9to5Google Weekender

This week the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company has built and maintains an illegal monopoly. Whether or not Apple actually has a monopoly over Android in the smartphone market is up for the courts to decide, but what’s clear is that Apple really wants one.

Smartphone glass has gotten much better over the years, but Corning’s new Gorilla Armor feels like the first truly big upgrade we’ve seen in a while. I want it on everything.

Biometrics have made it way more conveinent to unlock our smartphones, but there’s a debate on if face, or fingerprint unlock is the better solution. Many Android brands have taken the approach of “why not both,” adding both face and fingerprint unlock to their devices, but Google’s Pixel is the only one that’s done it correctly.

Using a navigation app when out on the road is what just about everyone does nowadays, but these apps are useful for more than just getting directions from point A to point B. Google Maps has supported incident reporting for quite some time, but as we keep moving forward, the feature is becoming essentially useless due to neglect.

The latest redesign of Android Auto brings a useful new “dashboard” view that can show multiple pieces of information at once, but I wish it was better at supporting multiple apps at once.

Over the years, Samsung has made huge improvements to its Android skin, but there’s one thing that’s still pretty awful. Samsung Keyboard is very bad, and it’s honestly a bit impressive just how bad it is in the year 2024.

The era of AI continues, as the technology continues to form the basis of a ton of new features across virtually every piece of new tech. But, as impressive as it all is, the term “AI” already feels wildly overused.

It’s only been a couple of weeks, but AI is absolutely the big buzzword of 2024, and Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series is betting big on the tech. And, somewhat shockingly, the Galaxy AI suite is really quite good, but the problem I’m facing so far is that the Samsung apps they’re tied to are not ones I want to use.

Foldable smartphones aren’t “new” at this point, but 2023 was easily the most impactful year yet for the form factor. Two devices in particular stand out amongst the new releases – the OnePlus Open and the Google Pixel Fold.

As CES 2024 kicks off this week, we’re reminded of one of last year’s biggest announcements. The new Qi2 standard was announced last January with support for MagSafe as a universal standard, but we haven’t heard much about support for Qi2 in new Android phones. What will be the first one?

2023 saw Google’s first push into bigger screens in its Pixel lineup and with that, some growing pains. As 2024 beings, it’s the Pixel Tablet that Google has the most room for improvement on out of its current lineup, and arguably the one that needs it the most.

Seven years into the Google Pixel series, 2023 marked Google’s biggest year yet with six new devices released. It was a year where Google fixed a lot of mistakes, but also introduced some growing pains to the lineup. Let’s take a look back.

Over the past several weeks, iMessage for Android has been a big topic of discussion and, for many, it comes back to why Android users seem to want iMessage so much. Personally, I don’t. iMessage for Android just happens to, somehow, be the path of least resistance when it comes to using a decent messaging app with people.

I think we’ve all been here.

You’re diving into a huge list of notifications that arrived overnight or while you were away from your phone and, while doing so, a new notification arrived leading to you accidentally swiping it, or many others away by accident. It’s a frustrating situation, but one that Android solved years ago with notification history.

Though, if you’re on a Samsung or OnePlus phone, you might not realize that.

Like a watch or the phone itself, a smartphone case is something that gives you a chance to get really personal about what you want, and there are so many options out there. So, when you’re looking to buy a smartphone case, what are you looking for specifically?

It’s still almost impossible to believe, but Apple is adopting RCS on the iPhone next year. While there’s a ton we don’t know, it’s a big deal that very much opens the door to big changes in the Android vs iPhone debate. However, my big question is if it will be enough to change the ongoing Android vs iPhone peer pressure that often turns into actual bullying.

I love the Pixel 8 Pro, but there’s one element of the phone I just haven’t been using, and that’s the temperature sensor.

Google’s Pixel Buds Pro debuted in 2022 largely to high praise, but as time has gone on, it’s become more and more clear where improvements can be made, including to ANC.

Google Tensor has always pitched itself on AI, and when it launched in 2021, it blew away the competition. But, now, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is showing off truly incredible on-device AI capabilities, and it really demands the question of if Google Tensor should still exist.

“Fast charging is better.” It’s the same response OnePlus has had for years now when it’s asked about the lack of wireless charging on its flagship Android smartphones. And, now that we’re hearing it yet again about the $1,700 OnePlus Open, I’m just so tired of it.

Google this week debuted the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, which, on paper, look fantastic. But as we mentioned in our hands-on coverage, it all depends on Tensor G3, which literally just needs to pass the bar of being not terrible.