About Rita El Khoury
Rita was a Managing Editor at Android Police. Once upon a time, she was a pharmacist as well. Her love story with Android started in 2009 and has been going stronger with every update, device, tip, app, and game. She lives in France, speaks three languages and a half, and watches a lot of TV series.
Latest Articles
JBL is bringing Google Assistant everywhere this year, from speakers to soundbars, displays, headphones, and more. The latest addition to its line-up, the JBL Link Drive, is meant to help you use Google Assistant while driving, but without taking your eyes off the road or fiddling with your phone.
It's taken us a few years, but USB-C audio products are starting to be a little easier to come by. Good, affordable in-ear sets are still limited to a few brands though, and Moshi is joining the fray with its $50 Mythro C. The company also announced the $200 on-ear Avanti C headphones.
One of the most praised midrange Chromebooks of the past couple of years is the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302. Ask several of our Android Police writers, and they'll sing you its praises for a good ten minutes, even two years after it was first announced. The world moves forward though, and now we have the C302's successor: the Chromebook Flip C434.
It's been a long road for JBL's Link Bar. First announced in May of 2018, as the first soundbar with both Google Assistant and Android TV built in, it went up for pre-order in August with an expected availability of October, but shipments were delayed and we knew it wouldn't likely come to market before 2019. We have an updated date today, as JBL has announced the Link Bar will come this Spring.
Arlo is at CES 2019 with a few interesting announcements. The security camera maker is expanding its portfolio with more integrations and a new security system.
Samsung's CES 2019 motto appears to be more openness. After the company announced that its 2019 Smart TVs will support Apple's AirPlay 2 and launch the iTunes Movies & TV Shows service, it has also revealed that its QLED 2019 models will be compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Taking a page from Oppo and OnePlus or Huawei and Honor, Xiaomi seems ready to spin its Redmi line-up into a separate, independent brand. This wouldn't be a first for the company though, as it already has the standalone Poco brand as well.
It's no secret that Google has been taking steady steps toward supporting dark mode in most of its Android apps. Over the past year, we've seen YouTube, Phone, Contacts, Messages, the Pixel Launcher, Google News, some parts of the Maps app, and more get a darker, less retina-searing, more battery-friendly theme. After hoping that Android Pie would bring a system-wide dark mode, then being disappointed that it didn't, everyone was cautiously optimistic that Q would finally be "it." We were, maybe, 90% sure, but didn't want to get our hopes up. Now, we have more reason to dream, so let's say we can raise it to 95% sure.
After seeing Google Assistant Smart Displays from Lenovo, JBL, LG, and Google, it's now time for another big electronics maker to join the fray: KitchenAid. Wait, what? OK, see, there's a simple explanation: KitchenAid is owned by Whirlpool. No, still doesn't make sense. Well, Ryne called the Lenovo Smart Display "the best new kitchen appliance since the dishwasher" and our best guess is KitchenAid read that and thought, " Nah, we can do better."
CES 2019 doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but you wouldn't know it if you checked the tech news today. Announcements have been falling left and right, and we almost missed this one from D-Link, which slipped by on Friday. The company is expanding its smart home offerings and introducing a new 5G home router.
Over the past couple of years, Nanoleaf has made a name for itself as the brand for cool, funky, unusual, and colorful smart lights. I dubbed its Aurora panels "the coolest and most extravagant smart lights you can own" when I reviewed them, and they're still just as awesome as they were back in 2017. But you can't sit still while the world moves on, so Nanoleaf is back again with the Canvas.Square tiles with multiple connection points replace the triangle ones, but the real advantage is in the touch reactivity and built-in Rhythm mode that follows your music. The Canvas are better than the Aurora in almost every way, but they're also more expensive. Read on for my full review.
Praise the update lords — Fox Now has finally issued an update to its Android TV app, more than one year after the last time it did so and rumors of it being abandoned for good. Version 3.10.0 brings the app almost up to date with its phone counterpart (which is at 3.11.5 now) and dresses it up with a new interface.
Beside being known for making affordable but good smartphones, Xiaomi has a large ecosystem of accessories and smart home products that stretch the value-for-money equation to its limit. Its latest addition is something quite universal: a power bank. But true to its name, Xiaomi's new Mi Power Bank 3 offers a lot for a very accessible, nearly unseen price.First up, the Mi Power Bank 3 supports USB-C for both input and output, at up to 45W. If you use a 10W charger, it will take about 11hrs to fill up the 20,000mAh battery capacity, but if you have a more powerful 45W charger, that time will be slashed to 4.5hrs. Beside the powerful USB-C port, there are two USB-A outputs rated at 5V/2.4A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A if only one port is used, or 5V/3A when both are.The Power Bank 3 supports pass-through charging as well, which can be very handy when you want to leave it plugged in overnight. If you connect other devices to it, it will charge them first then fill itself up.
LG is moving full steam ahead with its SmartThinQ/ThinQ AI brands and announcing more smart stuff for its CES 2019 line-up. We've already learned about its new soundbars and TVs with Google Assistant, and now the company has promised it will clear the fog off two other smart home products: a new Styler steam closet and a Smart Mirror.
Red's Hydrogen One smartphone is one of the most interesting devices launched last year, though as any first-gen eccentric product, it suffers for it on several fronts that Stephen went through in his review. However, Red isn't done with it yet. It's now teasing Lithium, a huge 3D camera rig compatible with the One, that should be coming in 2019.
Samsung, I must tip my hat to you. The company is doing a better job this year with the Pie update than it has in any year prior. After beta testing Android 9 with One UI on its Galaxy S9/S9+ and Note9 for a bit, it rolled out the stable version to the former on Christmas and updated its forecast for the latter to say it would land in January instead of February. True to its word, it didn't take more than a couple of days for this to happen.
CES officially kicks off next week, but if there's anything we know about LG, it's that the company will trickle down 90% of its announcements before the show even begins. We've already seen its three new Google Assistant-powered soundbars and now we're learning about six new TV series for its 2019 line-up, all of which will also have the Google Assistant built in.
It's been a few months since Google rolled out Android 9 Pie, which means that many OEMs with skinned UIs are gearing up to start updating their devices too. Samsung began its process with the S9 and S9+ on Christmas, and now Asus is following its footsteps with its Zenfone 5.
When we say something is available in the US, I'm sure Puerto Ricans rush to see if this means their territory is included or not, and it's probably a coin toss between both options. For the Pixel 3 line-up, those of you in Puerto Rico could not buy the phones until now, but things have finally changed for the better.
Did you get a new gadget this Christmas? Maybe it was a new Android smartphone, a Chromebook, a smartwatch, some earphones, other miscellaneous accessories like a 360-degree camera, or even a new iPad Pro. If you're scratching your head trying to figure out what to charge those new gadgets with, without taking up every wall outlet in the house, then we have just the deals for you. Aukey has discounted several of its wall chargers on Amazon, dropping their price anywhere from $7 to $17.I know you're here for the discounts so I will get to them right away: