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Google started talking about Digital Wellbeing last year at Google I/O, but the feature never appeared in any of the pre-release Android P builds. Eventually, its surfaced as a beta feature on Pixel phones running Pie. Digital Wellbeing has slowly branched out to Android One phones, and the Galaxy S10 is supposed to have it as well. The next target, the Moto G7.
Nintendo's wildly successful Switch console is a hybrid—part handheld and part big screen gaming. Inside, it has hardware that many Android fans will recognize as being very tablet-like. Nintendo doesn't use Android on the Switch, but an independent project is working to make that possible. There's now a very early build of Android Q up and running on the device.
Fitbit launched the Versa in March last year, and it was a better product than the company's first smartwatch. While it had a bit of an Apple Watch vibe, the Versa was a capable fitness-oriented smartwatch. We have yet to see a followup to Fitbit's first watch (the Ionic), but it looks like a Versa successor is nearing release. A new leak shows off the watch in four snazzy colors.
Samsung just got done showing off its first foldable phone, and Huawei is looking to take some wind out of its sails. A banner going up ahead of Huawei's Mobile World Congress event appears to show off the company's first foldable phone, which it calls the Mate X.
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Motorola announced the G7 several weeks back but it didn't have a firm release date at the time. Well, now things are clearer. Motorola will happily take your money for the G7 today, but pre-orders won't ship for a couple more weeks.
Mobile World Congress is just a few days away, and Sony will be on hand to announce four new phones. How do we know? All of them have been leaked with spec sheets and press renders. Sony's 2019 lineup will consist of the 1, 10 Plus, 10, and L3.
TCL's Alcatel brand is about to get a raft of new phones, according to the latest leak from Evan Blass. Alcatel doesn't trade in high-end phones or innovative designs, but it does make a lot of cheap phones. Of course, that means you're going to forget about these new devices almost immediately after they're announced.
We all wish our phones could do more from time to time, but you can't just add new features without buying a new device, right? Oh, you're forgetting about Moto Mods. You can add new hardware capabilities to your phone like a speaker, a zoom camera, or projector. It changed everything... actually, that's wrong. Smartphones are largely the same as they were in 2016, but Motorola is still at least going through the motions to pretend Mods are a good idea. The evidence is unavoidable at this point: they're not.Here we are almost three years after Moto's Mod platform launched, and Motorola has yet to offer any truly innovative Mods. In fact, Motorola's slavish commitment to modularity means that its phones have been stuck in 2016. At a time when smartphone design is getting downright boring (how many flat, glass slabs have we seen?), Motorola has managed to make modular smartphones even more yawn-inducing than phones that come in one piece.
Samsung is no stranger to true wireless earbuds, but its first attempt attracted widespread derision for the pitiful battery life. The second-gen IconX did better, but the price tag was high at $200. Now, the Galaxy Buds are launching alongside the Galaxy S10 with a surprisingly reasonable price. These earbuds are coming March 8th for $129.
Samsung just unveiled the much-anticipated Galaxy S10, but the company hasn't completely forgotten its two-generation old flagship. The Pie update has reached the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but only if you're in Europe.
Microsoft recently made some changes to the "Task view" in Windows 10. As of the Spring 2018 update, it includes Windows Timeline. As the name implies, it shows a timeline of recent activities on your computer and connected Microsoft services. Now, you can add Chrome tabs to the list thanks to Redmond's new Web Activities extension. Just install this, and your Chrome tabs will sync to Windows Timeline and other products like Microsoft Launcher for Android.
Samsung is in the midst of a big software redesign on its Android devices. Little by little, the company's phones are getting the Pie update, and with that comes OneUI. It's also rolling out new official apps to go with it, like the latest update to Galaxy Apps. Oops, that's "Galaxy Store" now.
Remember the days when you could use any high-end smartphone to play games? Yeah, it seems like a lifetime ago. Now, you obviously need one of these glowing "gaming phones" to play PUBG or Fortnite. There's a new one available today—the Nubia Red Magic Mars that launched in limited numbers last year is available for purchase. It offers a lot of powerful hardware for the price, but it does have an... interesting aesthetic.
As you're probably aware, there are some pre-release builds of Android Q floating around out there. We've gotten some tidbits detailing potential features from those builds like a system-wide dark mode and a possible desktop UI. Now, XDA claims to have spotted the best change yet: Google could make a long overdue improvement to gesture navigation by killing the back button.
Nearly every company in the world that has anything to do with mobile accessories will make a case for the upcoming Galaxy S10, but Samsung will have its own first-party cases, too. Samsung's phone cases are usually very nice, but the LED cover looks pretty tacky in the latest leak. It has an "Emotional LED Lighting Effect" on the back because why not?
We're approaching the spring phone season, so last year's latest and greatest devices are starting to see substantial discounts. Well, the G7 started seeing substantial discounts not long after launch, but now they're more substantial. This phone is down to $429.99 at B&H, which is $100 cheaper than late last year and more than $300 off the launch price.
Google Assistant can do a lot of awesome things, but that list would be much shorter without developer support. That's what Actions on Google is all about—it helps developers integrate apps and services with Assistant. Thus, you can shout at your phone and smart speakers more often. Now, developers can start supporting the Chinese (traditional) language in their Actions.
The odds are good that you sign into a Google account as soon as you turn on a new phone. What if you don't, though? Well, none of the Google apps on your phone will work, and that includes the Play Store. Thus, pre-installed apps are cut off from updates. Google is looking to change that soon.
Ring is rolling out a new crime-fighting initiative today as part of its Neighborhoods portal, which was previously only open to users. Now, Ring has a special version of Neighborhoods for law enforcement, allowing officers to see local alerts from Ring users and request access to your videos. The facts of this story are less crazy than some of the headlines would lead you to believe, but there are still a number of troubling aspects.
Nest launched its home security bundle at $500 a while back, which was pretty tough to justify. It has since come down $100, and today it's on sale for $100-120 less than that. Plus, you can get those spendy all-in-one Nest Detect sensors for an all-time low price of $39.