This last week was pretty busy for smartphones. We got two major announcements almost back-to-back with Google's Pixel 4a and Samsung's new Note20 series. It's quite a spread, from midrange to literal "Ultra" flagship. While you can't zip down to the store and get one today, we're curious of any of our readers have pre-ordered either.
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Earlier this week, Google sent out emails to some folks that had previously purchased the company's Pixel hardware products, inviting its fans to take a survey to join the "Pixel Superfans Program." Google admits that it has only reached out to "a small group of Pixel owners," but we're curious if that included you — and if not, if you consider yourself a "Pixel Superfan" anyway.
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This week we learned that both AT&T and T-Mobile plan to make VoLTE a hard requirement for their networks in the next couple years. Folks using older phones that don't support the technology will be left behind if they don't upgrade. Most recent phones do support VoLTE, though some enthusiasts running custom ROMs or using imported devices might be in trouble. We're curious how many of our readers might be affected by this change, so: Does your phone support VoLTE (HD Voice) on your carrier?
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While we know a lot about the (seemingly endlessly) upcoming Pixel 4a, there's a whole lot about Google's 2020 smartphone strategy we can't quite clear the fog on just yet. And what we even do know suggests 2020 is going to be a very weird for year for Pixel: A small Pixel 4a, a large Pixel 4a 5G, and a small Pixel 5. We know what chips they'll have (the 4a will get a Snapdragon 730, while the latter two phones will get 765s), and we know at least the Pixel 5 will probably feature a multi-camera array and things like wireless charging (...hopefully).
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Smartphones are nothing without apps, and there are a whole lot of them out there on the Play Store. Of course, the quality there... let's say "varies" thanks to Google's rather lax administration and curation efforts. But there are piles of apps we depend on every day, others we use maybe a couple times a month, and yet more we uninstalled, never to use them again. With Google's convenient account Dashboard tool to refer to: How many apps do you have tied to your Google Play account?
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I know, we're the Android Police, but the highlight of this week's news when it comes to phones is clearly Apple's WWDC and iOS 14. Not all of our readers stick to Android, plenty of you may be reading these very words from an iPad or iPhone. We're not here to judge, but we're curious to know how many of you use iOS devices — whether that's in addition to an Android device or not.
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Over the last few months, the popularity of videoconferencing services like Zoom has exploded. With so many of us working at home and unable to visit friends or family, video calls are a close (or distant) second when it comes to both work meetings and general human contact. Now that Google is stepping up its own competition against Zoom, we're curious to know which video call or conferencing services you might use.
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This last week, Google's Stadia game streaming service finally expanded to support basically all Android phones — and even Android TVs in an unofficial capacity, if you've got a mouse and some time to tinker with it. At this point, it's been around for over half a year. So, have you tried it yet?
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Last week, our friends at XDA Developers dug up a treasure trove of details surrounding the upcoming Android TV-powered dongle long-rumored to be in development at Google. Beyond showing us what it and its included remote might look like, together with a handful of specs, we also got our first glimpse at the Android TV redesign it could ship with. Of course, you can't buy one yet, but are you already thinking about picking one up?
Read MoreSmartphones aren't a new concept anymore, and we have all settled into a specific platform (or two), complete with app purchases to fill out our needs. Plenty of the most essential ones are free these days — though remember what they say, "If you're not the customer, you're the product" — but I'm curious to know, when was the last time you paid for an app?
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