Latest Articles
After a million leaks and rumors, the Galaxy S21 is about to be officially announced today at Samsung's first Unpacked event of 2021. The annual Galaxy S series affair, which usually takes place in February, has been brought forward a whole month this time around, likely because 2020 felt a lot longer than one single year and people need something to get excited about — or for some boring financial reason. Regardless, Unpacked in happening in less than 90 minutes and we've got the deets on when and how to watch it right here.
Anker's new ANC true wireless buds look like the ones to beat
At $130, the Liberty Air 2 Pro offer a ton of value for your moolah
After more than three years in the true wireless earbud business, Anker has established a tight grip on the low to medium end market with dozens of products populating the $20-$100 range that often out-perform their price tag. Now it's ready to tackle a more premium segment with its first active noise cancellation buds, the Liberty Air 2 Pro.The new buds are in name and form the fruits of the union between Anker's existing Soundcore Liberty Air 2 and 2 Pro, which I reviewed about a year ago and was thoroughly impressed with. The form factor is similar to the Air 2, though the case and design are more reminiscent of the 2 Pro. They also inherit the latter's 11mm drivers, but with an improved tuning to make the music sound as true to the original material as possible.
2020 has been a standout year in more ways than one. On personal, national, and global levels, many of us have faced hardships and had to adapt to new realities and life-altering changes. On this day, though, I'd like to put the negative thoughts aside and focus on what has kept us rolling here at Android Police despite it all.
Tip: Google Assistant 'call' commands are contextual, and work in WhatsApp and Duo
Only on the new Assistant, though
The new minimal Google Assistant that launched with the Pixel 4 (and is now available on the 4a, 4a 5G, and 5 too) has several tricks up its sleeve. It can answer contextual commands inside Chrome and reply to messages in apps like WhatsApp and Messages, among other features, but what we didn't know is that its call placing abilities are also dependent on the app you're using.
Google Home app rolls out a better and cleaner UI for routines
It has the new sunrise and sunset routines
Google Home and Assistant routines have improved quite a bit since their launch in 2018. We started with six preset routines then got customization and scheduling, workday organization, home/away presence sensing, and just yesterday discovered sunrise and sunset routines. Turns out that functionality is part of a huge routines overhaul that brings the look of the feature more in line with Google's recent design language. Functionally, though, I'm sad to say not much has changed besides the new sunrise/sunset options.
Google Photos integrates your Maps timeline for a better look at your path through the world
Perfect for travel, day trips, hikes, and other fun excursions
Showing pics on a map had been a longstanding request for the Google Photos team — someone even made a third-party app for it — until Google finally rolled it out along with the redesigned three-tabbed Photos redesign. While this new interface was perfect for spotting all the world's nooks and crannies where you've shot pics, it didn't tell the full story of your journey from one spot to another. Now, Photos has integrated Maps' timeline, letting you see how you traveled throughout each day and where your pics were snapped.
Files by Google gets gestures for volume and brightness control (Update: Double-tap to seek)
No pinch to zoom, though
Read update
One of the things that first struck me about MX Player, when I tried it out many years ago, was its swiping gestures on each side of the screen. Instead of looking for physical volume buttons or pausing the video to find the brightness controls on my phone, a simple swipe would adjust those without skipping a second. These same gestures are now available in Android's built-in video player.
Android 11's media controls can be completely dismissed after the December patch
A bit more granular control
With Android 11, Google revamped media controls by introducing a unified design in a central place — in the notification drop-down, below the quick settings toggles — and letting most apps use it by default, whether they're playing music or videos. Beta after beta, the design and functionality improved, and the ability to swipe the controls away was added, but that only hid them by dropping them lower. With the December patch and Feature Drop, you can finally remove the media controls for good when you're done listening.
YouTube Music starts showing animated video thumbnails as you scroll (APK Download)
Thankfully you can turn it off
Media and content companies really like previewing content as you scroll through their catalogs. Someone must've decided that this was more immersive and interactive at one point and now every app does it, from Netflix to YouTube, the Play Store, your Google Discover, and more. The feature is spreading to YouTube Music, but at least it only affects video thumbnails, not regular album art. And you can turn it off, obviously.
Google Messages gets iMessage-like reactions on the web too
Like and thumbs-up without touching your phone
Earlier this year, Google began rolling out iMessage-like reactions to its own Messages app. The feature, which works for RCS chats only and lets you quickly react to a text without having to type a whole new reply, is now also available on the Messages web client so you can send the same emoji feedback from the comfort of your desk and big screen.
