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Google Pixel 5a vs. Apple iPhone SE 2022: Which should you buy?
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
Not everyone can or wants to spend the extra cash for a thousand-dollar phone — frankly, the difference might not be worth it unless you need specific features you need. The Google Pixel 5a has been the Android Police choice for best sub-$500 smartphone, but if you're considering a switch to iOS (or simply don't care what software your phone runs), there's Apple's new 5G-equipped, mid-range iPhone SE to consider as well.
Smart home company Insteon finally breaks silence after turning off the lights on users
Tell us you're out of business without telling us you're out of business
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One of the biggest fears you can have when you start to invest in smart home gadgets (outside the concern of privacy invasion) is, "what happens if the brand I chose ends support or shuts down?" For customers of Insteon, this is a fear that's just been made all too real. Following a sudden shutdown of the company's forums and the suspicious distancing of key executives (including the president and chairman of Insteon's parent company), Insteon has finally issued a statement that seems to confirm that it's going out of business.
Google Fi's subtle new Material You redesign is starting to land
Fi's Material You changes are so small, you might not notice them.
You should already know what Google Fi is, but whether you're a subscriber to Google's MVNO service or not, its Android companion app is finally catching up to other Google apps with its own Material You layout. It's not a total redesign (if that's what you were hoping for), with the app merely picking up support for dynamic color theming and small changes to the navigation bar interface.
The Pixel Watch could be Google's last chance to get Wear OS right
Another half-baked product with the Pixel name would be a nail in Wear OS's coffin
Few superfans have been treated worse over the years than folks who fly the Wear OS flag. The strong and passionate core that’s stuck by Google’s harebrained wearable efforts has suffered years of indignities and indifference, with many waiting and hoping for a “holy grail” in the form of a Google-made Pixel smartwatch. Recent leaks indicate it’s finally going to happen, but this is a make-or-break moment, and Google can’t afford to mess things up — as it has with so many of its recent hardware products.
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iPhone SE (2022) review: An easy Android off-ramp
But there are better mid-range Android phones than the new iPhone SE for the same price (or less)
The new 2022 iPhone SE 5G may fill a necessary niche on carrier shelves, but throws the concept of mid-range value out of whack. With a decade-old design, too little base storage, proprietary charging, and a limiting camera, iOS isn't even its biggest problem for customers coming from an Android phone. At the right price, the new SE would be easier to recommend, but there are better Android phones out there for your money.
Cult-favorite Paranoid Android ROM has big OTA update dreams, but the project could die without donations
AOSPA held back "stable" releases pending OTA update support, but now they're out of money
The popular Paranoid Android ROM lives on, with beta versions of an Android 12.1/12L-based Sapphire release expected to start landing for some supported devices as early as this week. As part of the announcement, friend of the site and Paranoid Android developer Hernán Castañón explained some of the difficulties the project currently faces and why we never saw any "stable" releases for the ROM over the last two years. In short, the project held back the "stable" label pending a functional OTA system, but a lack of cash prevented that from happening. Now the project could use your donations to help build the system — and, without the money, it might not last the month.
The iPhone 14 might catch up to Samsung when it comes to one selfie-camera feature
Leak indicates the iPhone 14 will pick up autofocus on its front-facing camera
There are a lot of little ways that Apple is seen as "ahead" when it comes to software and hardware features, and in the same vein, there are ways that some see Android devices as having an edge. These kinds of features tend to even out over time, but according to a recent leak by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's next iPhones might catch up to Android phones like the Galaxy S22 series (and even the 2018-era Pixel 3) when it comes to one feature: the front-facing camera.
The Pixel 6 isn't selling very well at carriers, even with high salesperson kickbacks
A new report from Wave7 claims the Pixel 6 can't cut it on carrier shelves
The Pixel 6 series isn't selling very well at carrier stores, according to a new report by Wave7. Detailed by PCMag (the report doesn't appear to have been published publicly), Google has resorted to strong "spiff" promotions to incentivize salespeople at Verizon to sell the phone, with one Wave7 representative blaming the phone's reputation for bugs and performance issues as a limiting factor.
Premium Google One subscribers can get a free Titan 2FA key
For a limited time, the benefits of paying for a big Google One storage plan include a hardware-enhanced security key
Once in a while, Google gives One subscribers perks for coughing up the extra dough for paid storage. If you're in the US and have one of the "premium"-labeled 2TB+ plans, you may be eligible to claim a free two-factor Titan Security key, though "standard" 200GB plan subscribers are out of luck.
The Pixel 6a might not inherit the Pixel 6's Motion Mode photos
A bit of code in the Pixel Tips app indicates the feature may not be supported on the Pixel 6a
Although the Google Pixel 6a will share some of its hardware with Google's Pixel 6 flagships, at least one camera feature won't be trickling down to the mid-range phone. According to a recently discovered code snippet, the Pixel 6a may not support the Pixel 6's photo Motion Modes to capture moving objects with blurring effects.
