Latest Articles
Android Studio Hedgehog is here to help polish apps for Android 14
The latest version of Android Developers’ IDE is now stable
Android would be nothing without all the apps available for the mobile operating system. Google can’t solely rely on its first-party services to fill all use cases. To make the process as easy as possible for everyone building Android apps, the company offers Android Studio as its official Integrated Developer Environment (IDE). The latest version, Android Studio 2023.1.1 Hedgehog, is now rolling out in stable.
Popular Inbox replacement Shortwave has new paid plans, and they're mostly good news
Three new tiers make it easier to pick the feature set you actually need, but there's a new restriction for the free plan
It’s been over four years since Google shut down Inbox, its alternative Gmail interface that essentially turned your emails into an intelligently bundled and ordered to-do list. Many companies have since tried to replicate the experience, but the closest so far is likely Shortwave. The service was built by former Google employees who set out to improve the way we handle emails, and it shows. About two years after its launch, the company has now announced big changes to its paid offer. Depending on your needs, it’s good news.
Google Messages gets a bunch of iMessage-like features to celebrate 1 billion RCS users
Photomoji, voice moods, screen effects, custom bubbles, profiles, and more
Google hasn’t taken its chat apps seriously for a long time, but things are looking different with Messages. The company hit the right nerve with the open RCS protocol, which is interoperable with many other apps (including iMessage, coming in 2024), much like the ancient SMS standard. The company has announced that it now has one billion active RCS users on Messages, and it’s celebrating this milestone with a grab bag full of new features.
Google's December Android feature bundle is here, and it’s a big one
Looks like the Feature Drop branding is now exclusive to Pixel phones
December is coming up, and as an Android fan, you know what this means: the next quarterly Feature Drop should hit phones around the world fairly soon. It looks like along with the new Android 14 release, Google switched things up a bit. The company is marketing this December Feature Drop as a “feature bundle,” likely in an effort to preserve the Feature Drop name for Pixel updates. This can only help make clearer which devices get which features, so without further ado, here's which new capabilities are coming to the Android ecosystem.
What’s new in Chrome 120: The end of third-party cookies is nigh
Chrome 120 will be the first version to start deprecating third-party cookies
Google's fast-paced Chrome releases bring an unrelenting stream of new versions to us every month, and the same is true for this month, too. Following Chrome 119's stable release at the beginning of the month, the company is now moving Chrome 120 to early stable at the very end of November. This version is packed with new features, and some of them may end up changing the way advertising works on the web forever.
Today is your last chance to save your old Google account from deletion
Google will start deleting inactive Google accounts in December, but it’s easy to prevent
As Google announced earlier this year, inactive Google accounts will be deleted starting on December 1, 2023. Google said that it will send plenty of reminders before that happens and will start with those accounts that were never used, but to be safe, you should take action before the date comes. To prevent your account from being deleted, you can simply sign in or use the account for some simple actions.
All of Android 13's themed icons we found and how to activate them
The collection of supported apps is ever growing
Themed icons used to be something only advanced users would tinker with through various third-party methods. To make things easier for everyone, Google introduced themed icons with Android 12 and incorporated their new Material You design language. The feature does what you expect while bringing broader theme support on a system level, making it simple to theme your device. It matches the app icons on your home screen with the colors of your wallpaper, even giving some Samsung phones a better look overall. This gives you a uniform, less busy look for your launcher.
Google stops using notifications to control your Cast media
The controls for your smart speakers are now located in the Android media player
Google has long been showing media notifications for audio or video playing on Cast devices — be that smart home speakers, displays, or TVs. Even though Google revamped the way media controls work on Android 11, with them now sitting in their own section separate from notifications, the company never bothered to move Cast notifications there. That’s changing now, as Google is rolling out a new version of Cast controls that sits in the dedicated Android media player.
Google Discover gets new quick-search footer bars
Google is making it easier to jump into related search terms right from Discover
Google Discover gives you a constant stream of news, content recommendations, and videos that might be interesting to you based on your browsing history. The tool isn’t great for jumping into related topics these days, though, with you having the choice of either reading the specific article in question or just scroll on. It looks like Google is experimenting with a way to discover the broader topic surrounding an article again, something that was possible already a long time ago.
Here’s what Google’s AiCore app is good for on your Pixel 8 Pro
Google might eventually run generative AI locally on its phones
Google is going all-in on AI, with the company slowly rolling out generative text and image capabilities across most of its services and devices. The same is true for its phones, which have long supported some machine learning-based capabilities. With the Pixel 8 series and their new Tensor G3 chip, Google promises to run some more advanced capabilities locally. Thanks to evidence hidden in the mysterious AiCore app, pre-installed only on the Pixel 8 Pro right now, we’ve now got some idea what capabilities Pixel phones could run on-device soon.
