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64

Smartphone addiction is worth talking about, but it probably isn't a social crisis

David Ruddock

"Smartphone addiction" is a term that entered our cultural lexicon relatively recently - you could say it's A Thing. And it's a thing increasingly cited by techno-skeptics and self-help authors looking to capitalize on our natural desire to purge "unhealthy" habits from our lives (historically, a very American kind of fad). Not to mention: the ever-popular fear that we're all being spied on. Some people are even switching back to dumphones to avoid all the awfulness smartphones have brought into our lives. In short, the smartphone's ubiquity has made it The Next Big Source of All Your ProblemsTM. And I think, in spite of the best intentions - being more in the moment, having more meaningful interactions, and sleeping better - we've all kind of jumped the gun here.

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181

Display notches: The good, the bad, and the (very) ugly

Ryan Whitwam

The war on bezels has been hard-fought, and smartphone makers like Samsung, OnePlus, and Google have made steady progress in their quest to minimize wasted space. The masses have cheered the heroes on as they endeavor to end bezels, but you have to be careful what you wish for. Device makers are now trending toward display notches to shave off what little bezel is left, but not all of them are doing it very well. In fact, some display notches are little more than lazy iPhone clones. That does not mean display notches can't be done well on Android, but we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet.

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319

Android needs to adopt gesture navigation sooner rather than later

David Ruddock

It hardly seems that long, but nearly ten years ago, the world’s first Android smartphone was announced. Android in 2008 really was barely recognizable as the operating system we know and love today, and the way we navigated that operating system was pretty different, too.

The HTC G1, or Dream as it was known in some markets, was equipped with a slew of hard buttons and even a trackball (yes, a trackball), though it also offered a full touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard. At the time, Android didn’t have a standardized system navigation layout; the G1 had buttons for opening the dialer, ending a call, going home, a menu key, and a back key, along with the clickable trackball to use as a confirmation input.

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52

The most underrated feature of OnePlus phones? The cases

Ryne Hager

OnePlus has a lot of things going for its phones. They're usually the least expensive way to get flagship specs like the latest high-end Qualcomm SoC, and the software experience is close to stock Android. But, in my opinion, their best feature isn't something you're likely to notice unless you spend a bit more time and money on the company's store. That's because the first-party wood and Kevlar cases OnePlus sells are, without exception, the single nicest I've ever used.

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Android Auto wish list: Five things Google's infotainment system is still missing

Ryan Whitwam

Google unveiled Android Auto way back at I/O in 2014, but it didn't reach vehicles until May of 2015 when Hyundai added it to the Sonata. If you looked at Android Auto from 2015 and compared it to the current version, you'd see precious few differences. Google has been slow to improve Auto, but at least we got wireless projection. That tells us Google is still working on Android Auto, but it's still missing some features we've wanted ever since we got our first glimpse at Google's infotainment platform. Here are four features we still want to see in Android Auto.

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86

Opinion: Essential could learn a lot from OnePlus - specifically, its mistakes

Ryne Hager

Since Essential launched the PH-1 last year, the phone has gained a cult following. Although the phone isn't without its faults, there aren't many other choices for a Snapdragon 835 below $500, and many people took advantage of last fall's Sprint and Amazon sales that saw the price fall lower, under $400. Essential also pioneered the "notch," which (like it or hate it) is only just now coming into vogue. The company and its products aren't perfect by any means, but one might even call Essential disruptive.

For better or worse, I’m reminded of another company that pioneered disruption in the flagship space: OnePlus.

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145

Android P initial impressions: Two weeks daily driving Google's latest OS

David Ruddock

Android P is the latest iteration of Google’s mobile operating system, and it’s been available to test as a Developer Preview on the company’s Pixel phones for about a month now. I flashed the preview on my Pixel 2 XL a few weeks ago and have been using the phone as my daily driver since.

Overall, this is easily the most polished day-one build Google has released. I’m not having any battery drain issues, annoying app crashes, or random reboots. The P preview is, dare I say, very usable.

Still, flashing an early preview to your personal phone generally isn’t advisable.

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57

Playing PUBG Mobile with a keyboard and mouse might not be 'cheating,' but it's close enough

Ryan Whitwam

It's undeniable that PUBG Mobile is the biggest FPS release on Android in years—maybe ever. The full version of the game has attracted a lot of dedicated players, and naturally, there's significant interest in the mobile edition. The controls are bad, but they're the same level of bad for everyone... unless you connect a keyboard and mouse. That raises a question: is using a keyboard and mouse in a competitive mobile shooter the same as cheating?

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196

Ready or not, Chrome OS tablets must replace Android tablets

David Ruddock

Android tablets are not and were not ever very good. There. I said it.

From the very first devices that launched without Google's blessing, to the overhyped, underdelivering ones that did, all the way through Google's last-ditch effort to save them, Android tablets never hit their stride.

Sure, there were some bright spots, occasionally. Like the 2013 Nexus 7, which was beloved for its low cost and simplicity. It was the antithesis of the $500 iPad: a frugal hot hatchback to Apple's fully-loaded luxury sedan. But the Nexus 7, and most small, inexpensive tablets, were short-lived in their mainstream popularity as our phones started growing larger and larger.

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51

Opinion: It should be easier to share and collaborate on some Google services, particularly Chrome and Contacts

Rita El Khoury

For the first thirty years of my life, I was a lone wolf both offline and online. Then a funny Tinder conversation (of all places, gosh do I know!) with a stranger turned into a dinner, and we were pretty much inseparable since. Suddenly, most of the "me" decisions became "we," and as much as I like to think that choosing between Google Drive and Dropbox isn't a life or death situation, I do rely a lot on the services I use daily. They have to enable me to do things efficiently and smoothly, not stand in the way. My online choices were never a matter of flipping a coin but a thoughtful process that became doubly so when I knew I had to collaborate and share part of my data with someone else who might have different tastes and requirements than mine.

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