less
iPhone users can enjoy more features in their group chats with Android friends
Google has been pushing RCS as the replacement for good old text messages, but it doesn’t look like Apple has any intention to move its iMessage user base out of its walled garden. Apple seems to acknowledge that group chats between Apple and Android users are a bad experience for everyone involved, though, as the company’s new iOS 17 beta is adding some key enhancements.
Google Calendar is working on Material You widgets teased in 2021
The Google Calendar widgets are using even more Material Design 3 elements
Google Calendar got its Material You treatment with dynamic colors and new forms and shapes right alongside the Android 12 launch back in 2021. The company also added new dynamically changing widgets to the app that pull some colors from your wallpaper, but they weren’t a big change compared to what we had before. Fast-forward almost two years later, and Google appears to work on more modern looking widgets for its calendar app.
Apple's new headset still has more potential than any wearable Google ever built
Google's unpredictable shutdowns and lack of focus have always given Apple an edge
Apple introduced its new AR headset, the Vision Pro, at WWDC on Monday. With its steep $3,500 price tag and measly two hours of battery life, this is a daring product to say the least. But for as dorky as it looks and as questionable as the use case for it feels today, I still think it has a lot more potential than many products Google tried to build — and failed.
Google Photos rolls out much cleaner settings interface
The app has also started showing how much storage you save when deleting an image
Google Photos is one of the best library apps for your favorite Android phone. The service may not be fully free anymore, but it still gives you a convenient way to store, find, share, and edit your photos, with increasingly more powerful tools. This complexity that was added slowly but surely is also reflected in Photos’ settings, which is pretty cluttered and hard to dive into at a glance. Google seems to have recognized this and is rolling out a much more organized look.
Google Chrome wants to make Memory Saver’s effect clearer
The browser is working on more visual tweaks to show inactive tabs and their memory savings
Google introduced its Memory Saver to Chrome in early 2023, but the company isn’t done improving it with subsequent Chrome releases. Once turned on, the feature automatically freezes background tabs you haven’t opened in a while, leaving them visible in your tab bar to give you quick access to reload them when needed. With Chrome Canary 116, we can look forward to some much-needed visual improvements.