Google Assistant is making its way into a lot of our electronics, from home appliances to small gadgets, but until now, it has been very selective in how it slides into our ears. Most Bluetooth buds and headphones just offer a basic tap-and-hold action to activate the digital helper instead of also letting us hear incoming notifications and interact with them. That functionality remains restricted to a few select Bluetooth models, but wired headsets are now lapping them by adding proper Assistant integration with spoken notifications.
About a year ago, Google started rolling out a more graphical interface for the Play Store on Android TV with focus on content discovery, larger thumbnails, interactive backgrounds, and a modern design. Now, with the new Chromecast having launched with a new Google TV UI, that Play Store is starting to look slightly dated. To keep it fresh, Google is rolling out a minor revamp with a new toolbar, new icons, and some shuffled screens.
Nest cameras' potato video quality on mobile data seems to be fixed
Dem potatoes are bulbously clear now
Read update
If you have a Nest camera and are trying to livestream its feed or video events while on a mobile data connection, odds are you're squinting at your screen and wondering why the heck everything looks so pixelated. The issue was introduced with version 5.59 of the Nest app and didn't seem to be related to any specific camera, phone, or mobile operator. The problem is now fixed with v5.60 of the Nest app, so you can finally update and get rid of it.
Google Home routines can finally be pinned as homescreen shortcuts
Should've been there from the start
I can spend a day listing all the missing features from Google Home and Assistant routines, but there's one that seems to be the most obvious and easy to implement: homescreen shortcuts. How simple would it be to tap a button on your phone to trigger your morning or bedtime routine, instead of talking to your phone or fumbling three levels deep in the Home app to find the option? Very simple. Still, it took more than thirty months after the launch of routines and these shortcuts are finally available... well, for some users at least.
Google Assistant can now access your Calendar and Meet events from multiple accounts
It works on your phone, speakers, and displays
Checking upcoming events and meetings is one of the benefits of owning a smart speaker or display; instead of fumbling with your phone to find your calendar, you just ask a question and get all the information you need... as long as you're only using one Google account. If you have several accounts, say one for work and one personal, you have to share calendars between them to be able to check your entire schedule with Assistant. That was the case until now. Google is fixing this limitation by rolling out a new beta feature that lets you simultaneously access Calendar and Meet events in Assistant from all accounts.
Google Recorder 2.1 supports external mics and Bluetooth headsets (APK Download)
Walk away or keep your phone in your pocket without skipping a beat
Google's Recorder app has quickly become one of the best voice note recorders, thanks to instant transcription, handy editing and trimming, and Assistant integration. However, the app was only able to record audio coming into the phone's microphone, rendering it useless for anyone who often wears Bluetooth headphones and walks around leaving their phone at their desk or in their pocket. With the latest update, Recorder is now able to detect and switch to an external mic, including a Bluetooth headset.
Read update
We've known for more than a year that Google Play Music's days were numbered. Its death had even been officially announced, but it's now really, really (really) real. Google sunset the GPM app on Android and the web at the end of October, providing the knock-out blow to what has been a rather short match — and now it looks like the funeral procession has finally finished its march.
Google Photos lets you set a live wallpaper of your cool — or random — memories (APK Download)
For the adventurous ones only
Read update
Every time I open the wallpaper picker on my phone, I wonder why it doesn't let me choose a local folder or a Google Photos album as a source of pics to cycle through on my homescreen. While that functionality has yet to be added, a new integration between Photos and Android's wallpapers is live now, but it only takes input from your Memories, leaving you at the mercy of Photos' AI algorithm and what it deemed worthy of being a "Memory."
Google TV is perfect for one, but terrible for multiple users
One user gets all the benefits and all the disadvantages
When it announced the new Chromecast, Google heralded its new Google TV interface layer as an excellent content discovery experience aimed at helping you find what to watch without worrying about the logistics of the 'where' and 'how.' In many ways, the promise is fulfilled and we think you won't be disappointed at all by your $50 purchase. But if you don't live alone and have kids, a roommate, or a partner with a different taste, the experience is far from ideal. Google TV is clearly built for a single user, from the homescreen to Assistant and various other apps. You might think you can add multiple accounts, but those only work for some limited services and don't affect the overall interface. This restriction isn't new: it has existed since Android TV's inception and has yet to be removed, unfortunately.
YouTube Music is forcing Instagram and Snapchat stories icons into its share sheet for some users
Even if you don't have either of the apps installed
YouTube Music is one of many Google apps that use their own share sheet on Android. Instead of adopting the default one, they have a custom design (Photos, News, Maps, YouTube, Twitter) and can include whatever targets they want. That's why you can see your contacts in Photos, for example. But YouTube Music is taking this privilege a little far now by adding icons for Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories among your apps.