Steam on Chrome OS explainer dashes hopes of easy modding (Update: Maybe not)
The Borealis VM's security stands in the way of tweaking configuration files or classical modding
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One of the most interesting things about covering Google's technologies and products is how communicative the company can be when explaining how things work. It recently kicked off the first part of a planned series illuminating how it finagled Steam on Chromebooks. In this first high-level overview of the technologies involved, one key fact has already been detailed: Modifying games (even just to tweak configuration files) might be pretty hard, if not impossible.
Google Pixel 6a hits FCC, and at least one version will have mmWave 5G
Wi-Fi 6E also included with at least four Pixel 6 models planned
The Pixel 6a has just hit the FCC. As usual, things like images are still confidential, but carrier band support has been laid bare. At least one of the upcoming Pixel 6a models will support mmWave (bands n260 and n261), though other models won't.
Android faces a performance crisis that only Google can fix
"Benchmark cheating" is a symptom of a different problem that is only going to get worse with time
In the last month alone, both Samsung and Xiaomi have been caught adjusting the performance of their phones on a per-app basis in a way that some experts see as “benchmark manipulation.” On the one hand, smartphones are getting faster and running hotter every passing year, and something has to be done to fight that. On the other, treating certain apps differently isn’t always transparent to the user or “fair” when considering benchmarks. It’s a nuanced problem with no easy solutions, though there are a few ways it can be better — particularly if Google can address the issue more directly in Android itself.
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OnePlus got particularly defensive at the recent 10 Pro global launch event, slinging salt back at the common claim that OxygenOS was nothing more than ColorOS with a skin. Unfortunately for OnePlus, a change inherited from its ColorOS software base has broken prior workarounds for the company's allowlist-based refresh rate scaling.
Twitter's changes to embedded tweets are putting its news reputation at risk
Embeds now edit site content, removing information if it's been deleted
Recently, Twitter rolled out a small change to how Tweet embedding works to "better respect when people have chosen to delete their Tweets." While previously, embeds preserved the content of a Tweet in case it was deleted, Twitter has adjusted its JavaScript to edit sites and remove that information. Let me be clear here: News sites like Android Police and others that opt to use Twitter embeds for reporting are now subject to Twitter editing the content on their sites.
Samsung and Google disagree on whether Dirty Pipe vulnerability was fixed in recent patches
At least the Galaxy S22 is safe, even if the Pixel 6 isn't
Although updates for Pixels and Samsung's phones have been rolling out with the April 2022 patch levels included, there's been a lot of confusion about one important and high-profile security vulnerability. Although the Android Security Bulletin for April has been published today, it does not state that it addresses the Dirty Pipe vulnerability, which can be used for arbitrary code execution. Samsung, on the other hand, says that Google's patches in the April bulletin do address Dirty Pipe, and the Galaxy S22 series is no longer affected.
Xiaomi responds to throttling controversy and Geekbench de-listing
Benchmarking numbers indicate Xiaomi doesn't treat all apps equally by default
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Following reports that Samsung throttled performance for several apps and games on its flagship phones (and even throttled recent tablets like the S8 series), other manufacturers have come under scrutiny for their own performance-adjusting behaviors. Testing Xiaomi's latest lineup with the popular Geekbench benchmarking application, we've measured a noticeable performance difference between various "spoofed" versions of the app that were recognized by the system as known apps or games. According to Geekbench, this behavior will result in affected phones being delisted from its benchmarking charts. Xiaomi has since responded, expplaining more about how its performance profiling system works.
There's one April Fools' gag that might actually be worth your money this year
Make your own custom skins
Most folk in tech blogging claim to hate April Fools' day — presumably, because they hate fun. I'm a fan of the seasonal gags (when they're good), but there's one this year that has crossed over for me from joke to a legitimately useful thing. If you've ever wished you could buy a custom skin for something no one makes skins for, dbrand's launched-as-a-joke DIY Kit might actually be handy.
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The lineage of OnePlus as a company is unique, starting off as one of the biggest disruptions the Android market ever saw before settling in under Oppo as a defender of the smartphone status quo, falling behind its competitors in software quality and commitment as prices have crept up. Every passing year is a chance to turn that around, but the OnePlus 10 Pro is proof that all but the biggest fans may have to wait a little longer, hoping things will change.
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The OnePlus 10 Pro comes to the US with no mmWave 5G and renewed IP rating confusion for $900
US models also limited to 65W charging
The OnePlus 10 Pro is now officially available in the US and Canada, following an exceptionally cringey launch video. Admittedly, we've seen the phone before since the company launched it in China two months ago (leaving fans elsewhere twiddling their thumbs), but you can pre-order it in the 'States starting today. However, fans of the company may notice that things are a little different this time around, with a few objective downgrades joining other hardware upgrades.