About Taylor Kerns
Taylor was an amateur phone nerd for the better part of a decade prior to joining Android Police in 2018, where he's since authored more than a thousand articles about all things Android. Taylor serves as Gadgets Editor, and you'll see his byline on editorials, reviews, comparative buyer's guides, and technical explainers, as well as the occasional piece of breaking news. He's got soft spots for personal audio, wearable tech, smart lights, and mobile photography. There's a good chance he's carrying a Pixel phone right now. In his time away from AP, you'll probably catch Taylor hanging out with his two dogs, playing Xbox, or out shooting with his beloved Fuji X-T5. Send him memes and fan mail at taylor@androidpolice.com.
Latest Articles
Monday deals: Savings on Arlo Pro bundles, smart air conditioner controllers, Bluetooth audio, and more
Happy Monday, dear readers. As always, we've got a handful of fine deals to make the nascent workweek more palatable. Here you'll find discounts on Arlo Pro security cameras and Sensibo Sky smart A/C controllers, as well as a handful of Bluetooth audio gadgets and a 4K Roku streamer.
[Update: Other retailers, too] The Google Home Max is down to $299 ($100 off) on the Google Store
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- Turns out this isn't a Google-exclusive sale! The Home Max is also $299 at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Crutchfield, B&H, and pretty much everywhere else that carries it, so go ahead and grab it from your retailer of choice.
The Google Home Max is Google's biggest, loudest speaker. It's really great, but it's also really expensive at $399. If you've been waiting for a discount, today's your day: the Max is 0 off on the Google Store, along with discounts on a handful of other Google goods.
After a period of what seemed like smartphone stagnation, we're finally seeing some weird devices again. With edge-to-edge screens, hole-punch cameras, and displays that fold in half being high-end oddities, Sony saw fit to shake up the budget formula, too, and plopped ultra-tall 21:9 displays in its Xperia 10 and 10 Plus. And while I applaud its efforts, being long doesn't save the Xperia 10 line from being terminally boring.
[Update: Now on Android TV] There are two official NBC Sports apps on the Play Store, for some reason
The NBC Sports app has been around for some time now, having amassed more than five million installs. It lets you log in with TV provider credentials to watch — you guessed it — sports content from NBC. Last week, a listing cropped up for a new app with the same name and a very similar description, also published by NBC. It's not clear why both apps exist.
Midweek deals: Save on smart TVs, Bluetooth earbuds, Anker's connected bathroom scale, and more
We didn't have one of these lists to share on Monday — it was a slow weekend — but we're back with all manner of tech deals. Today we've got crazy cheap smart TVs, Sennheiser earbuds, a Bluetooth bathroom scale, and then some.
[Update: Offer comes to UK] Spotify Premium for Family account holders can snag a free Google Home Mini starting November 1
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- The deal is now live, complete with the full terms and conditions on who's eligible. See if that includes you, then go ahead and snag your Home Mini.
Spotify has announced a new promotion for members with family accounts. Starting tomorrow, November 1, the master account holder on any Spotify Premium for Family plan in the United States can get a Google Home Mini for the low low price of zero dollars.
Battery saver can be crucial for eking out those last few minutes of screen time before you can make it to a charger, but the implementation in Android 9 Pie and earlier is a little crude; you could only set it to turn on at a specific percent remaining. In Android Q, you have the option to base it around your routine.
[Update: Now on Fire TV too] Apple Music is coming to Amazon Echo devices in December
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Music streaming is a popular use for smart speakers, but the particular speaker you have dictates which services you have access to. Amazon's speakers are getting better in that regard in the near future, as the company has announced that Apple Music will be available on Echo devices later this year.
Ever accidentally removed an icon from your home screen? Well, neither have I, but should it ever happen to you, Android Q makes it easier to fix on Pixel devices. When an item is removed, a little pop-up will present the option to bring it back.
Individual apps can be set to display in grayscale in Android Q, according to the Android Developers website. It's hard to tell how the new functionality will eventually be implemented, though, as it doesn't seem to be present in the newly-available beta release.
Android Q supports a special file format for photos with depth information, according to the Android Developers Blog. The added depth metadeta can be used by apps to apply "specialized blurs and bokeh options," among other things.
You can access system settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other options conveniently inside apps in Android Q
Sometimes, in the course of using an app, you'll find that you need to tweak a setting to accomplish a task. In previous versions of Android, that meant exiting the app entirely to adjust the appropriate toggles in the Settings app. Starting in Android Q, though, apps are able to surface relevant settings in floating panels.
Midweek deals: Discounted fitness trackers, smart plugs, and Bluetooth audio accessories
Hey all! Happy Wednesday. As usual, we've got some deals for you. Today, you'll find discounts on Fitbit fitness trackers for both adults and kids, plus some really cheap Wi-Fi-connected smart plugs and a couple of Bluetooth audio accessories.
Google bringing faster, on-device speech recognition to Gboard, starting with Pixel phones
Speech to text is something we take for granted a lot of the time. It's a complicated process, though — so much so that the heavy lifting is actually done remotely, and the end result is sent back to our devices. But Google has worked out a way to shrink the process to the point that it can be performed locally, and the fruits of that labor are coming to Gboard.
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Few things are more annoying when browsing the internet than media that plays automatically, particularly if it makes noise. Mozilla is hip to this, and beginning in version 66, its Firefox browser will block automatically-playing audio by default.
Allo was announced back in 2016. Unlike its popular video counterpart Duo, the app never really took off — so it was no surprise when Google formally announced the app's days were numbered in December. According to a banner on the Allo website, the service's time has come: it's shutting down tomorrow, March 12.
Monday deals: Cheap smart lights, savings on connected speakers, and exclusive discounts on Incase backpacks
It's Monday! How's work? Well, make it better with some of these tasty discounts. Today we've got money off the first-generation Sonos One speaker, a big discount on a premium Vizio sound system, and AP-exclusive deals on some high quality backpacks for all your tech stuff, among other things.
Pick up Anker's 30W USB-C charger for $18 ($8 off) and keep all your gadgets juiced up on the cheap
The standardization of charging ports to USB-C has been a net positive, but it does mean that you might have a charger on hand that fits a given item but doesn't provide quite enough juice. Anker's 30-watt USB-C wall charger can help with that. It can top up anything with the right port, from phones to laptops, and it's currently a steal at .Apple sells a similar charger for use with its MacBooks for more than twice as much. Even Google's first-party 18-watt charger is more expensive (although that charger does come with a USB cable — this one doesn't). This puppy pumps enough power to top up just about anything you might have around, except maybe a laptop under a heavy workload.
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- The OnePlus 6T now appears in T-Mobile's list of devices that support RCS Universal Profile 1.0, which is the full-fat cross-network standard, unlike the carrier's "Advanced Messaging," which allows for RCS features only between T-Mobile devices.
The SMS standard works for basic texting, but its capabilities are limited. We're hoping RCS will replace it sooner than later — and it's won another small victory to that end. The T-Mobile OnePlus 6T has received an update that brings compatibility with the new standard.
New Google Fi subscribers once again get a free month of service when bringing their own number and device
Late last year, Google Fi ran a promotion offering new subscribers a free month of service if they ported in a number from another carrier and brought their own phone. The company is back at it, as the offer is available again for a limited time.