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Google Pixel 7a: Price, release date, specs, and news
Google's budget lineup has just expanded with a brand-new entry
If you're looking for a powerful Android phone that delivers a modern experience without breaking the bank, the Google Pixel 7a is it. As the successor to the Google Pixel 6a, it has some big shoes to fill — and it does so without breaking a sweat. That phone made its mark as one of the best budget Android phones last year thanks to its powerful hardware, great cameras, and premium construction, and the 7a takes that experience to a whole new level.
Beeper Mini has returned iMessage to Android, but it comes with one big catch
Phone number registration remains unavailable for the foreseeable future
What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, the future of messaging interoperability between iOS and Android seemed brighter than ever. Not only is Apple's adoption of RCS coming sometime in 2024, but Beeper Mini — a new app from the minds behind Beeper — reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubbles to Android. It took about 72 hours for much of that progress to fall apart, though, with Apple admitting it had made changes to iMessage to prevent Android users from signing up. Now, Beeper Mini is back, though with a massive downgrade in functionality.
This year's most exciting Android phones came from unexpected places
Samsung and Google made some of their best hardware yet, so why did my attention keep going elsewhere?
December is one of my favorite times of the year. In addition to the holiday season — who doesn't love driving down a snowy street lit by street lamps and Christmas lights — it's a time where the constant news churn slows down enough to allow for a chance to look back at the last eleven months with a newfound sense of appreciation. But although Android Police (along with other publications) are great at putting out end-of-year awards — ours are coming soon, alongside Readers' Choice — that doesn't always give us a good chance to look at the overall smartphone landscape the way, say, games or movies earn their own attention.
YouTube Music will finally replace Google Podcasts for good in April 2024
Maybe that's enough time for YouTube Music to become a good podcast player
Although dedicated podcast listeners — such as myself — may appreciate keeping their library of shows separated from their music collection, it seems like the vast majority of casual listeners appreciate everything being thrown into a single app. That's the message Google sent, anyway, when it announced Google Podcasts was on the chopping block for 2024, with YouTube Music becoming its "centralized podcasting destination" (sigh). Now we know exactly when that transition is happening, and it's sooner than you might think.
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: The phone everyone else is choosing
The bubbles might be bluer, but is the grass greener?
I know what you're thinking. Apple, in my Android Police? Who asked for this? But before you leave a comment about how you'd never consider an iPhone over any of the excellent Android phones available today, hear me out. Not only do I think the smartphone market is tighter than ever — in the US, you really only have a handful of OEM choices when considering a new device — but Apple's latest hardware seems bound to convince at least a few Android users to consider a swap, even if most remain entrenched in their ecosystem of choice.
Beeper Mini is the iMessage client Android's been waiting for
If you've always been jealous of the iPhone's blue bubbles, today's your lucky day
The puns wrote themselves. Sunbird's iMessage client comes crashing to the ground. Nothing's partnership with Sunbird flew too close to the sun. You get the idea. Those massive security concerns, combined with Apple's confirmation that RCS is coming to the iPhone sometime in 2024 — bringing improved interoperability between iOS and Android with it — seemed like a sure way to make the demand for an iMessage client on Android inevitably die down.
Buying a smartphone as a gift is an annoying, frustrating experience
It doesn't matter how good the deals are if you're bashing your head against a wall the whole time
Even though Black Friday ended over a week ago, we're still in the midst of the holiday shopping season. Although it's easy to buy into the pressure to get all of your gifts before the final hours of Cyber Monday, the truth is that both deals — and gift-buying opportunities, by extension — continue throughout most of the month of December. Case in point: I purchased two new phones this week as gifts for some of the people in my life, one of which was after the biggest deals wrapped up. What I learned wasn't that Black Friday is the best or worst period to buy new hardware — it's that buying a phone as a gift sucks, period.
The 30 best Cyber Monday Android phone deals, starting at $100
You're just in time to grab a new phone before these deals disappear
The books on Cyber Monday 2023 are almost shut, and if you're looking to take advantage of the best phone deals we've seen all year, you better get on it, because there's less than six hours remaining! Whether you're after an affordable budget device at insta-buy prices or one of the latest and greatest Android phones without breaking the bank, this is your last chance of the year. (Well, honestly, it's your last and best chance between now and next summer.)
The Pixel 6a can be yours right now for just $100 with one small catch
Don't mind switching to Total or Straight Talk? Get one of 2022's best phones for a cool Benjamin.
Not everyone needs the newest smartphone. Sure, we love to focus on high-end flagships — you know we already have our eyes on whatever's coming soon from Samsung, for example — but for most shoppers, a device that is a year or two old can still provide plenty of value. Cyber Monday has delivered plenty of excellent deals on phones from the last twelve months, but if you're okay using something a little older — and you don't mind switching to Total by Verizon or Straight Talk — you can score the Pixel 6a right now for just $100.
If you're going to buy a Samsung phone on Cyber Monday, make it the Galaxy S23 FE
This is flagship-level performance at Galaxy A-series prices
There's no shortage of deals this Cyber Monday — particularly if you're after a new foldable — but if you want a new smartphone that's a little more familiar, you're in luck. Although you'll find devices from companies like Google marked down by a couple hundred bucks, most of their offerings remain pretty expensive. Even the Pixel 8, a budget flagship champion if there ever was one, is only discounted to $550. If you're trying to score a powerful phone for discount prices, Samsung has you covered — in fact, you really only have to consider one device.
