Michael Crider
Contributing since December, 2013
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3608articles
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About Michael Crider
Michael is a born Texan and a former graphic designer. He's been covering technology in general and Android in particular since 2011. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order. He wrote a novel called Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story, and it's available on Amazon.
Latest Articles
Google Voice won't forward text messages to outside numbers much longer
Call forwarding isn't affected, at least for now
The slow, painful stagnation of Google's call forwarding service continues. An update to the support text for Google Voice says that soon SMS forwarding for Google Voice will no longer operate. That will leave the Google Voice app, on your phone or the web, as the only place that they're visible. Google says that carriers are beginning to block these messages, which is, indeed, something we've observed over the last few weeks.
Samsung Internet 14 Beta adds more privacy tools, enhanced video UI for foldables
The new version is based on Chromium 87, among many other tweaks
Samsung's self-branded internet browser comes pre-installed on all its Android devices. If you've never opened it (or done so just once, and then switched to Chrome), the company is hoping you'll check it out with some new improvements. Version 14.0 is now in beta, available as a download from the Galaxy Store, Play Store, and over on APK Mirror.
Google throws the travel industry a bone by making hotel listings in Search free
Similar changes were made to flights and retailers last year
Hotels have had kind of a rough year. So has everyone, of course, but it's safe to say that the travel industry is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. That's the context Google used to announce that as of now, it's free for hotels to list specific room rates and dates in the price comparison tool at Google.com/travel.
Students can now record Google Meet classes on some Workspace Education accounts
The feature needs to be enabled by an administrator
Nothing beats a live meeting for rapid communication, even if you have to do it through a webcam. But it's also handy to have a record of what happened, especially if you know you'll be Asked Questions Later. To that end: the latest addition to Google Workspaces Education (previously known as G Suite for Education). Students can now record Google Meet sessions.
More Microsoft Office Android apps getting access to dark mode
Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are next on the list
Microsoft has been all about cross-platform compliance as of late, and nowhere is that more crucial than in the Office suite. According to a new leak, some of the Office apps available on the Play Store will soon respect Android's system-wide dark mode setting, and adjust their interfaces accordingly.
OnePlus gives gamer-focused Fnatic Mode a new identity
The licensing deal with the esports team has expired
It's been a little less than two years since OnePlus introduced Fnatic Mode on the OP7, christening its high-performance gaming mode after the pro esports team of the same name. It later spread to other models older and newer with the same label. But apparently the licensing deal between OnePlus and Fnatic has ended, and the most recent software updates have changed the label.
Howdy, all, I'm Michael. If you've been reading Android Police for a long time, you might recognize me: I was part of the team between 2012 and 2017. I used to handle AP's weekly app and game roundups. Now I'm back as the site's News Editor.I'm more or less the same flavor of nerdy as you'll find in any tech writer circle. I've been an avid Android user since I picked up a Nexus One on launch day, and I still tinker around with a custom ROM or two. (Once I upgraded to a new build of CyanogenMod on the CES show floor.) I've also been getting more into Chromebooks lately, swapping between the Lenovo Duet and the Pixel Slate, because I have a soft spot for doomed Google tablets. My daily driver at the moment is a Pixel 5.
The Asus ROG Phone 5 will have a stupid amount of RAM
A press release from a chip supplier says it's coming with 18GB
Asus has scheduled an announcement for the ROG Phone 5 tomorrow, March 9th. But one of its corporate partners has spilled the beans a little early. SK Hynix, a South Korean chip supplier, issued a press release Sunday that said it's sending its first 18 gigabyte mobile LPDDR5 RAM modules to ASUS for the new ROG Phone.
WhatsApp is still working on password-protected Google Drive backups
The encrypted backups have been coming for a long time
It's been almost exactly a year since the last time we saw leaked screenshots of an encrypted cloud backup feature for WhatsApp. Today we see a more fleshed-out version of that tool, offering a password protected backup of your messages that uploads to Google Drive on Android and iCloud on iOS. Unfortunately, there's still no indication of when it's actually going to go live.
Google TV will get kids profiles and Family Link screen time management later this month
Rollout will begin with the new Chromecast with Google TV in the US, then go international
The Chromecast with Google TV has a lot more capability than previous Chromecasts, thanks to its new Android TV-based interface. Google is looking to expand its powers further with new software updates, which should also apply to other Google TV hardware (whenever it arrives). The company announced new tools for managing what kids watch, and how long they can watch it.
