During an event in Moscow earlier this year, Nokia announced a refresh to their Nokia 2, 3, and 5 series phones. While there is no official confirmation of a US release for the updated Nokia 2 and 5, we do know that as of July 2nd, you'll be able to snag a new Nokia 3.1.
Bookmarks and favorites are handy options for saving interesting websites you come across while surfing the web on Android but are far from ideal when it comes to instant access. Thankfully, Google Chrome gives you the added ability to save webpages and progressive web apps directly to your home screen for added convenience.
We know Android 9.0 will have the formal designation of Pie, following Google's age-old tradition of naming their OS after items you'd normally find on a dessert menu. And thanks to a slew of new features that centers around your overall security, P could also stand for Privacy.
Ever since Microsoft sold Nokia to HMD, they've hit the ground running with a new lease on life. Quick updates have become their hallmark, with even their lower-end phones getting Android Oreo in a timely fashion. The same holds true for their current flagship, the Nokia 8, which by our count is now the first phone outside of Pixel or Nexus devices to get Android 8.1.
The Pixel 2 debuted a really cool feature that identifies any songs playing nearby and automatically displays the track's name on your lock screen. It's honestly one of the most inventive smartphone features we've seen in a while, especially considering how Google did it — but strangely, it's not enabled by default.
With the release of Jelly Bean, Chrome became the default web browser on Android. The wildly successful desktop browser was now fully entrenched in the world's largest mobile operating system.
There's over 20 million people out there who use Ubuntu as their main operating system, and the number is steadily increasing due to its thriving community. While it's easy enough to download Ubuntu on your PC, the process to get it on your mobile devices can be fairly more difficult. Thankfully, it's not the hard to get Ubuntu onto your Nexus 7 tablet, but first you'll need to unlock it.
Google has started to release a Go line of Android apps. These apps offer a minimalistic version of their major app counterpart. So far, we have Go versions of Maps, Photos, Gmail, and more. Who are these apps for and why would you want to use them? Here's a quick overview of Google Photos and Gallery Go.
Are we about to witness the future of Android OS? Of Google? Of the entire smartphone ecosystem?! Google has just turned 18 today (right?), Android just had its 8th birthday, and the rumor mill is firing on all cylinders in the lead-up to the October 4 launch event where they'll announce their latest hardware and software products.
If you're on a limited data plan, you no doubt set Google Photos to only back up over Wi-Fi on your Android device. In recent months, however, there have been many complaints that Photos won't actually back up your pictures when you get back home and connect to your network. Thankfully, the fix is fairly simple.
If your virtual assistant can't assist you, what's the point? Anyone who has ever failed to activate Google Assistant knows the frustration that error screen can be. But there are solutions for this problem — "The Google Assistant isn't available for this account" is one message you can actually avoid.
This morning, Google opened a pop-up showroom where anybody can visit to get a hands-on look at the new Made by Google hardware lineup. At 10 am the line at 96 Spring st, in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, was growing but still manageable. As we waited to be ushered in, Google representatives came by to offer us coffee drinks prepared by a pair of baristas in the Peddler Coffee cart parked on the curb. "Now that's latte art," said the guy in line next to me when he saw that the foam-t...
The keyboard I use the most on my Galaxy S4 is the Google Keyboard, and that's partly because of the custom themes I can play around with.
With millions of options to choose from in Google Play's expansive library of songs and albums, it can most definitely take a toll on the wallet after a while. As (slight) consolation, Google offers one free song a day, available for download straight from Google Play onto your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or other Android device. Google's daily free song sure beats other services' free selections. Apple only offers one free single each week, and Amazon offers a decent selection of free songs from r...
You just brought a brand new Pixel 3 from the Google Store, and you insert your SIM card only to find the phone won't recognize it at all. No matter what you do, the SIM card won't register and your Pixel won't connect to your carrier network. That's what happened to me and several other Pixel 3 owners. The good news is a fix is coming, the bad news is Google doesn't have a date for that fix.
If you want to play a game in the Play Store before committing to actually downloading and installing it, you can do that with Google's Android Instant Apps technology. However, if you don't see a "Try Now" button on the app's Play Store page, you'll need to check your Android device's settings to make sure you can play games instantly.
While certainly faster than writing by hand, manually typing passages from a book or document can be slow and frustrating. But thanks to Google Assistant, this is no longer the case. Whether you need to quote text for an essay or need to win an online argument, all you need to do is point your phone's camera at the paper and tap a few times.
The brand new Pixel and Pixel XL, Google's first direct attempts at taking on the iPhone, haven't rolled out exactly how Google would have liked. The devices have already had more than their fair share of issues, starting with the camera, and now extending to the built-in speaker. The camera issues were marked as "solved" by Google, but the lens flare is still very much there, just not as prominent.
A handful of retailers have put the newest Nexus smartphones on sale again, so you're in luck if you missed out on picking one up during the discount period last month. Actually, you might be better off since some retailers are giving away freebies with some models, too.