I wish I'd waited for Cyber Monday to buy these Bose earbuds
I love my new buds, but these discounts are so much better than what I paid
I don't know about you, but I never feel like it's the right time to buy a new pair of wireless earbuds. Sure, you can wait until you need them — when you lose a bud or the battery life in your old pair just isn't what it used to be — but with new sets arriving all the time, it can be difficult to say no. This year, I finally upgraded from my trusty Jabra Elite 75ts to something a little more modern: Bose's QuietComfort II earbuds. And as much as I've enjoyed them, I can say that looking back, I really screwed up.
Weekend poll: Is your smartphone running Android 14?
Or are you still waiting (im)patiently for an update?
Although we originally expected it in August — and then September — Android 14 finally arrived in October, timed perfectly to the changing of the leaves and the launch of some new Google hardware. Fast-forward nearly two months, and it's easy to see that this year's OS upgrade was successful, if relatively understated. No major bugs, sure, but in comparison to larger overhauls like Android 12 (or some of Google's own Pixel-exclusive features) it's easy to see how some users may have felt a little underwhelmed.
This Backbone One mobile gaming controller is one of my favorite Black Friday deals
A steal on the best mobile controller you'll find today
In case you haven't heard, portable gaming is all the rage these days. Ignited by the sheer popularity of the Nintendo Switch, the last five years have seen a revolution in the handheld gaming scene. From dedicated Android-powered handhelds perfect for retro titles to fully fledged PCs like the Steam Deck, there has never been a better time to be a mobile gamer — and believe me, I've been one since I was first handed a Game Boy Color before I even started kindergarten.
Shopping for a foldable this Black Friday? Buy anything but the Pixel Fold
Google's first-gen hardware is better left as a proof of concept
With Black Friday deals in full swing, it's only natural to look for the biggest savings possible. While we've found all sorts of smartphones on sale this year, foldables are where you'll find the best bargains this holiday season. Whether you're upgrading from an earlier model or diving into the future of mobile for the very first time, there are plenty of options worth checking out.
I've used every foldable this year, and these are the 5 Black Friday deals to buy
Make the most of these great deals on even better devices
For as excellent as this year's slate of smartphones are — I'm particularly fond of Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Pixel 8 Pro from Google — it's easy to get bored with slab phones. Sure, their processors are faster, their designs more refined. But after that new phone feeling wears off after a couple of weeks, are you left with a device that feels substantially newer than your previous model? It's a feeling that, as the Phones Editor for Android Police, I know all too well.
Sunbird shuts its iMessage app down 'for now' after Nothing Chats debacle
The app's already disappeared from the Play Store
It was just one week ago that Nothing — the company behind a couple of midrange Android smartphones and some admittedly stylish wireless earbuds — announced its biggest swing yet. Nothing Chats was meant to be a new messaging platform exclusive to Nothing Phone 2 users built on the back of an app called Sunbird. Thanks to some truly terrifying security holes, however, Nothing pulled the app from the Play Store less than 24 hours after its launch. The fallout isn't over, however, as Sunbird's own service is also disappearing — at least, for a while.
Weekend poll: Will RCS on the iPhone benefit your life as an Android user?
Sure, you aren't on iOS, but I bet a lot of your friends are
If there was one connective thread weaving together this week's biggest stories in mobile, it was messaging. After Nothing announced a new service designed to bring iMessage support to its latest smartphone — a platform that crashed and burned within 24 hours — Apple made even bigger waves by confirming its plans to add RCS support to the iPhone in 2024. While plenty of questions remain about how Apple's support will shake up the smartphone landscape, the explanation as to why it's tackling RCS, at least, remains pretty clear.
Nothing pulls its iMessage app from the Play Store following privacy disaster
Nothing Chats' security protocols were seemingly non-existent
Even when it was initially announced, Nothing Chats seemed like a sketchy idea at best. You'll find plenty of methods for bringing iMessage to Android — either by routing messages through your own Mac or through a remote server farm — but a phone manufacturer throwing its weight behind one of these solutions certainly raises the stakes. It only took a few hours following the launch of Nothing Chats for the earliest security concerns to pop up online. Now, just a day after the app hit the Play Store, it seems like the dream of Nothing Chats might be turning into a nightmare.
At $700, the Motorola Razr+ is your gateway into the world of foldables
Or score the midrange Motorola Razr for just $500
2023 has been a pretty fantastic year for Android phones, but if you wanted to focus on the most exciting devices around, you had to keep your eye on foldables. Sure, the Pixel 8 Pro delivered some excellent improvements over its predecessor, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra is as reliable as ever, but this year's slate of folding phones have proven the tech is here to stay. And while it's easy to focus on Samsung and Google, my favorite devices — foldable or otherwise — actually originated from smaller, lesser-known companies.
Why Apple finally decided to adopt RCS on iPhone
Google's #GetTheMessage campaign failed to persuade Apple. It doesn't matter
You can't say Apple doesn't know how to surprise its audience. Seemingly out of nowhere, the company confirmed it plans to add RCS support to iOS next year, a complete reversal on its previous policies (which, no joke, included buying your mom an iPhone for a better messaging experience). In the wake of this surprise announcement, which will see better interoperability between Android and iPhone users than ever before, we saw a rush to try and explain exactly why Apple is making this move at this time. There's an easy explanation, but that doesn't mean some of the company's rivals can't claim victory anyway.