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153

Samsung Pay is just not worth using without MST
The end of MST payments is the end of good reasons to use Samsung Pay

Max Weinbach Max Weinbach
Samsung Pay is just not worth using without MST

The title says it all: Without MST support, there's just no reason to use Samsung Pay. Over the past year or so, Samsung has effectively stripped Samsung Pay of its most compelling features, but its saving grace was MST — the technology that allowed Samsung phones to mimic a magnetic credit card strip, making them compatible with legacy payment terminals. But Samsung's latest smartphones, the Galaxy S21 series, debuted without MST this year — and all that's left of Samsung Pay is a bloated, ad infested app that compares poorly to Google Pay.

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97

Android 12's biggest feature should be an easy upgrade to Android 13
Part of growing up is accepting that "boring" features matter

David Ruddock David Ruddock
Android 12's biggest feature should be an easy upgrade to Android 13

A big focus for Google in recent years when it comes to Android has been updates — specifically, in making them easier for hardware manufacturers to support. The two largest (public) efforts undertaken in service of this initiative to date are Projects Treble and Mainline, both of which have been designed to modularize and simplify the process of updating Android devices by making key portions of the OS less dependent on the underlying platform version. There's also clear evidence these initiatives are having a positive impact: Android 11 experienced the quickest adoption of any version of the OS to date.

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71

There’s no good replacement for Simple
Alternatives exist, but they're all lacking in one or more critical ways

Cassidy James Blaede Cassidy James Blaede
There’s no good replacement for Simple

Simple, one of the first and most popular Internet-only "neobanks," is being shut down by parent company BBVA US. As a result of the news, Simple users have taken to social media, Reddit megathreads, collaborative spreadsheets, and—of course—a Change.org petition to deal with the fallout. I've spent the last three weeks alongside them, scrambling for a replacement to share with you.

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54

7 cool features you can find in Google apps on iOS, but not Android
We're a bit jealous

Rita El Khoury Rita El Khoury
7 cool features you can find in Google apps on iOS, but not Android

After buying an iPad Air a couple of months ago, I was curious about the Google services experience on iOS. Over the previous years, I've frequently heard about features that roll out to Google's apps on its rival platform before making it to its own OS, so I wanted to dig into the biggest Google apps and services to see if they offered anything new on iOS that we haven't seen on Android. My investigation turned up several examples, seven of which are quite significant, plus a few other less substantial ones.

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60
Google's added some fresh wallpapers to Chrome OS — download them here
59
Samsung's April patch is rolling out to the Galaxy A51 and other US models — here's the complete list
50
Signal now also beats WhatsApp in the image sharing department
79
Samsung phones already protected against modem vulnerability that lets hackers listen to your calls
159

Google doesn't want to kill Stadia, just Stadia as we know it

Ryne Hager Ryne Hager
Google doesn't want to kill Stadia, just Stadia as we know it

Yesterday's Stadia news has some fearing for the future of the platform. While the company hasn't announced that it's killing Stadia itself, some wonder if this step away from first-party games could be the beginning of the end. But it's the licensing news that's the most important detail: Google is opening itself up to a pivot that could be an incredibly smart move. In the long run, Stadia's original business model may have been doomed to fail.

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130

Can Firefox replace Google Chrome on your Android phone?
Firefox has come a long way since last year's redesign

Manuel Vonau Manuel Vonau
Can Firefox replace Google Chrome on your Android phone?

Mozilla Firefox might be a beloved desktop browser, but on Android, its market share looks like nothing but a rounding error. That might be one of many reasons why Mozilla decided to rewrite its mobile browser from scratch with a new rendering engine, a revamped interface, better performance, and more privacy features. Now that Mozilla has had more than half a year to fine-tune the product, I decided to give this new Firefox a thorough test on my Android phone to see how it compares against the standard most people stick with, Google Chrome.

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268

Switching from Spotify to YouTube Music: Everything you need to know
What are the differences, which one is the best for you, and which subscription is more interesting?

Hagop Kavafian Hagop Kavafian
Switching from Spotify to YouTube Music: Everything you need to know

This story was originally published and last updated . 

I've been a loyal Spotify user since what feels like the year the service launched, and a premium subscriber since 2014. Spotify premium has tons of great extra features, and I absolutely think it's worth the money if you're considering a paid music streaming subscription. But as I've been spending a lot more time at home of late, I've started watching a lot more YouTube, and the various pre-roll and mid-roll ads were starting to grate on me. Of course, you can remove those ads—by signing up for YouTube Premium. But that would also give me access to YouTube Music, meaning I'd technically be paying for two music services.

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7

You wanted to know more about the Galaxy Buds Pro, and we have the answers here
Subscribe to the Android Police Newsletter to have free content like this delivered to your inbox every weekend

Zach Laidlaw Zach Laidlaw
You wanted to know more about the Galaxy Buds Pro, and we have the answers here

Every Sunday, we assemble the latest headlines, editorials, and exclusive content into the Android Police Newsletter and send it out to thousands of readers around the world. If you're not one of those readers, you might be missing out on the most important stories of the week, as well as content you'll only find in the newsletter, like the exclusive Galaxy Buds Pro Q&A you'll find below and our free wallpaper extravaganza. Here's all the important stuff featured in the Android Police Newsletter from January 24, 2021.

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1

Our 10 favorite Chrome and Chrome OS features from 2020

Manuel Vonau Manuel Vonau
Our 10 favorite Chrome and Chrome OS features from 2020

2020 was (well, as of writing, still is) quite a crazy year, and that craziness also had a huge impact on the tech industry. The internet is gradually becoming more divided across countries, the trade war that completely changed Huawei's phone business is raging on, and the global pandemic affected both hardware and software release cycles — you might remember that Chrome and Chrome OS updates were temporarily paused when everyone started working from home.

Despite all that, there were also a lot of good things happening in tech: Foldables have matured and are headed for mainstream, budget phones don't suck anymore, Android has received tons of helpful features, and Chrome and Chrome OS have also benefitted from a lot of great developments.

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