When Apple recently unveiled iOS 8, many of the newly-added features in their mobile OS seemed eerily familiar to Android users. This is probably because the vast majority of these new features have been available in Android for quite some time.
For the most part, Google Play Music makes it extremely easy to upload and organize your music library, as well as access it quickly using the default settings—but there are a few things it could do better.
Android's Quick Settings menu gives you easy access to certain actions from any screen, but the tiles available are largely dependent on your phone's OEM skin. For instance, the Google Cast button that can cast your entire screen has been exclusive to Nexus and Pixel devices, even though other phones have the requisite software to use it. Fortunately, there's a way to add it on any device running Nougat or higher.
We've gotten pretty close to a Google Experience before, and even played around with the actual Google Play Edition build. However, the devs over at XDA have a much better solution: actually converting your HTC One into a complete factory-fresh Google Play Edition.
Ditching Sense (HTC's stock Android Launcher) is a great way to breathe new stock-like life into your HTC One smartphone without rooting, but even that has its limitations. If you really want the full Google experience, albeit with some extras, CyanogenMod has always been the go-to ROM. In effect, this will give you an experience similar to the Google Nexus or the new HTC One Google Edition.
There's more than one way to get free credits and discounts in the Google Play Store for apps, games, books, movies, in-app items, and other Play Store content. You may know a few of them — but some of these may surprise you.
Google and Samsung are the biggest players in the Android world. Despite a rocky launch, Google's Pixel 2 XL became one of the premier Android devices of 2017, headlined by fast performance and a pure version of Android. Still, many users prefer Samsung's offerings, and their Galaxy S9+ is poised to be the phone to beat in terms of specs.
There are so many great apps in the Google Play Store that it's become the number one app marketplace in the world.
If you can't find the remote for your Android TV or Google TV, don't like using its voice control feature, are sick of using the directional pad to type, or can't get it to work at all, use your smartphone instead. Using your iPhone or Android phone as a virtual remote control can be more convenient, easier to use, and more helpful than the original remote, so it's definitely worth trying out.
Out of all the new functionality introduced alongside Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a battery-saving feature called Doze Mode has been the biggest hit. Essentially, Doze waits until your device is laying flat and still, at which point it triggers an aggressive battery-saving mode that drastically increases standby time on your device.
How, you ask? They did it without requiring a goofy-looking face-computer. I know what you're thinking, "Without headgear, how is it a Glass killer?" It's because it does what Glass was meant to do: keep you connected while on-the-go, without constantly staring at your phone.
If you've ever tried to update your Android phone manually, you know the process can be unnecessarily hard. There are so many steps and parts, that if one thing goes wrong, the whole process doesn't work. Recognizing this, the Android team came up with an even easier way.
The beauty of having a Google Play Edition HTC One is the ability to get as close to stock Android as possible while still getting some extra non-Google, proprietary HTC features. The newest version of Android, 4.4.3, has just hit the Nexus and Google Play Edition line of phones, but if you are rooted with a custom recovery, you will not be able to apply the OTA.
Google's Pixel smartphones have earned a reputation for taking great photos without relying on top-of-the-line camera sensors. Instead, Google leans on the software side to squeeze super images out of its camera. This also enables them to roll out new features out to previous-generation devices.
Google's been using their "Material Design" look in Android for years now, but a change is coming up with "Material Design 2," their updated version focusing on new colors, icons, and spacing. Whether it'll be called "Material Design 2" or not remains to be seen, but you can try it out right now in Google Chrome on your Android device right now.
Google Play Music is one of the best cloud music services out there. Without ever paying a dime, you can upload as many as 20,000 songs to Google's servers, then use the app on your smartphone to stream these songs without taking up any of your storage space. And if you're willing to shell out $9.99 a month, you can even play songs from the massive All Access library.
Just because you wanted a stable, stock Android version on your HTC One doesn't mean you have to miss out on Sense because you bought or softModded to a Google Play Edition. As long as you have the Android SDK tools and you've unlocked your bootloader, you can turn your HTC One into the Developer Edition, a Sense version free of carrier bloat.
Alongside the launch of Android 11, Google added a new feature to Live View, the augmented reality mode for walking navigation in Google Maps, that helps you find friends in AR. But even if you're not trying to meet up with somebody, you can easily access the AR mode and orient yourself to any location.
Google Now, Siri, and Cortana aside, the main way you interact with your smartphone is through the keyboard. Every app you use, every search you perform, every message you send—the most fundamental interface between you and your device is that handful of characters and those 26 letters on the bottom half of your screen.
While Google's generative AI wallpapers for Android won't be out until the fall, you can take advantage of emoji backgrounds and cinematic wallpapers on your Pixel smartphone right now.
Taking a cue from Apple and its Health app for iOS, Google has created a central hub to collect health and fitness data on your Android device. With it, you can share and sync health and fitness data, such as steps, heart rate, water intake, sleep quality, and calories burned, between different apps and devices and use your favorite app to view all the information.