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Out with the old, in with the new: LineageOS cut support for Android 9 Pie earlier this year, and to make up for the loss, the open-source project has just released version 18.1 based on Android 11. It comes with official support for about 60 phones and tablets.
The Moto G7 Power was one of Motorola's many budget phones released last year, with its main selling point being a large 5,000mAh battery. The phone has slowly dropped in price since then, and now it's available for just $126.99 on Amazon. For comparison, the G7 Power has gone for around $170-$185 lately, with a drop to $132 during Prime Day.This model has a 6.2-inch 1520 x 720 screen, a Snapdragon 632 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (microSD cards are supported), a 12MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, and a 5,000mAh battery with 15W charging. The Moto G7 Power originally shipped with Android 9 Pie, but it started receiving an update to Android 10 earlier this year. It will likely never get Android 11 (at least officially).
Amazon has a Moto phone for everyone with savings of up to $205
From the Moto Edge to the Moto E, there are options at every price point
Motorola may not be the same company it once was, but the phones it produces are still some of the best in the US when it comes to value. For Prime Day, Amazon is offering savings of up to $205 off a variety of Motorola's best phones, from the high-end Moto Edge to the basic Moto E, there are options for every budget.The flashiest phone on sale right now is definitely the Moto Edge. It's normally $699.99, but it's currently discounted to just $494.99. When Ryan reviewed it earlier this year, he said the battery "lasts so long on a charge you'll get tired of holding it." There are also tons of choices from Moto's G, E, and One lineups, like the Moto G Stylus (it's like a cheaper Galaxy Note) and this year's Moto E, which brings everything a basic smartphone needs to the table for just over a hundred bucks.
LineageOS now supports every Pixel phone except 4a
The first time LineageOS has offered widespread Pixel compatibility
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LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM for Android devices, bringing new OS versions to phones and tablets that have long since been unsupported. The Pixel lineup has mostly been ignored by the project, outside of the original models, but now nearly every Google-made phone is receiving official builds of LineageOS.
Verizon has brought Android 10 to both the Moto G7 Play and Power after Motorola first started distributing the upgrade for those phones throughout Latin America in June.
Pick up the Moto G7 Power for just $160 from Amazon ($20 off)
If battery is your number one priority, this might be the phone for you
Motorola makes some of the best budget smartphones in the US. Its Moto G7 Power isn't just affordable, but packing a 5,000mAh battery, it should last a loooong time. It's been selling at $179.99 on Amazon for the past few months, but now you can get your hands on the G7 Power for $159.99, a discount of $20.The Moto G7 Power with its 6.2" 720p display is powered by a Snapdragon 632 processor. That's paired with 3GB of RAM, so it should have decent performance for this price range. Onboard storage is limited to 32GB, but that can be expanded with a microSD card. There's a 12MP main camera on the back and an 8MP selfie shooter, but definitely do not buy this phone for the camera quality. Like most of Motorola's lower-end phones in the US, the G7 Power does not have NFC, so which seems like an especially egregious omission in a time when we're trying to limit contact with frequently-touched store payment terminals.The Moto G7 Power launched last year with Android 9 Pie, but the company has recently upgraded the device to the latest Android 10 release.
Motorola releases Android 10 kernel source for the Edge, One Fusion+, and G7 Power
Three new builds for custom ROM developers to play with
Customizability has always been a key component of Android, with third-party developers being able to modify and create their own tweaked builds of the software. When companies release the kernel source for their devices, it makes this process much easier. Motorola may not have the best reputation when it comes to software updates, but it's usually pretty good about releasing this low-level code, and it's doing so now with the Motorola One Fusion+, Motorola Edge, and Moto G7 Power Android 10 kernel sources.
Motorola begins rolling out Android 10 to Moto G7 Power
The Moto G7 Play’s update is also in the pipeline
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Motorola is gradually getting back on track after a phase of subpar software support. Don’t get me wrong, the releases still aren’t timely, but at least they’re coming. The 2019 G series started its Android 10 journey with the G7 Plus, and the standard G7 joined in last month. And now, the latest Android version is reaching a few G7 Power users in Brazil, even before Motorola could make an official announcement.
Motorola is finally rolling out Android 10 to the Moto G7
The Moto G7 Power won't be far behind, hopefully
Lenovo-owned Motorola used to be king of the budget and mid-range Android handsets, but Nokia phones have overtaken them in recent year, in no small part due to HMD Global's commitment to fast Android updates on even its cheapest phones. The Moto G7 came out a little over a year ago and wasn't exactly the finest entry in the series. It's now finally getting its Android 10 update, at least.