Google removed this long-press shortcut in Android 14, and nobody even noticed
You can no longer see app notifications right alongside their icons on your home screen
With every new Android update, Google adds a ton of new features. But the company also has a tendency to remove a function or two. Just a few years ago, Google took away a handy shortcut to the Clock app from the notification shade in Android 12 only to re-add it with Android 14 again. Well, you win some, you lose some: the new Android release removes another quick action, in a change that has somehow gone largely unnoticed until more than a month after the stable launch.
All the best smartphones have been getting a lot bigger over the past decade, but some apps still put important interface elements at the top of the screen, making it harder to comfortably reach them. This is true for the Google Search app, which offers its primary interaction element, the search bar, at the top of the display. It looks like Google is experimenting with flipping this upside down, though.
Google Drive seems to have lost some user data, reports say
Users are taking to Google’s support forums to complain
Read update
It looks like Google Drive is experiencing some issues with disappearing files. Multiple users have taken to the Google Support forum to report that they lost access to some of the files that they’ve uploaded to Google Drive, with them seemingly fully gone from the cloud service. Google recommends you don’t make any changes to your Google Drive if you’re affected while the company investigates the issue.
Google Chrome’s AI-powered tab organization is taking more shape
A loading animation and instructions spill more details about the feature
Google Chrome is one of a few places that has been spared from the company’s AI efforts such as Bard, but it won’t stay that way for long. The developers are preparing some AI features such as a way to intelligently order your tabs for you, and they are making big strides to get the option ready to launch. A new AI settings section was only spotted recently, and now, we’re seeing a few more building blocks falling into place to get AI-powered tab organization ready for launch.
This Anker USB-C charger is 45% off for Cyber Monday, and it might be the last you’ll ever need
One brick to charge them all
You probably already have a USB-C charger or two at home from back in the day when they were still bundled with your phone. It's likely fine, but it's not great. It may only be fast enough to charge small gadgets and only one at a time, forcing you to take multiple chargers to juice up all of your devices. This could change this Cyber Monday thanks to a great deal on Anker's universal Nano II 100W brick, which has enough ports and power to charge all the devices on you and in your backpack. At $41, it's 45% off its usual $75 list price.
Don't want Google's Pixel Tablet for $400? Here's why I'd buy the Nest Hub Max instead
I just want a big screen for casting content in the kitchen, and the Nest Hub Max is better for that than the Pixel Tablet
The Google Pixel Tablet wants to be both a smart display and a tablet. It's a great idea in theory, but the execution is lacking quite a bit. It's not a full replacement for a Nest Hub, and even at $400 this Cyber Monday, it's still significantly more expensive than its closest smart display relative, the Nest Hub Max. Depending on your needs with a smart display, the Nest Hub Max might be the better alternative for you, especially considering that it's only $130, thanks to one of many Cyber Monday deals.
I've tested many phones this year, and I'd buy these two in the Cyber Monday deals
The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 7a are my go-to recommendations this Cyber Monday
I've tested many phones over the past years here at Android Police, and they all offer their own unique strengths and weaknesses. In all this time, I've come to realize again and again how much I value the simplicity and elegancy of Pixel phones, though. That's not to say that I think the competition is bad. Many of the best phones of the year aren't from Google, and there are genuine reasons why to choose a, say, Samsung phone over a Pixel phone, for example – starting with the underpowered and overheating first-party Google Tensor CPUs the company began using in the Pixel 6.
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Kindle Unlimited is only $1 for your first 3 months this Black Friday
Unleash your inner bibliophile with access to an extensive library of ebooks and audiobooks
If you just got yourself a great Kindle ereader during Black Friday this year, you may already be wondering which books to read on it. Amazon’s library-style Kindle Unlimited service might just be the answer to get you started. The service normally costs $12 per month, but for the next few days, Amazon is offering Kindle Unlimited for just $1 for the first three months.
Trade up to a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro for as little as $85 this Black Friday
Now’s the time to get rid of your older headphones for something new
While Black Friday deals have been in full swing for a week, we've only now reached the date that's actually marked as such on the calendar. We've already seen a ton of great audio and earbuds deals leading up to this day, but if you're interested in Samsung's most premium earbuds on the market right now, today might be the day you should take a close look. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are down to $160, and if you have any old pair of earbuds lying around, you can get the price down to $110 on Samsung's online store. You can even get it down to $85 if you have older Galaxy Buds.
Google to let you use ‘Classic Assistant’ without Bard in the future
Bard will become an integral part of Assistant, but you’ll be able to turn it off
During the Google Pixel 8 launch, Google announced that it will make its AI chatbot Bard an integral part of its existing voice-based Assistant. However, it looks like this new Assistant with Bard will not feature all the capabilities of the original Assistant in the beginning. As such, Google appears to be working on a way to switch back to “Classic Assistant” once the new AI-powered experience rolls out.