Mid-range Snapdragon 775 SoC spotted in alleged Qualcomm leak
Documents indicate it is based on the same 5nm fab process as the 888
The Snapdragon 765 is a pretty great chip, combining a selection of the high-end features of Qualcomm's 800 series with a lower price that puts it on the higher end of the mid-range category. According to an alleged leak on Telegram, the next upgrade to this class will be significant. The Snapdragon 775's biggest change is a shift to the smaller and more efficient 5 nanometer fabrication process, as seen on the 888.
Upcoming Chrome test releases will have easy access to an Experiments menu
The feature was previously called Labs; tab scrolling, tab search, and a reading list are the first features highlighted in the menu
Google tries out a lot of tweaks on its early Chrome browser and Chrome OS builds, though most of it isn't immediately user-facing. In the Chrome 91 build some of those changes will be more obvious thanks to the Experiments menu, previously called Labs. You can find it by clicking the beaker icon that's now next to your user icon in the menu bar, and it's now enabled by default on Canary.
Razer's Bluetooth glasses are cheaper than Bose's and come with interchangeable lenses
They cost $200, and you can get prescription lenses if you want
If I told you that Razer is making something it calls "smart glasses" (and if you were a cynical and jaded follower of tech news), you might ask, "but where do the RGB lights go?" The answer is nowhere. Surprisingly, Razer's new Anzu smart glasses don't feature any. They're essentially a riff on Bose's Bluetooth audio sunglasses, and they don't feel especially gamer-focused.
Google's uncertainty over October Cloud conference means in-person I/O probably isn't happening
Not that you were really expecting it anyway
The COVID-19 pandemic isn't over, even though a lot of people are pretending it is. But in October it might be, at least in a lot of places, thanks to rapid vaccine deployment. Google doesn't know whether travel will be safe by then, so it's hedging its bets with the Cloud Next '21 conference. It's definitely happening, but whether it will be in person or online is still up in the air.
T-Mobile introduces employer-managed 5G internet for home office workers
The company is also debuting a suite of collaboration tools that sync across devices
With high speeds, low latency, and frequencies that work best in dense urban areas, 5G has often been touted as a wireless alternative to conventional internet systems. T-Mobile is putting its money where its mouth is by announcing a business class option for its home internet service. The system is similar to its current home internet offerings, but managed and paid by an employer rather than the end user, and packing a few more security tools.
Samsung talks up what its next-gen ISOCELL camera sensors mean for smartphone image quality
The new material will allow Samsung to cram in more megapixels
It's fair to say that cameras are the point of fiercest competition in high-end smartphones, with Google, Samsung, and Apple constantly one-upping each other. Samsung is showing off its latest innovation, which it calls ISOCELL 2.0. The improved image sensor cells will allow more light to be isolated in each chamber.
Alphabet X leak details Project Wolverine super-hearing gadget
The technology would allow you to isolate speech from one speaker among many
It's been a while since we've seen a really out-there device come from Google, along the lines of Project Ara or Google Glass. A new leak from the X division of Google's (technical) parent company Alphabet certainly qualifies. According to the unconfirmed report, "Project Wolverine" is a device that lets the user isolate audio to focus on a specific person or source.
Major leak reveals new affordable Sonos Bluetooth speaker in full
It'll use Bluetooth for your phone and Wi-Fi for connecting to a standard Sonos system
Sonos speakers are highly regarded, but they don't come cheap. The company's least expensive product is the One SL, a stripped-down model that takes the smart speaker functionality out of the One, and it's still $180. A new leak shows two firsts for Sonos: a speaker designed with throw-it-in-your-backpack portability in mind, and one that's a hair cheaper than anything else it offers.
Samsung's small, cheap, and rugged Galaxy XCover5 is now official and landing this month
Though market availability is something of a crapshoot
Yesterday we saw a couple of leaks for a new Samsung rugged phone, and whaddya know, here it is. The Galaxy XCover 5 is a smaller, cheaper entry in the tough-as-nails series, a fraction of the cost of the XCover FieldPro. And crucially, it's actually running a current version of Android.
Square just bought Tidal and your guess is as good as ours as to why
The two companies share a love of really boring logos
Square, the company that makes those little portable payment machines you use when you're in a small restaurant or paying for a caricature, is buying Tidal, that music streaming service that's obsessed with audio quality. If it seems like an odd match, consider that musicians often need to get paid in non-traditional ways—that's how it's being pitched in the official announcement, anyway.