If you're still hanging on to your old wired headphones, this is an excellent opportunity to pick up one of the last phones that still support them. Though it's not the most popular phone of this generation (see our review), the Moto Z4 is still a very decent phone, especially at this reduced price of $400. And with an included 360° camera, this is not a bad deal at all. If that's still out of your budget, several of Motorola's mid-range phones have been discounted as well.
TWRP is a popular and powerful custom recovery tool used by thousands of Android enthusiasts around the world to create full phone backups, flash custom kernels and ROMs, and more. Since the last time we visited this topic, a dozen phones and tablets have been added to the TWRP support list, including the Snapdragon family of Galaxy S10, Note 10, and Galaxy Tab S6 devices.
Prime Day is upon us and the deals are coming fast and furious. Here's a budget phone sale that caught our eye — the Moto G7 can be had for two Benjamins right now, down from $300 when Ryan reviewed it just a few months ago. Also on sale are its younger siblings, the G7 Power and G7 Play.The Moto G7 makes a decent entry-level option, with a 6.2-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage with a microSD card slot, and a Snapdragon 632 processor powering it along. The 3000mAh battery quick-charges over USB-C, and you get facial recognition and a fingerprint sensor to unlock your device. You can check out Ryan's review of the phone, where he praises the design, software experience, and the fact that it retains a headphone jack.Along with this, the Moto G7 Play is on sale for $156, the lowest I've seen this drop to. It's basically the G7, with a smaller 5.7-inch 720p display, a larger notch, and less RAM and storage. No to be left out, the G7 Power also went on sale yesterday for $190. This is a G7 Play, with a larger 6.2-inch display, in case 5.7" was too compact for your liking.These are Prime Exclusive variants of the Moto G7 family, so Alexa will be built-in, but you aren't restricted from disabling any features or using the network provider of your choice — it works on everything but CDMA operators like Verizon.Buy: (G7: 0), (G7 Play: 6), (G7 Power: 0)
Verizon-owned carrier Visible recently took the speed limit off of its unlimited data offering all while still charging $40 a month for talk, text, and mobile hotspot service as well. Now, the company is hopping on the Prime Day bandwagon to highlight savings on a couple of its phone. It's also ready to actually give you money if you're willing to try out its network for 2 months — seriously. But there are a couple catches to be aware of...
The Moto G7 Power is only two months old, and it's one of four devices in Motorola's 2019 lineup of G mid-range phones. It was originally priced at $250 in the United States, but now it's available for a bit less — $229.99, to be exact.The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 632 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (with microSD card support), and Android 9 Pie. While the screen certainly isn't great, as it uses a 1520 x 720 resolution stretched to 6.2 inches, the 5,000mAh battery is the main standout feature. There's sadly no NFC support, so if Google Pay is important to you, don't get this phone.
One of the latest phones in Motorola's popular G line is now available at T-Mobile. You can pick up your own Moto G7 Power in stores or online for $9.50 per month (with $9.50 down), or $237.50 full price, according to Tmo. Metro customers will be able to get theirs next week on April 29.
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Motorola announced a trio of new Moto G smartphones for the US a couple of weeks back, but only the most expensive of them has launched. Now we have details on the G7 Power and G7 Play. Pre-orders will begin with the G7 Power next week and the G7 Play later in March.
Google started talking about Digital Wellbeing last year at Google I/O, but the feature never appeared in any of the pre-release Android P builds. Eventually, its surfaced as a beta feature on Pixel phones running Pie. Digital Wellbeing has slowly branched out to Android One phones, and the Galaxy S10 is supposed to have it as well. The next target, the Moto G7.
Slowly but surely, Android 9 Pie is rolling out to Motorola's lineup of phones. That also means new kernel source packages, which can be used by developers to create custom Pie-based ROMs and recoveries. Motorola has now released two new source packages for two (or possibly three) devices.
Motorola enjoyed massive success with the original Moto G phone. It came along at a time when reasonably priced unlocked phones were virtually non-existent, but the Moto G was soon joined by other low-cost devices. The value proposition has weakened over time as those other low-cost phones crowd the market, but the G-series has largely carried Motorola. The company didn't even bother to launch a full-fledged Moto Z flagship phone in 2018—the Z3 was a Verizon-exclusive phone engineered merely to plug into the still-unreleased 5G mod.